DAY 25 - Rail Trail

Well after saying goodbye to our new family we headed off.
Another flat day riding was ahead, but what we have discovered is that even if the book & maps say flat - it does not always mean easy riding....
We traveled for 50km along an old rail track which had been covered in soft volcanic sand so the riding was rather slow in places as the wheels sank & slid!
The riding was however quite nice & we are not really complaining.
We had been promised a tunnel but when we arrived it was shut & we had to go around it instead, the last 10km we followed the warm River which was absolutely stunning scenery.
We arrived at the Warm River campground where the guide book suggested spending the night & it was a really pretty setting, we need food for the next 4 days so we had to push on to a town called Ashton to again restock the panniers.
Ashton is 16km from the campground & 10km off route, but we made it to town, have done some shopping & have been sitting in a cafe eating & blogging (free WiFi - gotta love it!) .
We are about to sign off & head back to the Warm River campground for the night.

By the way we are world famous in Butte as pat who helped Scott fix his bike mentioned us in his newspaper column - even putting our blog site in for people to check out - see link?
http://mtstandard.com/articles/2009/08/26
/sports/hjjajbhehggjjd.txt

hello anyone from Butte reading this...

Mothers - Pls note we will be out of range for probably the next 4-5days so pls don't be worried if you don't hear from us in a while..
that goes for you too Brenda! :-)

Mum - don't call Brenda & be worried... ha

Hope everyone is well, Dany & Elmar - we can't get Nutella in the small towns - devastated! we have had to buy jam (Boysenberry incase you were wondering)!

Now we have some questions for people - pls see below & answer if your name appears (don't be offended if it doesn't)

SMASH: Where are you - we enjoyed your comments on the 1st few posts

ANDY & ANDREA (& Howie): How you have been enjoying the Van?? Remember it needs to be driven..

BRENDA & RICHARD: Have you made use of the Van? Have you booked your tickets to Raro yet?

DARYL & VIC: Are you alive? Would love to hear from you & the Boys.

HEATHER: Thank you for your comment, pls answer the question from yesterdays post re: Paul & Cutting?

DANY & ELMAR: Hope you have been out on the road bikes?

NICOLE & MIKE: How is everything going being shacked up in the valley together? Hope you have been for walks as recommended on my welcome letter?
How is the Millie Puss - we miss her, hope she does not love you more than she loves us?
can you start showing her a picture of us everyday so she remembers us? ha

C4 CREW: How are you? Hope you are all well?

DAVE & BETH: How is the puppy training going?
Scott has just read an interesting article about SAR dogs in Yosemite NP - We will bring it home for you to read.

ANDRE & TARA: Thanks for the Dog updates, Andre you need to come & ride this route on your motorbike - lots of people do & you would love it.

THAT-MAN-WHO CREW: Missing you all.... hope you still remember me.
Simon - thanks for the comment - how was China?
John A - How are the hints for the new pack GT going?

DORIS: Hope you are getting lots of people playing Badminton? Love to Darryn also

DISTANCE: 83.5km
RIDE TIME: 4.53hrs
AVERAGE: 17km
ASCEND: 235mtrs

DAY 24 - Rest day - Family Outing to Yellowstone Park

Sleep in - ahhhh how lovely that was...

We were all ready & rearing to go on the family outing to Yellowstone by 10:30 as planned.
In the truck & off we went mum, dad & the 3 kids... ha
The park was everything we expected & more, we saw Elk, Buffalo & Wolves in the distance & dancing together (could not see Kevin Costner through the binoculars).
Ron was a great tour guide taking us to all the top spots however he was disappointed we ran out of time to go all the way to Mammoth hot springs.
We were more than happy with how much we saw & learnt with our great hosts.
Old faithful was faithful & performed for us right on time (for those who don't know what this is, it is a Geyser that blows every 40ish minutes - google it)
we were more fascinated by the 1/4mile circle of people waiting to cheer the Geyser when it blew!! classic! we were not disappointed.

On the way to Yellowstone Falls we had a traffic jam with 2 Buffalo just wondering down the middle of the road - totally unaware or just did not care of the amount of cars they were holding up (and people complain about cyclists!!) lucky for us they were going the opp direction & were kind enough to be walking on the correct side of the road , they walked passed our car so close I could have reached out the window & touched them I did not however as when entering the park you are given a special flyer warning you that Buffalo are very dangerous & do not approach - Duh! (although you can see how people do as they look so placid)
Yellowstone falls were beautiful & I can see why they are called the 'Grand Canyon' of Yellowstone.

We headed home & stopped for a family dinner at West Yellowstone town - thanks Mark again for shouting - that was very naughty of you!
Once we arrived back at the campground mum (Jean) made was Chocolate sundaes - yum!

What a great rest day we had off.
Scott in particular enjoyed questioning Ron on all sorts of topics to do with life in the US of A.
By the way Ron is a state government representative, we were left with the impression he is not Obama's #1 fan - I bet they are not friends on face book that is for sure.... ha
A huge thanks to Ron, Jean & Mark for there amazing hospitality & we would love to return the favour one day (Mark hope you in NZ 1 day soon)

DAY 23 - Good Bye Montana - Hello Idaho

We knew we had a divide crossing this morning so we tried our best to get up & away early to beat the heat...
But a lovely couple who had arrived late the night before came over for a chat, the time passed very quickly talking to them about life in Montana & there time living in France that it was 11am before we hit the road, the divide crossing however was over before Jo realised it, she commented to Scott at the top "Is that it? & I hope the rest are this easy!!"
Cresting the divide we left Montana & entered Idaho.
Another 10km along the road we came across a cowboy cutting event (where they have to separate 1 cow from the herd & keep it out for an amount of time - is this what you do Paul Fleet??)
We were both so impressed with the skill of the horses as they twisted & turned blocking the cows from returning from the herd & were impressed with how the cowboys stayed on the horses!!
We pulled up & went & watched for a while feeling very out of place in our Lycra get ups whilst everyone else were in Blue jeans, Checkered shirts, Massive belt buckles, Cowboy boots & Hats..
After leaving we had another small climb before turning off the road & onto a snowmobile track which we followed for about 12km. we were both blown away by the height of the orange track markers to show where the road is when there is snow - they would have been about 12ft high!!

