Saturday, May 25, 1996
Day 14
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Today's Miles: 0
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 951
Degree of Difficulty: Rest Day
Terrain: Yellowstone National Park
Find of the Day: The Park
The introduction at our campsite in Yellowstone
It's Saturday, rest day for me, so Lee is going to put in a couple of thoughts here. I'll talk with you tomorrow.
Mark
From the Journal of Lee Smith
It's been pretty demanding, riding 98 miles per day average, Sunday to Thursday of Week 2. This week I decided to write a week in review entry instead of dailies. It'll be called "The Daily Grind; a Review of the Bitter and the Sweet".
Day One: Sandpoint, ID to Libby, MT
My first ever century! 105 miles in total.
Somehow I was the only one caught in the AM showers between Sandpoint and Hope...The "Boar's Breath" turned out to be the find of the day, with local color, Suds the Pig, and decent food... the highlight of the day from a scenic perspective had to be the beautiful Bull River Road ride (rte 56) north towards Libby!... It turned out to be the best 85 mile ride of my life (the only that long actually) followed by one of the nastiest 20 mile rides I can recall in freezing cold rain.Day Two: Libby to Kalispell
Another long one -- about 95 miles on my odometer.
Overcame cold feet after 5 miles to have a pretty good ride in the morning despite headwinds...Most lasting impressions were the numerous crosses posted be the Salvation Army at the sites of traffic fatalities and the hour long ride with David through a 20 year old forest fire area that we were in for more than an hour's riding...Afternoon I had an unbelievable tailwind from Marion all the way to Kalispell where I honestly maintained speeds of 25+mph for miles at a stretch...finally, thanks to the guys at Bikology in Kalispell for the recommendation on the neoprene toe-boots, just what the doctor ordered!
Adam and Ken
Surveying their new domain
Day Three: Kalispell to Seeley Lake
Another 96 miles.
About five miles out, I ran into construction for 3 miles to Creston with incredibly nasty gravel surface and much commercial traffic...50 yards from the end of the construction, a guy yells "I've got Mark! He's in the school past the gas station on the left." from the cab of an oncoming pickup truck...Where's Mark's bike?...What a rush walking into the school gym and seeing Mark standing at center court with his bike addressing 120 third to sixth graders and their teachers!!! I jumped right in with him and we had a 20 minute Q&A session before moving on...45 minutes later after a beautiful farmland detour around the remaining 2 miles of construction, we spied Chuck waiting in the parking lot of the Swan River School -- now he's with the program -- and we found the principal proctoring the eighth grade study hall!Some of the guys had their own websites, and others were passing the TREK, Raleigh and Colorado Cyclist catalogs amongst themselves when we walked in! After the usual who, what, where and especially why type questions, we broke into two sub-groups where Mark handled the computer techies and I handled the bike dudes...Lunch stop at the half-way mark turned out to be 67.7 miles into the ride today, but it was worth the payoff -- warming and delicious split pea soup and awesome homemade pumpkin pie -- thanks for the hospitality and the good cookin' Robin...No real low points today, but the ride from lunch to Tamaracks Resort at Seeley Lake was a bit of a struggle...That was quite a long summary -- guess I had a good day!!Day Four: Seeley Lake to Helena
Second Century in a week!
Rough start this morning in the rain...picked up new sandwich bags for my feet at the filling station/convenience store in Seeley Lake...still, I found myself wishing for a mechanical failure to force me into the sag wagon...I trailed the group and arrived at Clearwater, our first turn, cold and tired...Find of the Day #1: Everyone else moved on and I went into "Stoney's" for a warm drink...Rick "Stoney" Stone brewed a fresh pot of joe and we chatted for a while...he caters to a big hunting crowd in season and had about 20 preserved trophies including mostly elk and dear busts, but also with a full brown bear, a full dear, a bull moose bust, and an 8-point buck...boy am I far from the west village now! ...Find of the Day #2: About noon, I caught up to Mark and the van in Ovanda, a nothing of a town where Mark had already ascertained a late breakfast would not be found...sent Chuck ahead and 50 yards later found "Trixies", a happenin' joint with decent diner style food, 2 pool tables, a large dining room and the requisite Keno and video Poker machines...lot's of character and characters...phoned Gena in London from Trixies and rode the rest of the day on an incredible high...I was almost ready to quit after riding 16 miles in the rain to the next town without seeing the van once, but after a great bowl of Italian bean soup served by our first truly surly waitress, I decided to give Mac Donald's pass a go...the climb turned out to be less difficult than expected, and after putting plastic bags over my hands and feet I descended for 14 miles, without pedalling, to Chuck and Mark in the waiting van strategically located at the 100.2 mile mark for a shuttle through Helena to our awaiting cabin.
