7.18.09 We took a 59 mile ride over Chief Joseph Pass (our 9th and final - I think - continental divide). I've decided that I like mountains with moisture a ton better than mountains that rise out of sagebrush flats (even though some of those are very pleasant). We had a mildly late start since it was in the 40s when we woke up, but once the sun was out, it got quite comfortable. We stopped by the Big Hole Battleground (Nez Perce vs. US jerks) and started playing leap frog with the ACA dudes. We got into the climb, and things were forested, grassy between the lodgepoles, and, every now and then, we'd have a stream nearby. There were a bunch of flies around, which gets pretty irritating when you can't outrun them, but we had fewer mosquitoes than past climbs (hurray). At the top we finished off some great fudge from Virginia City, and then cruised down to Sula. We lost something like 3000 feet and gained at least 15 degrees temperature-wise (getting us into the 90s - this whole 40 degree difference in arid regions is weird). The descent was pretty twisty, and I'm pretty sure this is the first hill I made it to the bottom of before my dad (he took a break halfway down). Most of the day we were biking through National Forests (at least Bitterroot NF, maybe something else too). Sula had this nice little gas/country store/campground with cabins, and we decided to hole up there since we were trying to hit Lolo, MT on Monday for a mail drop. (Also, the next available town was having a lumberjack festival.) Called a few friends, and that was good. Karl, consider yourself blogged.
7.19.09 Took a long, easy, 75 miler into Lolo. The first 3/4 of the day, we were averaging about 15mph, still cruising off the pass from the day before. Road conditions were great, temperatures were a little on the warm side, traffic was fine, and there were plenty of resupply points. We were going through the Bitterroot Valley, which started out pretty narrow (I liked that) and gradually opened through the day. The mountains looked super rugged on one side and sand-colored and rounded on the other. The rivers and creeks the past couple days have been some of the clearest I've seen. We missed out on one brewery in Hamilton (it opened a few hours later, alack), and ended up being charged for refilling our water bottles at a gas station. Ugh. The end of the day was pretty chill though, and we got to take our time the next morning.
7.20.09 Today was a short day into and arround Missoula (about 20 miles total). We checked out the Adventure Cycling headquarters and got food, ice cream, water bottles, and a (purchased) jersey for our trouble. Woot. Ran into the ACA kids one last time, for tomorrow, we set off on a connector to get to the Northern Tier (and glacier - I am super excited). Time might be a little more tight, and we might have some tougher climbs in Washington now, but that's ok.
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