This track dropped us into a small service town which was about 6km from the campsite for the night so once again we stocked up with food & because it was Friday we even shouted ourselves a 'Giant' can of beer each (about 1ltr) - It amazes us that you can buy beer in service stations singly...
We ate like kings tonight with re fried bean burritos with lettuce & sour cream & our beers + we had bought a huge plastic container of strawberries for dessert (they are so cheap over here!)
Just after arriving & setting up camp at Big Spring campground we meet a guy called Mark who was there also for the weekend with his parents to do a bit of fishing.
He was a local to the area so we quizzed him as to where would be the best place to rent a car as we were thinking since we are so close to Yellowstone park it would be a shame to not go see it & we had read in other peoples blogs that they rented a car to drive around for a day or 2.
Later that arvo Mark came back to tell us that he had contacted a friend in the town we were asking about & that there was no car rentals available, but that him & his parents were heading to Yellowstone for a visit on sat & we would be welcome to ride along with them of we liked? They were off fishing & told us to have a think & come over to there campsite (there Tin Tee pee as they called it) at dusk when they are back & let them know what we wanted to do.
So we arrived just as they were lightening the campfire, we took our strawberries over (Good old kiwi's - always need to take something over to offer) meet Marks Mum & dad Ron & Jean, they made us feel so very welcome - Jean even made us banana splits using our strawberries which we ate around the campfire.
We decide we would join the family outing to Yellowstone the next day.
We did not stay late sitting around the campfire was they wanted to go fishing in the morning before we headed away on the family outing...

DISTANCE: 54.6km
AVERAGE: 17km
RIDE TIME: 3.12hours
ASCENT: 345mtrs

DAY 22 - Flat does not always mean Flat...

Away from Lima we had a long flat day of riding ahead it was another lovely blue sky Montana day as we set out.
After stopping at the service station/ supermarket to fill up the food pannier we headed into the wild west (actually east) the day was described as being a long but flat day so we thought we had a day of quite
easy riding ahead, this kind of was the case but the roads traveled were quite rough alot of washboards & alot of updulating the entire day.
the sun was extremely hot & we were riding down roads completely void of tress, such a contrast to northern Montana, where all we saw were tress!
We were riding through ranch country which Jo found especially intresting as there was alot of hay making & farm work going on around us (it appears horses have been replaced by 4 wheel quads in cowboy country these days!)
The day was fairly uneventful & we make good time arriving at the campground early arvo, we had stopped on the way to the campground at the ranger station to check if there was anything we needed to know & to fill up water bottles - the rangers over here are so helpful & very informative we spent a bit of time chatting before going back out into the heat to finish the day.
The campground was next to a lake & located in a wildlife refuge (although you can still hunt??)
the campground had a lovely water spring which we took good advantage off re hydrating.
Chatted to another cycle tourist who arrived just after us but was heading back to Lima & told us we had inspired him to do it in 1 day, he had panned to do it in 2.
Apparently the ranger told us that the huge holes that were dug in the middle of the road that we had seen during the day was made from Badgers & that the chances of seeing a Badger at the campground was high - but alas we did not see any! boo.

DISTANCE: 92.2km
AVERAGE: 18.1km
RIDE TIME: 5.05hrs
ASCEND: 525mtrs

DAY 21 - What goes up must come down..

Up & away early today we knew we had a morning of climbing ahead so wanted to get started before it got too hot. Said good bye to B & P as they were meeting some friends at Morrison lake & we had decided to push on to Lima (like the bean).
The climb was gradual but long finishing with a very steep 2km section.
We enjoyed lunch on top of the Medicine Lodge Big Sheep Creek Divide, before diving down the other side (saw a blue dog up there too... they are very popular here in the state apparently?)
After another flat up- dulating section of about 8km we finally got to enjoy the promised 30km downhill - what a treat that was.
We passed through the most beautiful canyon following the big sheep creek which was beautiful.
This bought us out to the final 12km stretch & wouldn't you know it - we had a head wind!
It had been very hot all day & we had both ran out of water & were extremely thirsty so as soon as we got into Lima we went straight for the cold drinks fridge at the service station & both knocked back a litre of Poweraid!
Found the campsite for the night & did laundry had a shower & headed to Lima only fine dining establishment for dinner 'Jan's Cafe' both enjoying a 'Cowboy burger & fries!
After finishing this blog entry we are going back to Jan's for some pie? oink oink.

DISTANCE: 99km
AVERAGE: 17km
RIDE TIME: 5.47
ASCEND: 825mtrs

By the way we are now on map 3 of 7 - yahoo
Not sure when we will be able to blog again - as we are only passing through very small towns in the next few days.

Well done Charlie on walking to Mr Sue's - hope you had a 'V' for me & you are recovered now!
Next time get Justine out for fresh air & exercise as well!

For those who don't realise you do not have to have a gmail account to post comments you can do it as an anonymous post & just sign it.
Keep those comments coming...they make us feel special...

bye

DAY 20 - Ghost town (s)

We left with the guys this morning as we all needed to stop at the only shop around.
Stopped, and shopped!
We left B and P sorting out their budget, with the intention of catching up later.
We cruised along a paved road all the way to Bannack State Park where we stopped for lunch. Prior to lunch we called in to check out the local cemetery, as you do? The cemetery was just like you would see in a western. The last person buried there that we saw was in 1910 and we think the average age of people in the graves was mid 20's!
The actual State Park is a true ghost town which people finally left in the 60's. It was purchased by Montana State and is open for people to walk around, with most of the buildings open for you to go in. Fascinating. Most buildings were built in the 1880's, photos to follow.
After a cool (actually a freakin hot) couple of hours we headed off on the second part of our day. We had intended on stopping in a small town called Grant. However Grant was as much of a ghost town as Bannack, just scarier as there apparently were people still living there, but no motels or camping as stated in our maps and guidebook. Even the pub was shutdown.
We were going to stay with B and P again tonight but they had not caught us up, so we scratched a note for them in the gravel and hoped they would see it. Just as we were about to leave we spotted them coming so waited for them.
We rode on another 12km and found a spot to camp on public land.
Our first night of open sky's with no trees around.
We sat up latish chatting again and drinking red wine from a Nalgene plastic bottle. Very posh!
Once the stars came out, Ben got out his "glow in the dark" astrological bandanna and we tried to spot constellations without much success.
Saw some amazing shooting stars with long tails. Montana really is "Big Sky Country".

