Cycle Montana 2012: Mission Mostly Accomplished

I returned to Montana again this year for another version of Adventure Cycling's Cycle Montana ride. The ride began and ended in Missoula this year, a different route from CM 2011. Six days and about 350 miles of riding were scheduled. I like Montana not only for the mountain scenery, but also because it is generally cooler weather out there than the rest of the country experiences in June... my motor does not run very well in severe heat and I don't think it ever will.

On the drive out to Missoula, we got a chance to stay at the Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, MT. It's a really surprisingly cool place that I discovered on last year's CM ride. If you are driving across I-90 in western Montana, this place is really worth an overnight visit!

A nice surprise this year was that Larry from Lake Havasu was on the ride again. We had spent some time together during last year's ride and we have similar riding ability, so Larry and I rode most of the route together, which was very enjoyable.

Day One- Missoula to Darby, MT- 66 miles
The ride began with a relatively easy ride up to the nice little town of Darby. About 30 miles of this was actually on a paved bike path, which was nice. Click here for STRAVA output, and here's a couple pictures:

 And here's a video of the day's ride:

This was my nice crib in Darby, at the Traveler's Rest Cabins:

Day Two: Darby to Wisdom, MT- 58 miles
This was probably the hardest day I have ever spent on a bicycle. The ride was scheduled for 76 miles but only about 25 percent of folks made it all the way... and no one who did said they had fun. The entire morning of the ride was pretty much occupied by climbing the relentless slopes of Chief Joseph Pass: about eight miles at a steady seven percent grade.

Here's a video of the Chief Joseph Pass Climb:

By the time we reached the top of the Pass and lunch it was getting quite warm and dropping into the Big Hole Valley on a hot summer day... well, it gets pretty warm there. A 30 mph headwind also popped up which, combined with the lack of shade, was going to make the last 18 miles out to Jackson, MT pretty miserable.  This is the water stop at the Big Hole National Battlefield, where it was HOT and WINDY.

Larry and I agreed to hole up in a bar in the remote little town of Wisdom and wait for the SAG wagon to scoop us up. We were not alone and I don't feel bad about it at all.

There was about 3700 feet of climbing.

Here's the STRAVA feed.

Day Three: Jackson, MT to Fairmont Hot Springs, MT- 76 miles

We rode in high wind and dodged rain all day on day three but, fortunately,  the wind was favoring most of the time and the rain never came.  I wore knickers and it proved to be a good choice.

We rode back up the Big Hole Valley to Wisdom, where we took shelter yesterday, and picked up a tailwind there.

This may have been the most scenic day of the ride and it featured a modest 1850 feet of climbing. The climb on Route 569 over the continental divide and downhill near Anaconda, MT were repeated from last year's event and were just beautiful.

The ten miles between miles 60 and 70 were very fast and fun, but the last six miles of the day were a miserable slog through the worst wind I have ever ridden in.  Here are pictures and video of the downhill from the continental divide. 

Shingles were blowing off the resort and Fairmont Hot Springs when we finally arrived there... and believe me I was darn glad to get inside a solid structure.

Here's the STRAVA feed for the ride.