Day 14 miles: 13 by bike, 42 by car. Days 15: 0 Day 16 miles: 45 Total: 676
By bike:
On Day 14 my saddle sores were so bad from my first century that I could only do about 13 miles, then I used my sweet Road Angel’s car and driving skills to go to Missoula. We also avoided the treacherous section of Hwy 93 into Whitefish. The 13 mile ride was rainy and cold but I did meet two Quebecois and we discussed our journeys as they were doing a giant US/Canada loop starting and ending in Bozeman, Montana.
Before going to Missoula, we stopped for breakfast in Whitefish and I dropped my bike off at the one bike shop in town. The mechanics were hilarious and overall awesome people. They looked at my front derailleur and provided general bike maintenance after all of the mountain passes I had climbed. They also gave me excellent advice regarding saddle sores and general butt care while bike touring.
“If you tag us, make sure you use #AssDoctor!”- bike mechanic on the left
Day 15 was essentially a rest day in Missoula. Lauren will share more on that.
We headed back to Whitefish and camped at an RV site. Lauren’s front tire on her bike had been flat and she took it upon herself to patch her tube so she could ride her bicycle at her leisure whenever possible.
Cleaning her bike, oiling her chains (note the grease stain on her forehead) and patching tubes like a pro!
Day 16 was special in so many ways. On my ride from Whitefish to Glacier I took an off-road and saw probably 50 deer, as well as 100 pieces of real estate I wanted to acquire. It was quiet and peaceful. Getting in closer to Glacier I became progressively more excited because of what I was about to see.
I was not alone with these feelings, however. Cars were everywhere packing into Glacier. I had to be off the roads by 11 so I booked it. Lauren, being as awesome as she is, did some recon and secured one of the last, if not THE last, campsite at Avalanche Creek. This was the last campsite before the epic portion of Going to the Sun Road- the most scenic road in the park where cyclists are only allowed to ride before 11am and after 4pm. I decided to make it a short day.
We ventured over MacDonald lake and admired the scenery while Lauren had me take 9320683817455572113 photos of us over the water. It was lovely.
One of the most meaningful parts of the day was meeting Jim and Moss, two other bikers at the West Glacier Cafe. Lauren had actually already met them on the road and offered them water a day or two ago and pointed them out to me. There was a third cyclist (another retired physician) who was headed west. He’s so close to the end!
The food was terrible but the company was the sweetest thing in the entire cafe. Moss’ first words were, “Good to meet you! And hopefully we will a thousand times more!”
After checking out the souvenir shop, we headed back to the campsite and went up Going to the Sun Road. I was extremely tired and hesitant to drive up this road since I would be biking it tomorrow, but I’m glad Lauren made me. It was also nice to see Lauren as she not only smelled the roses–she had me take in every single rose with her.
I’m glad I did as the next day it was extremely foggy.
By car:
Day 14: We started the day with some fresh coffee on the front porch of the cabin and some morning love provided by Sierra.
I drove Matthew to the restaurant so he could pick up right where he left off. The weather wasn’t exactly the greatest, but also not the worst. I spent some time seeing Eureka, catching up on the phone with my mom, and eventually following the same bike route that Matthew was on. Prior to taking the route, I stopped by a historical site and saw two other cyclists coming from the opposite direction. They parked their bikes and I struck up a conversation with them.
This is Andre and Maria- the couple from Quebec Matthew mentioned earlier.
“We think we met your husband! He has a tall flag on the back of his bike, yes?” Andre asked.
“Yeah that’s him! I’m glad you were able to cross paths! Where are you riding in from today?”
“Whitefish. That road out of Whitefish is horrible,” Maria expressed with wide eyes.
I knew exactly what they were talking about. In my deep analysis of this route prior to starting the trip, I saw multiple cyclists journal about this one section on highway 93 between Stryker and Whitefish that is a complete nightmare.
One cyclist even wrote a joke in his blog about this section: “Styker? Damn near killed her!”
No shoulders and cars whipping by anywhere from 70-80 miles per hour. Much of the traffic seems to be impatient around there.
Matthew and I had already agreed early on that I would meet him just before that section and drive him through it. We figured if he had free access to a vehicle, we might as well use it when safety is too much of a concern.
