Thursday, May 23, 1996
Day 12
Helena, Montana to Belgrade, Montana
Today's Miles: 96
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 863
Degree of Difficulty: Easy
Terrain: Flat, High Mountain Plains
Find of the Day: Wheat Montana Bakery
This morning started off very relaxed after a warm and comfortable night in the cabin. Lee replaced both of his tires just as a precaution. He had several thousand miles on the old ones and they were starting to show the wear. There is no way you want a blow out on the 40mph downhills we were going to hit today.
Lee, Changing His Tires
I checked the e-mail and was pleased to hear from Brian at Swan River School, one of the places Lee and I had visited a few days back. I also received a nice letter from Pam and Michael who live in South Africa. It seems that our trip is being followed internationally now!
We added an extra 7 miles to the ride today by going around the outskirts of Helena, getting on Highway 12, headed southeast to our first lunch stop in Townsend. As the tour is progressing, it has become apparent that we need to eat more often than normal. It's necessary to have something every two to three hours in order to sustain our bodies through the long days this week. The average level of calorie burn in 12 miles is 400 calories. With 90 to 100 mile days, we need to eat 3200 calories a day just to replace the amount of fuel that we burn by cycling. We're trying to eat between 4000 and 5000 calories a day.The ride from Helena to Townsend, 35 miles, was the fastest one of the tour so far. The winds were blowing out of Canada, hitting us directly in the back and pushing us at a pace that was almost DOUBLE our normal speed. We pulled into Townsend before noon to eat a big lunch to help get us through the next 60 miles.The customers were very friendly, some asking about our trip and kind of chuckling to themselves. This is gold and mineral country. The mountains on both sides of this valley were heavy with prospecting in the 1800's, some strikes coming up with as much as $2,000.00 per pan. It's also the route that Lewis and Clark took on the expedition of 1805. We see markers everywhere marking their journey.Lee is pretty health conscious, so I was surprised to see him order biscuits and gravy with a side of sausage. Ken ordered the ham steak and eggs breakfast. As you can see, there is some heavy eating going on here, but our bodies are burning it up. Adam had his "what's the largest thing on the menu?" breakfast.We looked out the window and saw the wind flags blowing straight out, parallel to the road, in the direction we were headed. This was a sign to hurry and get back on the road because you don't get tail winds like this often.
Headed into Townsend
with a MONSTER tailwind
We blasted out of Townsend on Highway 287, averaging between 21 and 23 miles per hour. The vistas in "Big Sky" country are huge, so even at that speed it didn't feel like we were going fast enough. The mountains kept receding before us instead of coming closer. It was a straight shot and a solid tailwind that blew us into Wheat, Montana several hours ahead of schedule. Everyone had switched into heavy rain gear as we came out of Townsend, thunderstorm and grey skies covering us from horizon to horizon.
Chuck was waiting for us in front of Wheat Montana Bakery in Three Forks to give us the directions for the final 20 miles. Ken and Adam took off immediately while Lee and I checked out the bakery. It was Ken and Adam's loss. We walked in and KNEW this was the place!The Wheat Montana Bakery grows their own wheat and grains for all of their products. They are in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the shortest time between harvesting the wheat and turning it into a loaf of bread. But don't let the speed record fool you...these people know what they're doing. Lee and I started with hot cinnamon rolls, then moved through the racks of different grains, stockpiling supplies for the next two weeks. We bought wheat berry chili makings, baby lentils and rolled oats. It will be a long time before we see this type of food again, so we grabbed as much as would fit in my pannier.Wheat Montana Bakery is our "Find of the Day", a new category that we have set up to tell you about the special places we find along our route. If you see something labeled "FOTD", you can be assured that THIS IS THE PLACE where you want to stop when passing through.The Farm Road from Wheat to Belgrade is a smooth, rolling hill blacktop, a nice respite from the 5 miles of freeway shoulder we rode on to get there. The rain picked up in intensity as we came within 10 miles of Belgrade.Belgrade has the worst roads we have seen on the tour so far. Water filled potholes with no shoulders for bikes... it was a traffic nightmare getting to the campsite. When we met Chuck at the turnoff, he gave us the word. "Traffic is as thick as a hornet's nest." That's the last thing I wanted to hear after biking 95 miles, the last half in a solid downpour.Lee and I arrived at about 5:00pm to learn that Adam and Ken were lost and Chuck was out looking for them. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. There would be no way I would want to be caught outside on a night like this.Luckily, Chuck had written down the name of the campground and given it to Ken during the day's ride. When Adam and Ken realized they were off track, they asked a local who gave them directions on how to get here. It was a relief to see them come in.I was exhausted after the day's ride. Ken, Adam, Lee and Dave went into Bozeman to check out the town while I stayed and took a long, hot shower and went to bed early. Tomorrow is a climbing day and there is supposed to be 3 to 5 inches of snow tonight in areas over 6000 feet. We'll be going up over 6000. Oh, joy...
From the Journal of Dave Blair
We began Day 12 under cloudy skies with the sun occasionally shining and, best of all, the cyclist having a 15 to 20 mph tailwind. Mom and I took our usual positions as "scouts" and left the Helena KOA at 9a.m. and began the 90 mile drive to Belgrade, Montana.
We stopped for a late breakfast in Townsend and then drove down Hwy 287 to Three Forks. Three Forks is where the Gallatin River, Madison River and Jefferson River come together to form the Missouri River. As we turned on to Interstate 90 the rain began for the second day and continued off and on for the rest of the day.We spent the night in a converted covered wagon at the Lexley Acres RV Park in Belgrade. This is the second night we have been able to find affordable shelter. It makes a huge difference when one does not have to put up a soggy tent, sleep in it and in the morning repack pack an even soggier tent.Tomorrow the group will pedal 90 miles to Mammoth Hot Springs, via Livingston and the beautiful Paradise Valley. The weather calls for more rain and cool temps through the Memorial Day Weekend but my spirits are soaring knowing that the next two days will be spent exploring my favorite park, Yellowstone.
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271