DISTANCE: 77.3KM
AVERAGE: 18.7KPH
RIDE TIME: 4.08HRS
ASCEND: 400m

DAY 19 - Short Day????

We had a slower start this morning as we were having a short "easy" day today.
Well the distance was easy, but surprise surprise, there was a little climbing to be done too.
Not a lot to tell about the ride, just that the amount of climbing surprised us once again!
Our day end's destination was close to a Hot Springs which we fully intended to make use of. We got to the CG, set up then did some laundry as it was a glorious day.
We then walked up to Elkhorn Hot Springs. As we get close Ben and Patrick were riding down from sussing out the HS's. We suggested we share the campsite and they went off to set up while we went and soaked.
Imagine Hanmer Springs if you will. These are not like that at all!!! They need some love and attention, to say the least. But hey, we ain't complaining, we got in for half price as one of the pools was being cleaned and we got to listen to the subtle sounds of a water blaster. We did have the pool to ourselves though.
After leaving the pools suitable tired we hit the "restaurant" which opened at 3pm. We were there at 3.01pm and in need of food. The "chef" had told us that he was bummed to be at work has he had been enjoying crushing "pop" cans at home in the sun. Interesting fella?
As we left for camp the boys arrived to soak.
We wandered back to camp and actually had a relaxing couple of hours reading and dozing.
Cooked dinner and the boys finally arrived back after their soak and a meal. We stood around the camp fire whilst asking them all about life in Louisiana and the States in general. Great guys and a cool night of laughs.

DISTANCE: 37KM
AVERAGE: 16.1kph
RIDE TIME: 2.17hrs
ASCEND: 540m

DAY 18 - Butte - Pattengill CG

After an extremely hot and busy day in Butte yesterday, we awoke this morn to the sound of light rain on the tent.
It did not come to much but threatened to all day.
We were up and away quite quickly this morning with the first 20km on sealed road. We did a fairly firm climb before hitting the dirt. At 30km we did our 6th Continental Divide crossing. The climb had been very gradual and quite enjoyable. We celebrated with lunch hiding behind a toilet to avoid the strong, cool wind.
From there we had a fairly long descent to a point where a decision was to be made.
Actually the decision had been made for us by a good intentioning advise giver in Butte. He had done the route a couple of years before on a tandem and suggested that we not do a particular section which has a bad (good for some) reputation.
So we headed off on the detour into a fairly steady, straight in ya face, head wind for 14km. After that we turned and had a great side/tail wind all the way to Wise River (town), 20km away. This section of road followed the Wise River, a beautiful river famously known for it's fly fishing, and there certainly were one or two people fishing on that river!
We stopped at the local store to get a drink and some chippies before hitting the last 16km of the day.
With 4km to go the thunder started and the heavens opened, but only for a few minutes. It was a race to the nights campsite, which we won (just).
As we pulled into the CG we noticed another couple of guys on bikes camping there also. Their names are Ben and Patrick and they hail from Louisiana. Good southern boys.
We had a quick chat then went and put our tent and tarp up, and cooked some dinner. We took our after dinner hot drinks down to have a yarn we the boys before hitting the sack.

DISTANCE: 100.4KM
AVERAGE: 16.3KPH
RIDE TIME: 6.10HRS
ASCEND: 1080M

DAY 17 - Pat and Ed ROCK

Both of us struggled to get up this morning, our sleeping bags were super comfy this morning, and it was supposed be be an easy, short day. Yesterday had taken it's toll as we both felt tired.
We got away earlish and enjoyed 10km of flat gravel road before a short sharp wake up, then more flat all along an old railway bed.
We went through the first tunnel of our trip which was built in 1911. It was kinda cool, in fact as you entered it the temperature change was amazing. By the way, it was hot again!
After another couple of short but steep wee climbs we ended up on a paved road that ran parallel with an Interstate. We followed this for about 16km before joining the Interstate to cross the Continental Divide for the fifth time then zoomed downhill all the way to Butte.
On yesterdays rough and steep section Scott managed to break his helmet in half. We had both taken our lids off as it was so hot and as we were pushing rather than riding. At one stage Scot dropped his bike and the helmet was between the ground and the heavily laden bike. With no scull in it to provide support it broke!!!! Stuff, bugger, etc.
This section also finished off Scott's suspension fork (Matt Tait if you are reading this you will not be surprised) finally died. It had been slowly happening but this section finished it off - not just Jo and Scott.
So this is quite a problem as it is an old school fork using older measurements and rim brakes rather than disc which are the standard now. The other problem is that today is Saturday. First bike shop we stopped at (owned and run by Levi Leipheimer's brother) could not help but suggested anther shop. On our way there we found the only campground in town (and our most expensive yet), booked in, put up tent and dumped gear. Onto the next shop. He also could not help us BUT he phoned a customer who apparently collects bike bits, and does some home wrenching.
While we waited for the customer to turn up we went downstairs in the bikeshop to their Coffee Roastery!!!!! Had a great chat with Ed's wife who is the roaster. Very interesting stuff.
Pat turned up with a bucket full of forks but none were really that suitable so we followed him home where we found a fork that would work. Pat is the MAN. We had the new fork on in no time (well, kind of in no time) while his friend and his son, and Pat's wife and daughter entertained Jo!!!
Pat would not let me pay for the fork or even buy him beer. We have however organised a little something for him as a thank you.
Pat, thank you so so much for getting us out of trouble!
We finally let Pat get on with his day and we went and got food and a new helmet!
Butte is a very interesting town, so much so it is a designated Nation Historical Place. A population of about 35000, built on a rich and colourful history of mining. In fact the whole backdrop to the town is an opencast mine. Not that pretty. Apparently famous for it's Cornish Pasties, which we didn't get a chance to try but the Subway is awesome.
We had hoped to actually spend a little time checking the town out but fixing bikes got in the way, Sorry Butte!