I met up with Matthew, loaded his bike, and drove into Whitefish. We saw what people were talking about.
“I would not have enjoyed this at all,” Matthew repeated several times.
Day 15: We stopped for breakfast and dropped Matthew’s bike at the bike shop. Although his bike had seen some improvements at Bad Medicine Bike Shop, there were still issues. We found ourselves having excellent conversations with the bike mechanics; eventually we got into the personal topic of saddle sores. One of the guys heavily recommended chamois butter.
We left Matthew’s bike at the shop and drove the 1.5 hours into Missoula. There were several reasons for doing this. The first: we’ve had our eye on Missoula for a while now as a potential place to live. We knew we’d want to take time to visit it. Instead of taking time off in the future and paying for flights, why not drive the extra distance off the bike route for less than $50 in gas? Next: Adventure Cycling Association HQ is here!
As soon as we told the woman at the front desk we were doing a cross country trip, she paged one of the employees to come out and greet us. They gave us a free tour, free bandanas and took a picture of us to post on their wall. They post photos of all of the touring cyclists/support crew that pass through. Our photo will be up there for a year, so if you happen to stop by Missoula, go to the ACA Headquarters and look for us!
We ended the tour with free ice cream and soda in the Cyclists’ Lounge.
Day 16:
Back in Whitefish, Matthew grabbed his repaired bike and pedaled onward to West Glacier. His goal was to bike the first part of Going to the Sun Road. This road only allows cyclists before 11am and after 4pm due to the heavy traffic. The first section Matthew would be biking today was mainly flat; the real challenge and beauty would be tomorrow, when he bikes the second half and his actual final mountain pass (we forgot he still had one more pass to climb…)
While Matthew started his breathtakingly scenic ride, I eventually drove over and scouted out campsites. We lost cell phone service again at this point, so we had made a general plan with back up plans.
Each campsite I found was completely full with the exception of the final site before the mountain pass. This meant Matthew *really* had to book it in order to made it that far before 11am!
The campsite was perfect, despite the small fear of grizzlies enjoying our campsite with us.
Matthew miraculously made it off the road with 6 minutes to spare! No time to rest- we only had two days in Glacier so each second counted. We enjoyed a small hike and explored Lake McDonald in West Glacier. Millions of photos ensued.
Avalanche trail
Lake McDonald
The scenery was so inviting that we were neglecting our stomachs. Bears weren’t the only things growling that day. We decided to go near the visitor center where most of the restaurants were and settled in a burger joint. Then one of the most fortuitous run-ins occurred.
There were three men sitting behind me, and I thought I recognized two of them.
“Matthew, I think two of those men are Jim and Moss- the guys I offered water to!”
Matthew’s eyes lit up. Another pair of Northern Tier riders! I wasn’t positive if it was truly them, though. I handed Matthew my phone so he could inspect the photo I had of them and compare.
Eventually one of the guys stood up and walked by our table. I took my chances.
“Jim, right?” I asked.
He looked down at me and seemed uncertain. If I wasn’t creepy enough, this certainly added to it. I wouldn’t blame him if he had just ignored me.
“Uh….yeeahh…” He smiled and held his finger up, trying to remember my name (or pretending like he was recalling who I was, at the very least).
“I’m Lauren! The girl who gave you water near Libby Dam!”
Jim smacked his hands together and beamed with an inviting smile. “THAT’S RIGHT! Moss! This is the girl who gave us water!”
We sat at their table and shared our stories. They were headed up to the same campsite we were staying! Moss eagerly invited Matthew to join the two of them for their ride tomorrow morning. For the first time, Matthew would actually have a crew of riding partners. How about that.
We finally went back up the mountain and I convinced Matthew to drive up Going to the Sun Road with me since the weather was perfect. I already knew the next morning would be foggy and freezing, so this was our one shot at really seeing the beauty of this section of Glacier. I’m so unbelievably glad we did.
Check. This. Out.
Another perfect end to another perfect day. Tomorrow will be a tough climb for the guys, and they need an early start to be done before 11:00. Hopefully the weather won’t be too horrible…
No Jobs, No Home, No Worries. A Shared Journey by Bike and Support SUV Across the U.S. 