Fleecer Ridge

Hi all. Big day today.  And we're beat.  We only covered 52 miles but it was hot and we did two big climbs.

From Butte we headed south to our first climb of the day, CD crossing #5. The next 10 miles were through aspen, sage, wild flowers and vistas in every direction. We've got some nice photos to share.
 

Doug crashes :-)

Doug right before he crashes

The route then made a long descent down to the N/S I-15 and crossed under towards Fleecer Ridge. From here we climbed 2000 ft over 13 miles - a long, hard trudge in the heat of the day.

The last half mile was super steep. No way could we ride it, even without all the weight we were pulling. So we pushed up to 8000 ft.

The right turn to descend wasn't easily identifiable so we over shot the climb by half a mile. When we came back down we could barely see the intended turn and confirmed it when we saw tire tracks in the mud. 

Coming down Fleecer Ridge

From there the descent was unbelievably steep. We couldn't ride it. It was all we could do to keep our bikes in control walking them.  I had to keep the BOB trailer directly behind me or it would careen out of control. Finally towards the bottom we zig-zaged on the hill to lessen the severity of the decline.
Fortunately,  the rest of the section to Wise River was downhill, except the short 2 miles on the road into town.

We left at 6:30; finished at 5. Long day!

There was only one place to stay, so that's where we are - in a cabin. We had a four piece chicken dinner and are now planning tomorrow.

The bad news is my Achilles got worse. It's fine when I walk but the dorsa flex hurts. I iced it tonight and took Ibuprofen,  but may be forced to rest it tomorrow.

We're going to send some things home tomorrow and lighten our load. Doug will take some more weight and we shall see if that helps.

We are looking forward to tomorrow's scenery.  We will be on a National Scenic Byway and come close to Idaho.

We've come 490 miles. 2000 to go.

Butte

We made it to Butte.

We started at 5:30 to beat the heat. It was nice and crisp as we rode out of Boulder, MT.

Our plan was to stop in Basin for breakfast.  It was a dumpy little town with not a stir at 7am. There was a cafe that said open at 8. We didn't want to wait, so we had a bar and headed on.

About halfway to Butte we ran into a cattle drive. Three cowgirls on horses were taking the herd up the narrow dirt road we were riding. It took us about 5 minutes to ride through this herd with cows on both sides of us. It was a little intimidating but fun.

The river we were following was going the opposite direction - north,  which seemed weird to me.  I kept thinking Butte was downhill. I forgot we had to cross the CD again before Butte.

A 10 mile ride on a siding road brought us to our 4th CD crossing.  Then a glorious, long descent into Butte.

I have decided I LOVE downhill. It's just so nice after all the climbing with our heavy loads.

It was 10:30 when we arrived but we had already been riding for 5 hrs. So we'll check into a hotel and rest.

In Butte we stopped at the Outdoorsman,  Rob Leipheimer's bike shop.  Super nice guy. Very accommodating.

The photo shows 8 days of beard growth. We are going to shave and clean up today. :-)

The Tour de France

The 100th Tour de France starts today. I usually watch it every morning. I will miss it. :-(

This year I will be doing my own Tour - with my bro! :-)

On the 7th Day, the Brooks Brothers did NOT Rest

To beat the extreme heat, we started climbing at 6:30am. We crossed the Divide twice this morning on our way to Helena.  After the first crossing we went down into Dago Gulch. The cattle ranchers have taken over this area and it was unpleasant.  Trees cut down everywhere and runny cow shit all over the road.  It was disgusting. The cattle seemed very surprised by us and were very leery. At one point I rode within 10 feet of a big bull and hoped he wouldn't charge me.

Once we cleared the drainage, conditions improved.  We headed towards Blossburg and then climbed up Priest Pass for our 3rd crossing of the CD.

From there it was a long descent to the 12 and then 7 miles on the road into Helena.

Doug's gears were acting up so we decided to stop and get the adjusted. We first went to to Great Divide Cycles. With a straight face they told us they were backlogged 3 days and could do it until then.  I said "you're kidding right?" But he wasn't.  There is a practice/credo along the route to help the Divide riders. These guys are shameful. As my The Cycling House friends would say,  "not cool, dude."

We instead went down to Big Sky Cycles and they were terrific! They fixed Doug's gears, strung new cable, and straightened out his rear derailleur--all while we ate at the bagel shop next door. Great shop. Nice guys.

From Helena we took the alternate route to Basin. We hoped to make Butte but the heat was too much. We stopped several times in the shade to get relief.

After a long climb we descended into Boulder. We saw a "milkshake" sign and headed straight for it, but it was closed. :( The owner saw us and came out and invited us in and served us some delicious black raspberry shakes.

(We've met some really nice people along our route).

At that point we decided we were finished for the day. It was 95! 

The name of our hotel is OZ Motel. I wonder how they came up with that name?

About 35 miles to Butte tomorrow.  We'll leave at 6am to beat the heat and make it a short day.

Day 7 and we're at about the 400 mile point.

Wrong turn

Hey everybody. We're back!

Thursday we left Lincoln expecting a big day in the saddle. Potentially,  we had 3 crossings of the continental divide.  Our first big climb was up to Stemple Pass.  There were 3 possible routes and we made the mistake of asking someone.  Unfortunately they pointed us the way to Helena via the road system.  Our route was thru the mountains.  We descended about 10 miles.  Funny thing, the cues lined up and it took me a while to figure out we were too far East.  We then faced a dilemma: follow the 270 down the road to Helena; or climb back up and get on course. Tom L-S, you'll be proud to hear we did the right thing. Lucky for us,  about 1/3 the way up we got a lift in a pickup to the top.  :-)

I've done these sorts of things in adventure races. When you make a wrong turn you stress about it. But this time it really didnt bother me. Oh well, so we were 3 hours behind. This isn't a race, and that's part of what makes it so enjoyable.

As we descended our first continental divide crossing,  we were so happy we retraced back to the route. Marsh Creek Canyon and Prickly Pear Creek were gorgeous! Both Doug and I couldn't stop smiling and exclaiming around every turn.

We turned up Lost Horse Creek and started to climb towards our second crossing.

At 5pm we spotted a small pond with a place to camp. It was super hot so we both dropped our bikes and stripped down for a swim. It was burr cold but felt SO good!

After that, we were finished for the day. We washed our sweaty clothes and set up camp in a beautiful spot next to a creek and cooked dinner. Despite our 'detour' it was a great day.

Montana,  all I can say is, "wow!"

For those of you watching online and noticed we were heading off course, sorry if we worried you. We did send a "we're ok" message from the Spot out families to let them know there was no trouble.

Seeley Lake - Ovando - Lincoln

Started out the morning with breakfast with Sam Schultz.  Thanks for coming up from Missoula, Sam. Hope you caught some fish.

It was a tough morning after that. First, we had to say goodbye to Renae and Daniel. It was SO nice to see their smiling faces at the end of a hard day of riding. I will miss Renae!!!!

Next, although we jettisoned a BUNCH of gear, this was the first day of carrying it, and it was a SHOCK to our legs. To top it off, the dirt road was waterlogged from heavy rain last night and we sunk into the road making it tougher to make forward progress. At one point we looked at our odometer and lamented we had only gone 5 miles. We had 60 to go!

We came out of the forest and stopped at the quirky town of Ovando for a lunch snack.

From Ovando we headed across the Blackfoot Valley to the start of the climb up Huckleberry Pass. I thought about offering the guy tending his garden at the last house before the road pitched up $20 for a ride to the top, but didn't.  Good thing. Despite all the new weight Doug and I are now pulling, our new found fitness kicked in and we kept a good, strong, steady pace. In fact, we actually pulled in two riders in front of us. Once they saw the grey in our beards they found new energy and passed us before the summit.

