Mammouth, WY (Gardiner, MT) to Bozeman, MT
89.32 miles
6:33.19hrs
26.7 max
13.6 avg
This morning I woke up and felt amazingly well! I did not have trouble getting out of bed and was eager to see what the day had to offer. It did take me a little while to get everything together and packed up because my bike was outside and all my gear was scattered out in the basement of the church. Well, it wasn't scattered all around but I wanted to make sure that I had it all very organized for when I set out on the road again.
After saying adieu to Sally and Jim, I calmly road by the heard of elk on the motel lawn next door and gazed up at the snow capped mountains that surrounded me. I spent a little extra time in town to call my father and give him an update that everything was alright and I was deciding to continue on my way. I know that everyone thought that I was snowed in but that was not the case.
Due to the previous days experiences with the weather I made sure that I had plastic bags to put over my socks and hands in case it started to rain. Rain was not really expected in the forecast but I was not going to take any more chances. To make sure I was warm I was also wearing, an underarmour sleaveless shirt and arm warmers under a polar fleece long sleave shirt under a cycling jersey under a heavy duty cycling rain jacket under a windproof/water resistant vest. I had legwarmers on with cycling shorts under my rain pants. I wore a thick pair of wool socks with my shoes and toe warmers over my shoes. I put my extra large pearl izumi gel biking gloves over my wind proof cycling gloves and with that combination, I was very warm. I tried to get a feel for how cold of conditions I could bike in with this setup but I did not know the current temperature to guage it by. I would say that I could probably bike in 40-45 degree weather fairly comfortably with all that gear on. I might have to stop at Walmart and buy a temperature guage for my own safety.
The day was gorgeous! The mountains were beautiful and leading all the way up to Livingston I had a slight tail wind which allowed me to make great time. Besides a flat tire (my rear tire has now been replaced along with the tube) and the cold at the top of the pass leading into Bozeman... it was a great day! My legs are now a little sore after climbing to the pass. I just hope that they will hold up for tomorrow's ride to Helena (107 miles I believe but there are no large climbs!)
As you can see, I am changing up my route a little bit. I am no longer looking strictly for the scenic route and am highly considering elevation changes due to the cold. Mountain passes no longer look like a good challenge. They are more of a dangerous misshappening that will slow my pace and prevent me from making good time. It is unfortunate that things have come down to this but I don't think that Glacier National Park is a wise choice for travel as well. I will have to see how the next few days go and if the weather starts to turn around or not but I am not expecting it to be sunny and 70 any more.
Tonight I am staying with a guy I met on Couchsurfing.com. It is a great site that I would highly recommend trying if you are looking to do some travel and can't afford a hotel or just want to meet some amazing people. Alex gave me a place to stay and his roommate made a great pasta meal to boot! Hopefully I can utilize this website more often for this trip, at least until I get to the coast where temperatures are a little better for camping.
I just ran the figures on my average mileage for the trip thus far and I come in at just shy of 83 miles per day of riding.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 30th
I woke up early this morning to hit the road with the goal of at least making it to Livingston, MT. After packing up my gear along with my wet tent, I made it all of 5 miles to Gardiner, MT before my hands and feet were wet and cold and my face hurt from getting pelted by the miniature hail coming down!
For this reason I decided that I would stop in Gardiner and do some online research of the current and forecasted weather. This was very difficult because it was a small town and every place that had computers with internet service was charging by the minute. I then proceeded to look for a pair of waterproof gloves (of which I could not find) and some plastic bags to put between my socks and shoes to prevent my feet from getting wet. I was able to obtain some plastic bags but no place in town seemed to have air dryers in their bathrooms of which I could dry my socks. Eventually I happened to talk the people at the Best Western to allow me to use their business center computer so that I was not left stranded in this city without anywhere to sleep/go. After researching the weather/hotel rates/people in the area that I might know or someone I know might know... I decided that I was just going to have to suck it up and get a hotel room. I was checked in upon at this time by the desk clerk. She wanted to know if I had found anything ... she also wanted to inform me that they usually charge non-guests to use the computer and wanted to make sure that I was actually doing what I was saying I was doing. I appologized to her for taking so long and explained to her that I was not having much luck and she said that I could go ahead and use it as long as I needed.
As I left the computer lab, 10 min later, the clerk asked again if everything was alright and I gave her a little more information on my situation. You know ... birthday, westyellowstone, cancer research, etc. She then told me of the church down the street that sometimes would allow people to stay overnight if in need. I thanked her for this information and headed in the church's direction.