DISTANCE: 66.6KM
RIDE TIME: 4.06HRS
AVERAGE: 16.3KPH
ASCEND: 400m

Off into the wilderness for a couple of days. Will check in when we can.

DAY 16 - The Guide book lied to us....

After out lovely rest day in Helena we had a late start after eating far too much at the free breakfast.
We headed out at about 10am & it was already HOT!
The guide book had inferred that it would be a reality easy day , so much so that we had decided to do a day & a half riding.... when will we learn!
The book only mentioned a 12.8km gradual climb then a downhill which we did with ease... noticing along the way notices saying the campground was closed. We didn't stop to read the fine print until a little later when we did the notice was talking about the campground you are suppose to stay at @ the end of the day.
After the downhill hill we started to climb .. & we climbed some more & it was getting hotter in fact 40'c HOT!! (on Scott's watch), we stopped part way up to replenish our water bottles at a stream we have to filter all of our water so even that was hard work in the sun.
We had been stopped earlier by a car travelling in the opposite direction to tell us that they had just seen some Black Bears further up the road. Whilst Scott was filtering the water another car stopped to tell us that they had just spotted a baby Moose on the road about 150yards away & that mama moose would not be far away so to take care.
We pedaled on ringing our bells & calling out "Hey Bear" " Hey Moose" whilst climbing & frying.
The only wildlife we saw were several cows!!
We finally reached the nights designated camping area (the closed one). By this time we were both feeling a bit hard done by as the last 12km of solid climbing had not been mentioned in the book. So we headed into day 2 of the guide book which sounded relatively easy apart from a 4km stretch of rough & steep road. This time the book was accurate it was unrideable for the most part - extremely rocky where it was not sandy & really steep (even Scott had to push!) it took us 1 1/2hrs to cover about 5kms!!
Thankfully once we completed the climbing it really was all down hill for about 12km. This followed a really nice creek / canyon all the way to the weirdest town so far - Basin! ding -ding da ling ding (banjo's!).
We had forgotten to get cash in Helena & noticed a sign at the "Hotel" saying it had a ATM machine inside.
We went in (note, it is Friday night 6pm) & all 4 people at the bar & the Bar lady stopped turned around & stared! These goes those banjo's again if only we could hear them over the heavy rock music blaring...
As it turned out our card did not work so we left quietly & as quickly as we could hoping that the campsite accepted Visa.
Oh by the way into town - Scott's welcome to Basin was by getting his foot bitten by a Blue Heeler called Brownie (what the??) . We then stopped by a man who had just caught a little snake that was on the road. His daughter wanted to see it!!!!!!
1st off we should tell you that basin is a town where old cars go to die... & they are parked all over the main street - Incredible!
We asked a young guy for directions to the campsite his directions were as follows " head back down the main street to the big white church, turn right & you will notice a bunch of old car - Fords mainly .....blah blah blah... " Ford mainly - this cracked us up!

the campground was located at the Mary Widow Heath Mine this is a place people come to go down a old mine to enjoy the Radium gas - apparently helps pain? they also take bottles of the water to drink.
Saw some interesting people there, some Japanese ladies some Russian apparently & a group from Missouri, this last group were some type of Amish type religion, they were quite interested in what we were doing. 1 had even sleep in a tent once - before he was married - ha
Great thunder & lightening storms rolled in just as we got the tent & tarp up, we cooked/ showered & crashed whilst seeing the lightening through closed eyes - cool... it was very close!

DISTANCE: 68.9km
AVERAGE: 11.8km
RIDE TIME: 5.50hrs
ASCEND: 1520m

PUNCTURE: 1 - Scott

A few QUICK shots, click on them for larger images

Seeley Lake










Lunch spot












Bear Safety










friendly neighbour














a chipmunk

DAY 15 - REST

We woke this morning to our bodies self timer - not alarm clock!
We got dressed & headed for our cooked breakfast - YUM we ate as much as we could possible fit in!
On that note - it is amazing what we are eating - we are starting to think we won't be coming back skinner than we thought!! although we have both noticed our pants are much looser now than when we started.
After breakfast we walked into downtown Helena - stopping at the Museum for a look around.
Downtown was quite disappointing for us - alot of empty shops & not much to look at!
We found a very cool coffee/ confectionery/ novelty shop which Scott tried the coffee (disappointing again! but according to the girl - its the best in Helena?) we were just about to leave when we spotted the RJ's licorice for sale - so had to have some!
We then tried looking for somewhere to have lunch (yes our lives when bot riding seem to revolve searching out our next meal!)
After lunch we wondered back via the supermarket (food again!) & then just chilled out in the hotel room watching cable & resting the legs whist Scott sorted photo's & blogged.

Earlish night tonight as we are heading off again tomorrow... after another full cooked breakfast - yum!

Pls keep your comments coming as we look forward to hearing from you each time we sign in.

Hope everyone is well & the weather is improving over there.


