Day 11:

Left Missoula and rode 100 miles to Avon Montana today.

Day 12:

Well, the new lower gear paid off today as we climbed to 6320 feet and crossed the continental divide. What a day. It rained hard before I got to the pass and it was started snowing as I reached the pass. I quickly donned all my layers of clothing cause it was getting cold. There was a pit stop at the top of the pass, but I didn’t stay there long cause once I stopped pedaling then I really began to get cold. Not only that, but as you go down out of the pass, you don’t pedal because of the steep hill down. You also go fast and build up a significant wind chill. So I took off as quickly as possible to get to a lower altitude. I rode my brakes to keep from going too fast, I was sopping wet and cold enough that my hands were getting numb. So I pedaled to keep warm even though I was using my brakes.

Finally got down and stopped in Helena Montana at a restaurant to warm up, then continued on in the pouring rain to Townsend. It was dry in Townsend, but I was still drenched, and as my luck would have it, the truck with my gear on it had broken down and I had to wait two hours for warm dry cloths.

By the time I got my tent up, the sun was starting to shine and it was breezy. Believe it or not, as wet as I and all my clothing was, it all dried out in a couple of hours including my shoes.

They shut down the ride shortly after I came through the pass because of the weather conditions. Only about 100 riders completed the ride today.

I crossed the Missouri River in Townsend.

Day 13:

We rode to an even higer elevation today than the day before, but it was dry so it was not nearly as unpleasant. The last 50 miles of the ride had 30 mph tail winds. I could go over 20mph without pedaling. I kept right up with the tumbling tumble weeds. Tail winds were great, but when the road turned and the winds became 30 mph cross winds, it was not pleasant. I was able to hold the bike on the road, but I heard that at least two people were knocked off the road with the winds. (when you have 700 people, anything is bound to happen at least once or twice.)

Pitched my tent for the first time in the wind. I had to stake it before setting it up or it would have blown away at about 30 mph. For the first time we camped in an area with soft dirt and no rocks and no gravel, and I was able to use the tent stakes without bending them.

Day 14:

I did some more 20 today. The first 45 miles of the trip had 10-15 mph tail winds and 75 degree sunny weather. Biking can’t get much nicer.

Two days ago, the temperature was 31 degrees. This afternoon it reached 91.