Epic Bike Ride Day 39 July 6
Thoughts from Kelly: I woke up feeling better but my back did not like the mattress. I did some stretches, and was good to go. We got ready and Mark dropped me off at a laundromat, while he got some breakfast (I am trying not to eat as much restaurant food, we have plenty in the truck). These washing machines and dryers were very fast and efficient, and we were on the road before noon. We were still ‘off route,’ but making our way back to it, and Mark enjoyed being on pavement. We stopped at a cool ‘Cheers’ vibe bar for some sodas in Glen. It turns out they have an RV park too, so we noted that in a notebook I’m keeping about campgrounds we like.
Of course we saw cows today (I don’t think a day has gone by that we haven’t seen cows!), but these cows had longer hair and short horns, kinda cool. At some point today Mark said, “I have to clean off the snot that flew onto my glasses as I was looking down, and no, that wasn’t the first time that has happened”. I don’t know why, but this made me laugh for a very long time. Apparently, I needed a good laugh, thanks Mark. We also saw a flock of sheep with some cute lambs that were chasing each other, very adorable. We left the valley we had been riding through and started climbing the mountains into forest so we could camp. We saw a couple southbound riders once we were back on route, which always gives Mark a boost. This climb (north of Divide MT) was tough on Mark and we weren’t quite into US Forest land, so we had to keep climbing. As soon as the ‘private land’ fence ended, we stopped and camped right along the fence. One thing we’ve learned to do, is to park with the tailgate facing the west, so the morning sun doesn’t make us sweaty. This has the added bonus of beautiful sunsets every night. I was feeling uneasy about grizzlies already, then we started hearing a strange animal noise. Almost like a cat, but not really. Not being able to identify the sound, Mark got the bear spray and I jumped up on the tailgate, and made some noise, while cautiously peeking over the top of the truck scared of what I might see. Luckily, I didn’t see anything and the noise stopped. Hoping we scared off whatever it was, we quickly went to bed. Hopefully it will be a quiet night.
Thoughts from Mark: It was a decent ride today, until the very end. The climbing that Kelly is referring to into the forest was about 6 miles, with a total of close to 2,000 feet, and most of the climb was more than 10% grade. There were even some sections that were 16%, which turned into hike-a-bike, as they were very sandy and rocky, and I was worn out at that point. As Kelly said, we stopped at the first sign of forest service land, and camped in a nice spot. The animal noise sounded to me like a combination of a small child, mixed with a crow, mixed with an elk. It was very unusual, and since it was just after sunset, it was hard to look into the woods to see anything. This was a very unsettling combination, and both of us were a bit spooked. Luckily, we were able to get ready for bed without any visits from weird creatures.
Miles for the day: 52.5 Feet climbed today: 3,197
Total miles ridden: 1,820.45 Total feet climbed: 112,977