DISTANCE: 6km walking to down town & back
AVERAGE: 4km ?
RIDE TIME: 0
ASCEND: 0

DAY 14 - Finding our Limits

Up & away early today - the weather for the day was looking great - warm & sunny.
We knew today was going to be big as we were trying to do another 2 n' 1 day of riding, but we possibly underestimated just how big it was going to be.
We also underestimated just how tired we were from the day before.
Today we have not 1 ....not 2.....but 3 continental divide crossings to concour!!!
After the 1st 20kms for so we began our 1st divide crossing described on the map as being extremely steep, the 1st 6km were actually quite manageable & lulled us into a false sense of security.
The track was challenging let alone the steepness we meandered our way up (Jo - pushing at times) slowly but steady.
Around the next corner the extremely steep part kicked in, not only that but it was HOT & the track we were on was very rough with big loose rocks making it hard to get traction.
After an hour & an half toil we reached the top - Shattered but happy the worst of the day was over (or so we thought!)
From there we headed down hill on equally as rough terrain, so did not get the pleasure of the downhill reward.
After another 20km we began to climb again this time on a slightly better road & although slightly less steep the cumulative effect of yesterday & the 1st crossing starting to take effect, before the climb proper we stopped & filtered some water before heading up as the temp was approx 28'c & we did not have much shade!
This climb seemed to go on forever & only cows for company the entire way.
We passed some old mine sites & a lovely older couple picking huckleberries who we stopped to chat to ( she wanted to give us a ride to Helena - her hubby did not seem so keen!)
Finally at the top we knew we had bitten of possibly a little more than we could chew! we also knew we had a downhill ahead which we were both looking forward to - this however was a rougher track than the 1st & took alot of concentration which we were struggling with!
Crossing #3 to go this was the lowest of the 3 & in theory the easiest but as we were already chewing more than we should have been this climb nearly finished us off! We were poked & still had 25km to go to get to Helena!
After crossing divide #3 we had a nice downhill all the way into Helena - yet it seemed to take a long time to get there.
Upon arriving we realised the only campground was 8km north of town, way to far for us as it was already 6pm & we were tired & hungry, so we stopped & a laundromat (which had wireless) & booked ourselves into a hotel for the next 2 nights. this is the 1st hotel/ motel we have had since leaving Calgary.
Upon arrival we were greeted with free popcorn? & a wonderful hot shower.... bliss!
We showered & headed out to the nearest restaurant for dinner & a well deserved cold beer (or two).
Our Hotel is extremely luxurious for 2 cycle tourist from NZ - Even getting free Hot cooked breakfast - yum!
Well deserved day off tomorrow to see what Helena has to offer (not to mention a sleep in!)

DISTANCE: 105.7km
RIDE TIME: 7.37hours
AVERAGE: 13.8km
ASCEND: 1595mtrs (biggest day climbing yet!)

DAY 13 - Double the fun and a bear

As mentioned in the last post we intended to do two days in one today. For those that don't know the route that we are following has a set of seven maps, including the Canadian section and a book which describes the route through the USA section only. When the route was first devised it went from the Canadian border to the Mexican border only. The Canadian section was added later and consequently the book was published before the Canadian section was added. The book has the USA section divided into 62 days. This does not allow for days off and as we have limited time, we need to get "ahead" whenever we can, today was one of these days.
So we left Seeley Lake early ready for a big day. The route started with a longish gradual climb with a nice descent and then a long flat section. We broke this up with a stop for a drink in a really cool little "town" called Orvando. The guy at the shop was super friendly and we talked for a while whilst admiring the shop's several mounted heads and furs. We chatted about our bear encounters etc.
After leaving Orvando we spent 20 minutes on a State Highway before turning off, back onto a gravel road. Not long after we turned off we were coasting down a wee hill when we came across a wee black bear crossing the road!!!! It was about 100m ahead so plenty of time to stop. We called out and it stopped in the middle of the road and looked at us. Then it trotted off to the trees at the side of the road, then up a hill stopping to watch us. I managed to get some photos this time. It was pretty exciting but knocked us back out of our complacency!!! We reckon he had just popped down to his "local" for a drink as he had crossed right by a stream.
We cruised along the flat through ranch country for another 45mins or so before stopping for lunch prior to taking on day two which began with a long steady 9km climb up Huckleberry Pass. The climb was long and hot but not too bad. (Photo below to right is looking down to where we had come from. That road is heading toward our lunch stop. A long way down!)We had seen very few people that day, but not far from the top two blokes on quad bikes past us going down. The second one just shook his head at me but gave Jo a big "you GO girl". After the pass we enjoyed a great downhill run finishing in the town of Lincoln. Lincoln has a famous son in the Unabomber, some geezer who sent a few letter bombs in the nineties. Not much in Lincoln. Stayed in the town campground. Another couple turned up on bikes so we had a chat to them. They are from near Boston and are doing a road tour around Montana.
Went and did a bit of shopping before cooking dinner and hitting the hay. Big day as it was our biggest climbing day yet!

DISTANCE: 103.7km
AVERAGE: 16.6kph
RIDE TIME: 6.15hr
ASCEND: 1255m

DAY 12 - THE SUN IS BACK

We awoke to sun…..!
Happy not to be packing up in the rain we set off nice & early although it was not raining - it was very cold & both of us had cold fingers & toes.
The guide book suggested today would be quite difficult with 2 high climbs & a 7km section of extremely rough terrain.
We had completed the days 1st climb without really realising it & turned off to start the ‘steep’ climb of the day, to our surprise it was not steep at all but certainly steady… we knocked this out in record time stopping at the top for a lovely sunny lunch looking across to the mission mountains - The scenery was amazing.
The next section was to be the 7km stretch of rough terrain, this turned out to be a fun filled 7km of single track quite rough in places - but basically all ride able apart from 2 single slides - bear calling the whole way , we whopped our way down & coasted the final 12km into Seeley Lake.
Seeley lake is what we would describe as classic small town America. Nothing fancy.
The campsite was cheap with its own resident deer walking around.

Tomorrow we are hoping to do 2 days in 1 of the suggested guide book we are following(100km) & the same again the next day finishing in Helena - Montana’s state capital.

Will blog again in a of couple days.



