Epic Bike Ride Day 42 July 9
Thoughts from Kelly: The hotel was very nice, so nice that we slept in very late. So, you guessed it, another late start, made even later since we needed to stop at a bike shop. Big Sky Cycling was a great store, and there was a bagel shop next door, so of course Mark had to get a couple of bagels. We hit a milestone of opening up the last U.S. section of our map series. This means we are close to Canada and the end. That’s CRAZY! Today we traveled through mountains and valleys, crossed some train tracks and a couple of very old mine ruins.
We were very excited to reach Llama ranch for our camp spot. We’ve heard great things about it all along the route, and from the Facebook page. We pulled in around 9pm, some people were already asleep, and we met a ton of other cyclists. We were very excited to see our friend Sonia there, and she was happy to see us too. She showed us around and introduced us to some people she rode in with. This place exceeded our expectations by far! There were about 6 cabins with bunks, microwaves, and single burner stoves in them. They offered sodas, sandwiches, showers, it was truly unbelievable-and the kicker was they weren’t charging people! They just ask to pass the kindness forward, that’s easy to do since that is part of our mission, too. After talking with everybody, there were 7 CDT hikers and 18 cyclists, we finally started to eat dinner at 11pm! We didn’t want to be noisy with our camp kitchen, so sandwiches had to do. I’m sure everyone else will be long gone by the time we wake up tomorrow.
Thoughts from Mark: A decent day on the bike again, but I didn’t ride as far as I would have liked. We had a late start out of Helena, and there were some decent climbs that seemed to take forever. I rode on pavement for 9 miles coming out of Helena, and then turned onto a dirt road that immediately began climbing. For some reason, I was absolutely out of “gas” right from the start, and had to stop several times on the climb, and even hike-a-bike for part of it. We met a couple from Paris, who were riding southbound, and they were planning on riding all the way to Argentina! I guess once you are in the habit of riding X number of miles per day, it’s just a matter of how many days, weeks, or months you want to ride, right? There really isn’t a “difference” in riding 2,000 miles or 10,000 miles in this regard.
What can I say about “Llama Ranch”? It was everything we had heard, and more. The hosts were amazing, the views were fantastic, and the alpacas (similar to llamas, but smaller) were hilarious looking. They didn’t really do a lot, but it was hot, so some laziness can be forgiven. So many cyclists and hikers were there, but since we rolled in so late, we didn’t get a chance to talk with all of them. Those we spoke with were nice, and everyone seemed to really enjoy the experience of staying there. The hosts said the record for the longest stay is 7 days, and after just being there for one night, I can see why.
Miles for the day: 39.68 Feet climbed today: 3,981
Total miles ridden: 1,967.71 Total feet climbed: 122,229
