The Rockies

Glacier National Park! I started the 66 mile day into St. Mary's taking over sweep with Jason. The first 30 miles were windy and slow, but the mountains grew on the horizon and nothing could get me in a bad mood. I found a Montana License plate and strapped it under my seat. During the second half of the ride a wonderful thing happened. Trees blocked the wind and we could ride again. Matt, Jason and I enjoyed the gradual ascent with a few switchbacks. We stopped to rub aspen bark sun screen on our faces and chew the bark for the drug in Asprin. We ended with the most satisfying 8 mile descent into St. Mary's to camp. The three of us picked up Eileen and went to St. Mary's lake for a refreshingly freezing swim to the most amazing view. I just kept saying, "It's the Rockies!" Camping out, Angel and I looked up at the most stars I've ever seen in Big Sky Country--Montana. Of course there was a meteor shower that night and we saw a dozen shooting stars! Can't get better than that.

Ride through Glacier was Epic. 18 mile ascent, 30 mile descent. The ride up was great. Long gradual incline with switchbacks and so many views to stop and take in. Saw the last of a glacier and the most beautiful array of wildflowers of anywhere. The last 5 miles was where it got fun--rain. By the time we reached the top it was low 40's and raining hard. Our descent was down Logan's pass with construction in 3 places and delays. We stood in the lodge for a few minutes, but there was no question we were doing it. Cydney, Angel, Jeremy, Wade and I started out our insane adventure over Logan's Pass and the continental divide with a rain dance. Two miles in we hit traffic waiting on construction. The rain and wind were cutting through us and we couldn't stop, so we walked the narrow edge past the cars and rode through the construction. Coldest I've ever been?! 2/3 construction traffic. Quick thoughts of waiting on a shuttle. No way. Few more miles. Stop and cydney's worrying a bit but we resolve it with a crazy warm up rain dance. Bike. 3/3 construction, keeping on. Back break pads wore to nothing and the front ones are scraping metal, but doable. The 5 of us crammed into a portabathroom for 5 minutes of warmth. More crazy rain dancing and off again. Stopped and had a little scare when Angel didn't show up for 10 minutes and a car said he hadn't seen him, but he rolled down and we rolled on. After an intense 18 miles, the hill got less steep and we could pedal which helped bring some feeling back. Finally hit Logan Lake Lodge and barrelled into a pizza restaurante with a buffet. Took us an hour in the bathroom to get Angel to stop shaking, but we survived. In the end, half the group understandably took shuttles down, and we ate a dozen slices of pizza each. The crazy part was getting ourselves back on our bikes for 40 more miles. After that initial push, the last stretch turned out to be great. Rolling hills that reminded us of the Adirondacks but with the view of the Rockies in the background. We ended in White Fish, where we were spoiled with showers, a hot tub, a steam room, and a dry sauna at the local fitness center--taking advantage of each. We had just finished 11 straight ride days. Epic.