We almost had a disaster on the way down. The skewer on my rear axle, the one to which the Bob trailer connects, came lose.  Luckily, I noticed it while stopped. When I went to start, my rear wheel came loose and rubbed against the chain stays. I shudder to think if it would have come off while going downhill at 25 mph. Lesson learned! Bob really needs to make an adapter for a 16mm thru axle!!!

We pulled into The Three Bears Motel in Lincoln about 6pm - 9 hours of riding. Big day, but super stoked at our performance.

For those of you following on Trackleader, I think the Spot gps batteries failed somewhere in route. Sorry about that. We'll start the morning with fresh new batteries.

To all my friends at Tullys, my bum is doing fine. Thanks for being concerned.  :-)

I didn't take any pics with the phone today so none to share.  Sorry.

We're at the 309 mile mark. And tomorrow we cross the Continental Divide for the first time.

The deer in MT

The deer are EVERYWHERE in this part of MT. We've seen hundreds so far. Today we even saw one jump into the side of a truck.
Their tales are long like a dog's and whenever they are startled the tail goes straight up. The tail is white on the underside.

Prettiest Day So Far

Wow! What a gorgeous day! Montana is so beautiful.  

We left our B&B in Condon and headed south down the 83 for 7 miles and then turned left towards Holland Lake. From Holland lake we climbed over 2,500 ft with beautiful vistas behind us. We stopped at Clearwater Lake to have lunch and watched a family of loons across the lake. As we neared the top of the climb the road turned to single track through Aspen groves that were  prime grizzly bear country. Both Doug and I were blowing our whistles to let them know we were coming. At the very top we ran into a young fellow who was traveling the divide from south to north. He is from Prescott, AZ.  He was doing the route solo and therefore was very chatty when he met us.

From the saddle we began our descent down 3 miles of fun single track until we hit the gravel road. At that point the sky begin to darken and the thunder clouds erupted. We got drenched. But, at least it was all downhill to Seeley Lake.
Tomorrow we plan to have breakfast with Sam Schultz which was a nice surprise. Then we will head toward Lincoln, which is about 65 miles.
We're having a great time. Hope you enjoy following along.

2 days and 110 miles

After an easy cruise paralleling 93 we headed for the mountains.  A long, hard climb brought us to our first camp sight at Tuchuck - 40 mile mark. We met a nice guy named Bill from Pittsburgh who is doing the route solo. He was apprehensive of bears and was glad to have company overnight.
The next morning we were off at 7 a.m.. It was very cold. After a beautiful descent, we hit the long 12 mile climb to Red Meadow Lake. After a nice lunch we pressed on towards Whitefish. We stopped in Whitefish and had some bbq ribs which were delicious. 
We hooked up with Renae and Daniel who are following us for a couple of days about 10 miles past Whitefish.
So 110 miles in 2 days.  Not a bad start! We've done 4%!

Day 1. And we're off!

We left Mossyrock (Doug's home) at 2pm. Stopped in Bonners Ferry at 9pm. Got up early (it was light at 4am) and followed Koocanusa Lake up to Eureka and then only 8 miles to the border.  It took a half hour to get our gear together and we were ready to go.

The adventure begins. Only 2470 miles to go.

Sorting thru the gear

Only a few more days, and we will be off to Roosville, MT to start our epic adventure. We've been planning for months. We've read the blogs, the books, and spoke with people who have done it. And now it's time. Doug and I are going to ride our mountain bikes the entire length of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route - from the Canadian border to the Mexican border - 2470 miles.  We are pulling BOB Ibex trailers and carrying paniers on the front.  We've budgeted 39 days, which is about 100k or 65 miles per day.

We will be posting our story to this blog when time and internet connection permits. We've provided a link to Trackleaders which will show our progress and current location using a SPOT GPS tracker. For those of you who want to follow us on the route, please use this link.

We are super excited to get started! Day 1 = June 22.