DISTANCE: 58.6km
AVERAGE: 13.2km
RIDE TIME: 4.25hrs
ASCEND: 925mtrs

DAY 11 - RAINY DAY

Again…..We awoke to rain…..!
After having to put on wet cycle clothes - yuk!, we packed up camp & headed off.
After being on the route for about 25km & knowing we had no easy accessible food for lunch (2 minute noodles don’t count when it is pouring with rain) we decided we should go off route to find a food store that was located on our map.
What a excellent decision that turned out to be - the food store was amazing - we thought it was probably only a service station that sold chips & soft drinks - but to our utter amazement it was a fully stocked ‘everything you could ever need store’ it even sold freshly baked cinnamon scrolls with icing on the top!
We stocked up on food & had a bite to eat (it is still raining…!) & headed down the road for 5km to a town called Condon which was really a town with a just a garage & diner - but at the back of the garage was showers & a laundry so we stopped there & washed all our wet & dirty clothes., and just as we arrived it was a miracle…. The sun came out - so did we not only manage to get the washing done - but we managed to get the tent & the tarp all dry as well (& sit in the sun & soak up some rays while eating ice creams) .
After the washing was done we continued down the main road (in the sun) for another 15km to the turn off to Holland Lake Lodge.
Lake Holland lodge is a ‘Semi Dude Ranch’ (what ever that is?) & is such a magic spot nestled in amongst trees, here we set up camp in the campground just next to the lodge & headed to the lodge for a well deserved beer! We enjoyed our beverages while sitting on the shores of the lake in the sun!
We enjoyed a lazy evening in the sunshine.

DISTANCE: 60.54km
AVERAGE: 16.0km
RIDE TIME: 3.48hrs
ASCEND: 710mtrs

DAY 10 - BIGFORK TO CEDAR CREEK CAMPSITE

We awoke to rain…..
Headed out of town quite early (no hangovers thankfully) & to get back onto the GDMBR we had to ride along a nice wee trail out of town, this trail is a very popular walking/ running trail for the Bigfork locals.
Half way along we were stopped by a lady walking her dog & she was super interested in the journey we were taking - so much so that she wanted to call the local paper!!
She had a kiwi connection through her son & skiing , that she hosted Annaliese Coberger ..
After about 20km of riding we headed up hill - for about 10km of nice steady climbing. By the way it was still raining & we were soaked 7 not so happy! We did not imagine this ride having rain in it!

Once we hit the top & headed down the other side we both froze so we stopped & rugged up we even put on our rubber gloves.
We finally arrived at Cedar Creek Campsite without realising that we had left the route to get there? Blame it on the rain!
The campsite was very basic but next to a lovely river, we stood around in the rain deciding wither we should continue for another 30km or just set up camp in the rain - we decided to set up camp in the rain making good use of the tarp as an extension of the tent (God Bless that tarp - it is a godsend)!
After we set up we cooked, ate, cleaned up & crashed - Jo was asleep by 8pm, Scott about 9:30.
We woke during the night to hear the rain on the tent… it is a lovely noise when you are all snuggled up in your sleeping bag.

DISTANCE: 62.25km
AVERAGE:13.9km
RIDE TIME:4.29hrs
ASCEND: 915mtrs

DAY 9 - WHITEFISH TO BIGFORK

After leaving the campsite about 9:30 we headed back into our local ‘Montana Coffee Traders’ for a coffee & to use there free Internet (very handy) to upload the photo’s you have hopefully all viewed now?
At 11am we headed out of town - just as we started it PERSISTED down with rain & this is what it was like for the rest of the day - Hard Rain!
The riding today was all sealed backcountry roads passing lots of ‘Ranches’ so it made for good scenery viewing, a change from being in trees all day.
After arriving at Bigfork we set up camp @ what would have been the nicest campground yet, the rain had stopped, so we did some washing quickly & decided to walk into town to check it out.
After a 5 min walk to town - you guessed it - It rained - not just any kind of rain - it Teamed down !!!! (so much for the washing we left out to dry - when will we learn!)
We checked out a few galleries as Bigfork is quite a arty town , then just gave up & headed for the nearest pub to wait out the rain.
We had just settled with our beers when we got approached by a lovely 74yr old man called Ray - he heard Scott ordering the beers & recognised the accent… this was enough for him to come on over & introduce himself - little did we know at that point the was affectionately know as ALL - DAY - RAY!
Any way he was lovely & keep us entertained for about 2 hours with his stories of his life. 3 pints later the rain was still going & we had not eaten so were starting to feel rather merry.
We were then joined by another Bigfork local called Art. Art proceeded to tell us some more stories & buy us some more beers , we were introduced to Bigforks only Samoan resident (who by the way played in the NFL), everyone was so very friendly & did not want us to leave - but to stay & listen the ‘Boot Stomppin’ band they had playing..
Scott finally bought food & we stayed at the pub till 10:30pm when we finally managed to extract ourselves. By the way it had not stopped raining so we had a very wet walk back to the camp.
Art was the local beer rep, representing Scott’s new favourite beer ‘Fat Tyre’ amber ale.
And we would like to thank Ray, Art & the only resident Samoan (sorry forgot your name?) for there fantastic hospitality..
We slept well that night!

DISTANCE: 76.2km
AVERAGE: 18.4km
RIDE TIME: 4.08hrs
ASCEND: 340mtrs

PHOTOS

Hi, just uploaded a few photos to earlier posts so check them out. It is proving a bit time consuming so will probably do some seperate photo only posts.
More to follow. Gotta get going!

REST DAY - Whitefish Montana

Had a nice sleep in this morning. Woke to rain.
Headed to McD's for breakfast, ahh good living, American style ;-)
Caught up with Nico, chilled at Montana Coffee Traders chatting and catching up. Had a walk around town, checked out Glacier Cyclery.
Back to MCT to have late lunch and do blog.
Off to supermarket and to hopefully download some photos.
Probably won't have a chance to post again for a couple of days.

DAY 6 - Two in one

Woke to the sound of rain at 6.15am so Scott jumped up and took in the clothes we had out drying on the line and put up the tarp to cook breakfast and get organised under.
After our fastest (again) pack up we hit the road at 8.10. The blokes from Florida were up but the others were still tucked up.
We made awesome time along the downhill section covering 20km in an hour. It rained the whole way but was not cold. We stopped for a couple of snacks along the way. Man you sure do get hungry just riding along.
We meet three cyclists heading the other way so had a chat to them. Turns out one of them had done the race along the route that happened in June, finished 5th equal and was now just doing a weeks tour with friends. Jo thought that was a bit freaky!!
We turned uphill not long after that and again starting riding uphill for another 20km. Again it went on and on. Eventually we got to the top at Red Meadow Lake.
This should have been our nights destination but we wanted to push on to Whitefish to have a rest day.
After the lake we headed down in the rain for 20km then an pretty flat/undulating ride into Whitefish. Even found a car wash on the way into town to wash the mud off our bikes.
Found a campsite with a laundry. Did laundry, showered, had pizza (thought Simon P was there too as his car was???) for tea and crashed!!

