Coast to Coast - The Northern Tier

 Another, picture perfect day in Montana. Today’s route was a gentle accent pretty much all day with one pass thrown in. Adrian, joined the LYT team (the team name for LeeAnn, Yvonne and Terri). It was fun riding with him!  He has such a good eye for photos too! The route followed along the Madison river a good part of the day where we could see boaters and fly fisherman. Around lunchtime we climbed Raynold’s Pass to Earthquake Lake. It was an amazing site!  In 1959, the Hebgen Lake earthquake hit this area. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Montana killing 28 people. The result was the formation of quake lake.   After, lunch our journey continued along beautifully Hebgen Lake.  Tonight we are camping at the West Yellowstone High School. Oh, we even got in early enough to walk downtown and have a beer before dinner!  What a treat!  Today’s stats:  73 miles, 3,074 feet of elevation gain The LYT team by Madison River Another beautiful snowcappe...

 Mountains, Mountains everywhere!  Today’s route had us on US 287 again.   Like yesterday, we had a steady stream of vehicles and semi’s but the views made up for it!  It seemed like every direction you looked there was snowcapped mountains!   We had two climbs today. The first one was about 4 miles long with grades between 3-6%.  We were then rewarded with a wonderful descent and a bakery at the bottom!  They had cinnamon rolls,  bear claws, and many other sweet treats. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of one because they were huge! After lunch, the second climb came and it was very challenging!   It had grades of 4-8% and we fought a very strong cross/headwind the entire climb! The sad part was we couldn't even enjoy the descent because the winds were so strong we felt like our bike might get blown out from underneath us.  We, finally fought through the last 11 miles and made our way into camp which is at the Ennis High School wi...

Today, we had a wonderful ride for first half of the day from Lincoln to Helena.  First up was crossing the continental divide at Flesher Pass (elevation 6,131 feet). It was a 3 mile climb to the summit with grades between 5-8%.  So, I am either getting into really good shape or this pass was much easier.  I felt good on the climb. I don't know if I have ever said that!   After the climb, we had a screaming decent for at least 12 miles. Then we made our way to our second water stop of the day at this cute little general store and post office called Canyon Creek in the middle of nowhere!  From there we made our way to Helena for lunch and a quick stop  at the bike shop to replace my rear light.   It was after lunch when the ride took a turn for the worst.  We picked up US 287 and stayed on that road all the way to Townsend.  It is a heavily traveled road but the worst part was the there was about 4 miles of the worst construction I have ever r...

 Today we left Missoula and traveled along the Blackfoot river on MT 200.  Another, beautiful sunny big sky day in Montana.   We had another female rider join us today. Her name is LeAnne and she is from Scottsdale AZ.  She is a riding buddy with Larry Wendt from my C2C trip last year. Such a small world. It was nice having a third person to share in the work up front as we did have a headwind most of the day.  The temperatures really heated up in the afternoon  so by the time made it to Lincoln we were ready for a treat and stopped for Ice Cream before heading to camp. Boy did that taste good! Stats for today:  80 miles, 2,890 feet of elevation gain.  Look at those snowcapped mountains and blue skies  Blackfoot River Early Morning on the Blackfoot River My Garmin Elevation map

A nice leisurely day of rest!  Had a morning latte, walked to breakfast where I had a gluten free huckleberry waffle, watched some people finish a marathon, shuttled to the REI store and met up with Terri and Kim and walked along the river on a trail.  Then, we had a briefing for the next week called Mission Montana. We will finish out Montana and end in Jackson, Wy!  More fun ahead as we continue to climb and the weather heats up.  Next week we travel 456 miles with 18,800 feet of elevation gain.  Our big pass this week is Teton Pass which is part of the Rocky Mountains.  Here are some pictures from around Missoula today and the route for next week.  Route next week

 Another beautiful day as we made our way to Missoula, MT. The ride took us along the clark fork and flathead rivers. Another beautiful day with blue skies and amazing scenery.  I didn't stop to take many pictures today as this was a scheduled 102 mile ride with headwinds. So, it was a heads down kind of day trying to get it done. Did I mention stunning views? Loving Montana!   I was so glad to be riding with Terri today as we took turns every 5 miles until lunch at mile 57.  Then she took the bull by the horns and lead us the rest of the way in.  Just so you know what a challenge this last 40+ miles was, we had a 16+ mile climb with increasing headwinds.  I know I wouldn’t have made it without her!   We made it and this was by far the toughest day I have ever faced on a bike. Could  be fatigue from hard riding now 7 days in a row, the headwinds but mostly my sore bum!  I was is pain!  The frustrating thing is I have never experienced th...

 Today was another beautiful day. Our route took us along the Coeur d’Alene river with more spectacular views. Then about mile 30 we started our climb to Thompson Pass (elevation 4,859 feet) which is the boarder between Idaho and Montana.  It started out with a gentle climb but the last 5 miles were steep at 7-10% grades.  Boy was I ready to reach the summit and have lunch.  After lunch was the reward for the uphill was a screaming descent!  I clocked in at over 35 mph and that was with liberal breaking. Tonight we are camping out at the local High school. We ended up the day with 67 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing.