After a fantastic nights sleep at the Hildreth Livestock Ranch and some dreary purple gruel for breakfast we headed out from the ranch. But then the Hildreth family (Donna, Chuck and their son Lane) all came out to see us off. And then Lane started showing us his rock collection… and 1/2 hour later we … Continue reading Day 24: A beautiful ride down Big Sheep Canyon into Lima, MT
When we got up this morning it was 18 degrees and there was frost on our tents and everything left outside. Even the gruel was good this morning because it was hot… We waited around because it was too cold to ride. Finally, by 09:30 it warmed up to 54 degrees so we got on … Continue reading Day 23: a cold start and hot climb to the cattle ranch
Around 11:30 at night I was awakened by a loud clap of thunder- about 30 min later it started raining. Rain is pretty loud in a tent so I read for 45 min and then went back to sleep. It was a cool 34 degrees when we got up and boy was the hot chocolate … Continue reading Day 22: A good climb but a really great descent to the Bannock ghost town
After a less than satisfying breakfast of purple gruel, we headed out around 09:00 for a day of long gentle climbing. After about an hour of riding we came to the little town of Wise River where we bought lunch supplies for the next three days, and had pie (my favorite snack) and hot chocolate- … Continue reading Day 21: A short day in lieu of a rest day
After breakfast, going to the UPS store and hitting Walmart for a few supplies, we didn’t head out of Butte until around 9:30. JD here – I experienced a first today when we were only about 5 miles from Butte, riding along a county road shoulder when I ran over a sharp object of some … Continue reading Day 20: A beautiful Divide Crossing against fierce headwinds
After our normal huge breakfast we hit the road around 08:30. Leaving Boulder we turned onto a nice gravel road alongside a beautiful river. And that was what we rode pretty much all the way to Continental Divide crossing #5. We had a 30 mile climb up various beautiful drainages and really enjoyed the ride. … Continue reading Day 19: A beautiful long climb and descent into Butte, MT
We had a relaxing morning as the bike shop didn’t open until 10:00. So, we had a huge breakfast, had an extra cup of coffee and then picked up our bikes. I can’t say enough good things about Great Divide Cyclery in Helena, MT. They are friendly, efficient and very competent, fixing all of our … Continue reading Day 18: Detours and headwinds enroute to Boulder, MT
We hit the road around 08:15 after a dehydrated oatmeal breakfast, of which we are becoming quite tired… We started climbing almost immediately- on a very rough road- and climbed without interruption for the next three hours or so until we crested Continental Divide crossing #3! We then had lots of ups and downs, into … Continue reading Day 17: Two Continental Divide crossings then limped into a bike shop in Helena, MT
After our usual large breakfast (when at a restaurant), picking up lunch at the grocery store (bagels, peanut butter & honey) and picking up our box of food at the PO, we hit the road around 09:30. It was an immediate climb and the upper 4.5 miles were really steep- we had to get off … Continue reading Day 16: A very hard ~1/2 mile climb (Cont. Divide crossing #2) and a soft landing at the Llama farm!
After a really good nights sleep (10 hours) we had a big breakfast- because we always have big breakfasts- and then headed out on our bikes for a little fishing on the Blackfoot River. A very short and nice lady, called Little Fish (really!) at our hotel drew us a map of a place not … Continue reading Day 15: Rest day in Lincoln, MT
Dave Bikes America 