DISTANCE: 100.1 km
AVERAGE: 16.3 kmh
RIDE TIME: 6.08
ASCEND: 865m

Both looking forward to rest day tomorrow.

DAY 5 - Russian flower pickers

So we were up and away in record time this morning, we were headed to the U S of A!! Bye bye Canada.
We got to the Boarder crossing quickly, unlike getting through immigration which seemed to take forever!
After that we headed to Eureka, a very very cool little town 16km away. We stopped there for an early lunch at the Jax cafe, a quintessential American "diner" complete with booths and all. Had a yummy burger and chips before finding the library for a quick email session.
From Eureka we had longish ride ahead up and over Whitefish divide to a campground in the middle of the forest. The first 25km were relatively flat along a gravel/dirt road before turning towards the hills. We then climbed, and climbed and climbed some more. In fact we climbed for about 25km!!! Once we finally reached the divide we thought we would have a cruisey roll down hill all the way. Nope, no such luck, it was down hill but was quite rough so we needed to concentrate and actually pedal. On our way down we meet two Russian men picking flowers, what the? They told us they made a very powerful tea to help cancer, mmmmm not sure. They also told us they were not worried about bears because they had a gun, which they showed us. Nothing like been shown a handgun in the middle of the wilderness to let you know you are living. They were very friendly and gave us good tips on the area (don't worry Betty).
When we arrived at the campsite to find three other Great Divide ride groups. Two heading our way, the other going north.
Had a laugh with one group of (seven blokes, from Florida). Chatted with the others, swapped stories then hit the hay.

DISTANCE: 85.6 km
AVERAGE: 14.1 kmh
RIDE TIME: 6.03
ASCEND: 1120m

DAY 4 - Furnie to Loon Lake

Despite our best efforts of getting an early start we still did not hit the road till 8:50am (we are rising 6:30am-ish in case you were wondering).
On the ride out of Furnie we noticed there was a lot more to the town than we thought Oh well - next time?
The day started easy on a meandering gravel road through to Elko following the Elk river the whole way.
There was nothing at Elko, we pushed on to Paynes lake in the hope of a nice lake side picnic spot unfortunately this was not to be, we decided upon a spot at the entrance of someones driveway taking shelter from the burning midday sun.
We took advantage of the heat & dried out the tent & the thunder stormed soaked washing from yesterday, whilst we enjoyed out staple lunch of bagels & Nutella.
The day was getting really hot 35'c hot as we cycled on, we had a 20km paved section which included a nice descent & then a steady climb in the blistering heat with no shade & little wind to speak of.
The final 15km were on a gravel road with a stop at our 1st 'Hicksville' convience store!!! Jo was concerned about the banjo's playing. We enjoyed a nice cold 'pop' & then rode to our idyllic lake side campsite.
Set up camp & them swam in the lake to freshen up. Had a nana nap cooked tea had a wander - early night.
USA border beckons tomorrow - only 12kms away from where we are staying tonight.
Another easy day although both feeling quite weary .
The only wildlife we saw today was some friendly non threatening deer & some fish in the lake that Jo was convinced were attacking her feet!
Hopefully catching up with our friend Nico in a couple of days.

Hope all is well with everyone at home - Hows working for ya?

DISTANCE:85.8km
RIDE TIME: 5.21
AVERAGE: 17km
ASCEND:595mtrs

DAY 3 - Day of the German

After a late night , but an awesome sleep we awoke to the sound of bloody noisy crows crowing & squirrels squeaking (they are quite loud) we headed off, starting the day with a healthy 4km climb. Half way up Scott spotted our days prey - THE GERMAN. We had been told by the GDMBR cycle tourist we had seen on day 1 that he was in front of us.
After the climb we headed along a nice paved road passing a huge coal mine before turning onto another gravel road which we followed for the next 25km (calling "Hey Bear" & ringing our bells the whole way).
About 5kms along the gravel road we finally caught the German. We had a quick chat, he was a man of few words (Doesn't seem to know Dany, Elmar or Doris? even through we described you? :-)
We continued to Sparwood where we stopped for lunch with our new German friend 'Clas'
We went our separate ways after lunch as he was making a phone call (maybe to find out if his parents knew D,E or D?)
The day continued for another 30km on paved road just about all down hill (although a head wind!!) to Fernie where we are are tonight.
We managed to finish the day at 2:30pm in time to do some washing, get it hung out & for today's thunder storm to roll in & soak our washing - typical.
Just back from Dinner at Boston Pizza - this is becoming our restaurant of choice when dining out, we chose the salad not the fries to go with our pizza.

DISTANCE:82.28km
AVERAGE SPEED: 17.9km
RIDE TIME: 4.36hours
ASCEND:480mtrs

DAY 2 - Day of the Bear

Day 2 started out when we woke up to find out tent quite wet on the inside & we could not work out why, when we went to get out we couldn't due to the zip being frozen!
Luckily our tent has 2 doors & we managed to extract ourselves...
The day was looking beautiful Blue sky.
We headed off down a lovely gravel road, 30mins into the ride a car coming towards us when we noticed 3 bears on the side of the road stand up at the noise of the car - it was mother grizzly & her 2 grown cubs - OH MY GOD!! The car carried on as the bears ran off back towards the trees, where they stopped to watch us pass... was a very intense moment for us! we stopped further down the road to catch our breath & to try to stop shaking!!
They were very close & this incident made was realise just how close bears can be without seeing them, so from that moment on we rung our bells & called out the rest the way to the information center where we reported our sighting ( you are required to report sightings of bears) We got to speak to a lovely Park Ranger called Nick who was very helpful & gave us good advice on bear safety, we had done everything correctly.
After having a early lunch we started the 1st crossing of the Continental Divide, this was a 6km climb of epic proportions, but we managed it quite successfully & in good time.
The top of Elk pass saw us leaving Alberta & entering BC.
The descent was fun on a relatively technical single track - especially loaded, Scott has his first fall of the bike - luckily we were not going fast so he was OK.
We hit another shingle road which we followed for the next 50km, all was going quiet nicely until the thunder clouds rolled in & poured down on us, making us stop & put the tarp up to wait it out, This made the dirt road very muddy so now as well a pushing heavy loaded bikes we are also carrying a lot of mud on our bikes.
Just as we are about to arrive at our nights campsite we spotted our 4th bear of the day this time a small black bear, when we say close to our campsite we mean basically at the entrance of the campsite, he did not at all seem concerned about us & after a few minutes he crossed the road & headed into the trees. I'm sure Mama bear was not far away which made us a little uneasy.
As we rode into the campsite we saw a mother & child so we told them about our bear sighting.
We could also hear a huge party going on, great if you like heavy metal & about ten 20yr olds drinking & smoking pot...
The campsite was by a lovely lake which they were using to knee board on whilst being towed behind a massive 'Loud' 4x4.
We decided to cook dinner here whilst talking to 1 of the young lads who came over to say 'high' & we decided we would carry on into Elkford for the night about 20km away.
We arrived in Elkford very late but just in time to get our tent up before another thunderstorm hit.
made good use of the tarp & the free showers, we were both knackered as it had been 11 1/2 hours since we stared out.

DISTANCE:112.15km
AVERAGE SPEED:15.7km
RIDE TIME:7.07hours
ASCEND:830mtrs

DAY 1 - day of the moose

Ok so the official ride has started....
We headed off down the Spray River trail the 1st 6km were nice undulating riding on double track.
Then the climbing started - another 13km of solid climbing ahead & we both wondered what the heck we were in for...
After 19km& 2 hours later we popped out onto a gravel road where the riding got a little easier but no less hilly.
Stopped to talk to a Cycle Tourist heading in opp direction - turns out he was on his last day of the GDBMR south to north, he gave us lots of good tips & encouragement.
After a picnic lunch we carried on & on & up & up the tracks for the next 45km were a mixture of hiking trails & gravel road.
After a days total so far of 65km we decided to stop on the side of the road for dinner as it was about 6pm & we were both starving.
Just after eating we stood up to see Moose #1 500mtrs down the road just grazing, we were so very excited to have seen a moose - we felt it made the days hardships worth while.
6km down the road we stopped to camp for the night by a very small lake (pond), just as we arrived at camp we saw Moose #2 across the side off the lake watching us.
We set up camp & just on dusk we went to clean our teeth to find another Moose about 30mtrs from our camp ( we suspect it was Moose #2 coming over to check us out).
When we returned to the tent the Moose was gone & it appeared again across the other side of the lake then all of a sudden it just walked into the water & headed straight for us....came up onto the bank about 10mtrs from us stared at us for a minute & walked off!! Was quite an interesting experience!
The scenery is beautiful - the Rockies are HUGE!!
The weather today was HOT - about 25ish degrees & no wind.
We got ourselves quite sun burnt... let the tan line begin.

DISTANCE:69.9km
AVERAGE SPEED:11.7km
RIDE TIME:5.58hours
ACCEND:1110mtrs

Photos to follow...

BANFF

Start GDMBR tomorrow. Will give better update in a few days.
Over and out, S and J
No bears yet but lots of deer and a couple of beers!

DAY ONE OF CYCLING

Day started out wet, and stayed that way for the next two to three hours. Slight wind, thankfully at our tail so not to bad. Man are our bikes heavy! doesn't bode well for mountains :-) We are both thinking of things we can dump already, ha ha.
We had to ride on the Trans Canada Highway all day today. It was busy (but safe Betty and Barbara) but not bad. The road was really smooth which was nice.
"Up-Dulating" all day today.
Stopped at a roadside "restaurant" at lunchtime for a drink and to us the loo. Very uninspiring. We had Nuttella on bagels for lunch, yummy.
Arrived in Canmore at about 3pm and found a campground. Campground is a bit run down, full of character shall we say. Put tent up in the first sunshine of the day and put out riding gear to dry. Once we were organised we wandered back into town. Had a wander around and as we came out of an amazing photography gallery it started to thunder and rain. So a fast walk back to the campground followed by some dinner cooked in the shelter of a tree.
Sitting enjoying a beer and using somebodies Internet connection!
Both of enjoyed our day and feel good.
Laters, S and J
PS Hopefully our posts will get more interesting soon

Wildlife seen today: 1x Bald eagle, lots of ground squirrels...very cute
Other Cycle tourists: 1x heading towards Calgary
Friendly toots & waves from motorists: 3

DISTANCE: 105.88km
AVERAGE SPEED: 19.4km
RIDE TIME: 5.27.

CALGARY

Hi everyone, well we made in one piece. Flights were good. Only 1 minor hitch as we were boarding in Auckland we were told that one of our bags would not be coming with us! What the?? Apparently even empty and aired out fuel bottles are not allowed on flights.
So the long and short of it is that our bag followed on later and is in Calgary, but not with us yet!
When we arrived last night it was 30C, today it is much cooler (maybe cold) and drizzling!! Awesome thunder storm over night, pleased we were not in the tent.
We spent the day doing chores like shopping (our second favourite thing after cycling!!). MEC is still the coolest outdoor shop ever.
We have splashed out on a very little and light laptop. Not up and running yet but will be.
Nicole we hope you and Millie have finally meet and bonded and are now BFF.
Off to supermarket and for dinner now.
Catch up soon, S and J x

MADE IT.....

As far as Auckland!!! All good so far.

Jo's Mum andD ad come to see us off as did Linda.

Nice.

Next update probably from Vancouver. Exciting stuff eh?