Adam, Standing on the Egde
of a "Boiling" Pot
Day 5: Helena to Belgrade
95 miles with an awesome sticky bun at Wheat Montana!
Started slowly as a group to get onto 1-90 East...cold but comfortable weather...Tailwinds galore as we made Townsend in no time...in a moment of absolute insanity I ordered biscuits with sausage gravy for lunch -- what's happening to me???...with more tailwinds we made it to our second stretch of I-90 quickly, but when Ken and Adam rolled on, Mark and I stopped at the Find of the Day #1: "Wheat Montana"...a bakery associated with a grain farm that served awesome pastries along with breads and wheat berry chili...purchased 3 lbs of mixed cereal, two packages of chili, and 3 lbs of french lentils...and a real nice embroidered baseball cap...low point was the remaining 25 miles on I-90 for 6, then through Manhattan and Belgrade on busy 2 lane road in the rain......warm beds in a covered wagon tonight though...after dinner, Dave,Ken, Adam and I jumped in the van for a ride into Bozeman and Find of the Day #2:"Spanish Peaks Brewery and Italian Cafe" for some freshly brewed beer...I liked the porter and prices!!! then......on to Find of the Day #3: The Leaf and Bean, an oversized coffee bar established in 1977 on Main Street, Bozeman where I had a latte and listened to live "guitar fusion" until closing when Ken tried to dial up our email on their phone -- thanks for putting up with us to Rebecca, Kim and Margaret.Day 6: Belgrade to Mammoth Hot Springs, WY (in Yellowstone NP)
Snow Squalls -- enough is enough -- 35 miles.
Started cold and wet on I-90, I convinced Mark to exit in Bozeman and ask for my mail and for directions which might keep us off the interstate without adding too much mileage.....find of the Day: Bozeman Food Coop...more greens than I've seen since leaving Pike Street Market in Seattle 2 weeks ago...when Mark left me alone in the bulk grains, nuts and legumes area I was overcome with emotion and stood weeping for five minutes...guess I'm a little homesick...filled my pockets with hummus, tamari almonds, bean salad, carrot salad, and 4 veggie/bean burgers, bought 2 pair of polypropelene sock liners and one of heavy wool hiking socks and we were on our way, a little weighted down, but happy...no mail at the Bozeman P.O., oh well...beautiful riding out of Bozeman as nature left 3 inches of light sugar powdering the treetops and fields......soon enough we were riding in a snow storm, just grinding away...suddenly, a snowball came flying into my peripheral view...could it be?!? the summit...yes!!! It was Dave waiting at the top...we bundled up, climbed off the interstate and up an embankment to a frontage road, and off we went down to Livingston...Mark and I froze up completely on the way down, and agreed when we met up with the van to sit out the rest of the day...of course, 2 miles down Ken decided to go it alone and found a pocket of 6O degree dry air and tailwinds that blew his butt all the way to Gardiner with little effort...Camping tonight at 6000+ feet in Yellowstone NP -- hope it doesn't snow.Day 7: And then he rested...
Yesterday we toured Yellowstone by van. Unbelievable! Our campsite was occupied by 6 or so elk cows when we arrived and we saw lots of bison including week old calfs nursing, a coyote, a couple of moose and lots more elk. Of course this is all in incredible forests of mostly Ponderosa and Lodgepole pines, mountains of 11,000 feet, snow everywhere on the ground above 7000 feet, and the geysers, mudpots, fumolores (steam vents) of the thermal caldera in the center of the park.
Day 8: Day 2 at Yellowstone
Today it's raining and we decided to go to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel for showers ($2.75 with towel & soap -- no hot water at the campgrounds), and to write journals, postcards, email, etc. in their lobby. That about brings you up to this moment. I gotta run...
The Daily Grind; Week 2
Submitted May 26, 1996
Lee Smith
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271