| It was a long climb to the top but we did it in 2 hours including a couple of stops to water the trees and take a few photos. After a short rest we kept our rims very hot as we were on a downhill slide through the park that really took our breath away. Several miles of the road are closed for bikes, from 11 to 3, as it is very narrow and without shoulders so we really hauled butts to get to west Glacier before the shut down. We rode to Columbia Falls, MT together then Geezer took another route and I was alone again until that afternoon when I met another rider who was coming from Whitefish and going to Missoula. He had come out from somewhere in Michigan on the Am Trak, his bike was in the baggage compartment and all his bags and gear were in the racks that are between the cars as he needed stuff from time to time. But by the time the train got to Whitefish everything had been stolen and he had nada but the bike. He rode 2 days with me to Missoula where he met up with another rider who was going to ride with him back to Michigan and while they were there he bought all new stuff and then they went north to get on the Northern Tier of trans. America bike route. I was sorry that Denny Grossman and crew didn't make it up to Flathead Lake this year as I was looking forward to camping with them and scoring a couple of cold brewskys. Oh well, can't have everything! Alone again I headed on south for another day or two until I got to Ennis, MT where I met up with a group of 80 riders doing a tour of the Parks. I rode with them 3 days to Jackson Hole where they headed west over the Teton Pass and into ID. These folks were on a paid tour and the leaders invited me to ride with them and they shared their campgrounds and catered meals with me in exchange for giving a short talk on my trip so far. All they ask was that I didn't talk about self contained touring as they didn't want to lose any future customers. I picked up another resupply package, from Trina, in Jackson Hole and then had to backtrack 30 miles to get back on my route. That afternoon while climbing the 17 mile long 6%+ grade to the top of Togwotee Pass ( 2nd highest on trip at 9,568' ) I ran into Jim Avey, from Cincinatti, who was doing a coast to coast ride from Florence, OR to Yorktown, VA so we teamed up to do the rest of the US together. Jim and I were well matched as we rode the same speed all the time except for the long climbs in which he rode 1/2 to 1 mph faster than I liked to climb so I would let him go and eventually he would stop to water a tree or bush and I would catch up to him again. Jim didn't like speed so I would always get way ahead of him on the down hills and then I would stop to water something and he would catch up to me so things balanced themselves out well. He would hit 35 mph and then ride the brakes, me on the other hand, seemed to forget the bike had brakes and I would just let it go. The wildlife on through the Rockies in WY and CO was really different from what we had both been used to and the senery really changed a lot until we got back into the really high country of CO. Finally after a couple of weeks and climbing numerous high continental divides and passes we made it to the famous ski areas of CO and along the highway for a 15 mile strech a bike path was provided and it was a welcome change from the busy road. I had been very lucky since Alberta, with the weather, l had been in one hail storm in MT but ducked out of it at a closed road side cafe, the owner was there so he let those of us I was with come in and he made coffee and sandwiches for all of us and it warmed us up good. As we were on the last 5 miles coming into Breckenridge it started pouring down and again the rainsuit did nothing good. We were really wet when we got to town. Checked into a great hostel that was run by some folks from England and we had a good time with them and met a lot of riders who were heading west. Took a days rest here and saw the town, loaded up on the carbos as we had to climb Hoosier Pass the next day and that was the highest point on the ride at 11,562 ft. Turned out that only the last 4 miles to the top was a little hard and the altitude didn't bother us at all. We had been at altitude for so long the extra couple of thousand feet didn't bother us at all. The next two days were all down hill with the wind and we really made some good time on into Pueblo. About 10 miles out of Pueblo I had a flat and on checking it I found I had forgot to check my rear tire lately and it was worn clear through so this flat was my fault it was my third and last on the trip. While changing the tire 3 very cute young gals from Europe stopped to chat, to bad they were riding the other way, to often I guess, I find myself wishing I was 40 years younger and single again, I guess young ladies do that sort of thing to us old guys. We got into a park campground in town and I had to go across the city to a Motel 6 to pick up a resupply pkg from Trina and I got lost going back to camp and ended up spending an extra hour, in terrible heat, trying to find my way. Eventually I got back and Jim and I went to the pool that had a water park so we had some fun while soaking away some of the heat we had a great meat at a buffet then hit the sack. In the next part it will take you on a great cross country ride through the Midwest, the Ozarks, Kentucky and the civil war battlefields of Virginia and to the Atlantic coast where Jim's ride comes to an end. |