Day 20: July 31st, 2010 (Route Hamilton, MT - Missoula, MT to Lolo, MT)

Day 20: July 31st, 2010 (Route Hamilton, MT - Missoula, MT to Lolo, MT)

Technical Data
Distance, miles: 63.84
Ride Time: 4:21:27
Work, kJ: 2424
Average Power, watts: 151
Normalized Power, watts: 188
Average Speed, mph 14.29

Forecast: Sunny with winds out of the North at 30+ mph, rain later in the day.

Woke up this morning in a bed! It was sure nice of Terry to allow the three of us to sleep inside. Jordan and Josh, two other cyclists I met the last couple of days decided to crash at the same place due to the strong headwinds. Once up it was all about food this morning! I had oatmeal and some hot chocolate then Terry made a huge breakfast of pancakes and eggs, what a treat to have on a road trip cross country.

Didn't depart at my usual 6AM as I wasn't in a big hurry today! Plus I needed to wait for all my clothes to dry out as all of us left them hanging on the clothes line the night before and it rained so I wasn't going any where in a hurry! Plus my map was out so now I have a warped/wrinkled water damaged map accompanying me! (It still works so and I think it could last another 2-3 thousands miles maybe more!

All of us had a great time at breakfast this morning chatting and just passing the time! Once our tents were dry along with our clothes we decided to push off and head up to Missoula for the day, kind of a rest day as the distance was going to be close to 65 miles or so. Once out of Hamilton the head wind that we have seen the last couple of days was still with us. We took off as a group as we decided to ride together today which was nice as the company was nice to have this morning! Jordan and Josh were great! Jordan's only 18 and about to head off to college for the first time in the fall, what an adventure right out of high school! Josh is 24 and an IT guy from Texas, very quiet, however highly intelligent you can tell!

I did most of the pulling along the trip into Lolo as I have the most experience and a little stronger than the other two. The pulls were not easy as the wind was blowing right into our faces and at a pretty good clip! About an hour in I needed to use the bathroom so we pulled off at a little store to regroup. I refilled some water while Josh grapped some caffeine, he also mentioned that he never had to work like this in a group. Jordan also commented I was pushing a pretty good pace, I figured the faster we get to Missoula, MT the more time we had to mess around the town and check it out!

We decided to take a back way to stay off the main highway was there was construction so we added about 5-8 miles or so to the trip. Once to the junction were we planned on heading into Lolo - I got another flat! I'll have to admit I really don't like the Continental Tires, I would prefere Specialized Armodillo's. I've been battling this tire for a while and I think I will change it out and save it as a spare when the day is over. Once back to the main highway we jumped on a bike path to continue into Lolo, MT were we would try and find a library or fire station to try and stash our BoB's and gear. The trip into Missoula was an out and back and there was really no need to take all our gear if we could find a safe place to stash it. Luck had it that a Rural Fire station was on the out skirts of town, we asked if we could drop our gear and head into town, we also asked if we could camp out back for the night.

One of the fire fighters on duty thought it would be a problem but he had to ask the chief on duty. He told the chief that some "bikers" wanted to stash some gear and sleep out back, he thought motorcycles! Cyclist is the appropiate term to have used but we get bikers all the time since we are riding bikes. They gladly accepted to allow us to stash our gear and camp out, The only thing I needed in Missoula was the butane mix for my camping stove top so I could boil my noodles for dinner. Josh and I decided to ride into town while Jordan really didn't need anything so he stayed at the fire house.

Josh and I cruised into town, it was about a 13 miles to REI and it was slightly raining when we left. Rolling terrain into Missoula and it was a pretty good ride, however the shoulder was covered with debris which I really hate and traffic was high so I couldn't ride in the right lane where I like to becuase it saves on my tires! Once into Missoula it was raining pretty steady and I really didn't know were to head as Josh was navigating. We got about two blocks from REI, I turn my front tire slightly to the right and my back tire slides out from behind me and I go down on my right side. Whamo - sliding in the right hand lane in the middle of Saturday afternoon traffic, how pleasant. The road was extremely slippery as Josh was following me and tapped his breaks when he saw me go down and down he went too. The good thing we were not going to fast, however I did get a little road rash on my right arm, tore my bibs a little and have a nice strawberry on my right hip flexor. Have to see what else is wrong come first thing in the morning when the aches and pains wake up...

Million and one thoughts going through my head after I went down. I was in shock a little as I haven't gone down since Ironman training a couple years ago. I'm in the middle of Montana, on my own and a bike crash doesn't really sound good while I'm riding solo! I'm sure glad nothing was broken...

Once into REI I grabbed some fuel for my burner, while Josh the super shopper found some great deals on some dent and ding "One Day Sale" and picked up a lot of stuff. I on the other hand just picked up the fuel! Now back to camp, only one problem its raining hard and sleeting! We decided to ride in the rain for a little bit until it really started to come down then we took shelter about 5 different times and finally ended up in a small Bakery where we planned on picking up some bagels which were on sale so we lucked out! All our stuff was strapped onto Josh's touring bike as I'm still riding the Trek with no trailer so I had no way of taking stuff with. I figured it was a good trade, I'll pull and he can strap my bagels to his bike, that's not a bad gig!

We really thought about hitching a ride back up to Lolo as it was really raining, however the last place we took shelter we just decided to wait it out and ride the leg back into camp. We had already set up our tents so all we had to do was jump into them for shelter if needed once back at camp. The rain passed and we were able to ride back rain free. Once at camp I wanted to charge my cell phone and computer so we headed over to this casino. Little odd as the convenience stores here in MT have casinos in them...

After catching up on some things on the pc I decided to head back to camp, the boys had left earlier. Once back to the campsite (behind the Fire House) we found out the weather had turned worse and it was supposed to rain and hail all night so we looked for better places to throw our tents. We looked for a while but decided to just keep them put. The night was forgiving as it rained a little with no hail and light winds. The bad thing was the Fire Fighters failed to mention the sprinklers!