Long story short, I stayed at the church, met some great people and had an overall pleasant experience. Unfortuneatley I did not have such a great first impression with the paster of the church but that story will have to come another time. Don't worry, the pastor and myself are now on good terms!
For this reason I decided that I would stop in Gardiner and do some online research of the current and forecasted weather. This was very difficult because it was a small town and every place that had computers with internet service was charging by the minute. I then proceeded to look for a pair of waterproof gloves (of which I could not find) and some plastic bags to put between my socks and shoes to prevent my feet from getting wet. I was able to obtain some plastic bags but no place in town seemed to have air dryers in their bathrooms of which I could dry my socks. Eventually I happened to talk the people at the Best Western to allow me to use their business center computer so that I was not left stranded in this city without anywhere to sleep/go. After researching the weather/hotel rates/people in the area that I might know or someone I know might know... I decided that I was just going to have to suck it up and get a hotel room. I was checked in upon at this time by the desk clerk. She wanted to know if I had found anything ... she also wanted to inform me that they usually charge non-guests to use the computer and wanted to make sure that I was actually doing what I was saying I was doing. I appologized to her for taking so long and explained to her that I was not having much luck and she said that I could go ahead and use it as long as I needed.
As I left the computer lab, 10 min later, the clerk asked again if everything was alright and I gave her a little more information on my situation. You know ... birthday, westyellowstone, cancer research, etc. She then told me of the church down the street that sometimes would allow people to stay overnight if in need. I thanked her for this information and headed in the church's direction.
Long story short, I stayed at the church, met some great people and had an overall pleasant experience. Unfortuneatley I did not have such a great first impression with the paster of the church but that story will have to come another time. Don't worry, the pastor and myself are now on good terms!
Day 37 - Tuesday September 29th
Cody, WY to Mammouth, WY
73.13 miles
5:11.42 hrs
41 max
14.o avg
Due to the fire in Yellowstone and the inability to camp on the eastern side of the park, Jim and Mary drove me up just inside the Eastern gate of Yellowstone and saw me off. It was such a pleasure to meet the Hilger family and I really appreciate everything that they did for me!
With the wildfires burning in the park the air smelled of smoke and made it a little difficult to breathe! I did not let this ruin my day because, after all, it is my birthday! I could not have asked for better weather. The temperature was 60 degrees and the sun was shining! I saw tons of wildlife and met some really cool people. I of course took my time getting through the park and made MANY stops! I was very happy to be in Yellowstone on my birthday. It would have been amazing to see Old Faithful on my birthday and stay in West Yellowstone at a BandB that I had set up but for some reason God did not have that in my cards. Instead he pushed me North towards Mammouth, MT where I ended up having a lovely dinner and spending the night at a campground that only cost me $5 because I was on a bike (Why don't more camp grounds do that?)!
I am now a Quarter of a Century old! Yikes!
73.13 miles
5:11.42 hrs
41 max
14.o avg
Due to the fire in Yellowstone and the inability to camp on the eastern side of the park, Jim and Mary drove me up just inside the Eastern gate of Yellowstone and saw me off. It was such a pleasure to meet the Hilger family and I really appreciate everything that they did for me!
With the wildfires burning in the park the air smelled of smoke and made it a little difficult to breathe! I did not let this ruin my day because, after all, it is my birthday! I could not have asked for better weather. The temperature was 60 degrees and the sun was shining! I saw tons of wildlife and met some really cool people. I of course took my time getting through the park and made MANY stops! I was very happy to be in Yellowstone on my birthday. It would have been amazing to see Old Faithful on my birthday and stay in West Yellowstone at a BandB that I had set up but for some reason God did not have that in my cards. Instead he pushed me North towards Mammouth, MT where I ended up having a lovely dinner and spending the night at a campground that only cost me $5 because I was on a bike (Why don't more camp grounds do that?)!
I am now a Quarter of a Century old! Yikes!
Monday September 28th
I spent today exploring Cody, WY. Through Mr. Hilger, I received free admission into the Cody Museum and had a splendid time. I biked around the city checking out the area and could have spent WAY too much money at the Sierra Trading Post! Don't worry, I didn't spend anything, I just wanted to! The day and weather are gorgeous and it was fun to have an extra day with the Hilgers! Thank you for everything Jim and Mary! Next time I am in the area I will definitely look you up, and I hope that you do the same!
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