Today I found the horizon.
Today ended up being a much better day than yesterday. Today is an opportunity for new places and experiences. Lets go! Well let's go at a moderate pace because no matter how hard I try. I am usually the last one out of camp.
We started today following the Missouri River as it exits the mountains. Fantastic canyons surrounded us. The river is fast and strong. I noticed lots of river boats heading towards me. I was quickly reminded that it was indeed Saturday and that probably meant that a bunch of folks were headed fishing. Time does funny things when your on a big bike tour. What day is it? What time is it? Does any of it really matter? Only in those moments where you "touch" reality again do you have these checkpoints and you get a sense of the wheres and whens you've been supposedly missing out on.
Fishing seems to be big business out this way. Trout especially. The canyon then spit us out along Interstate 15 and we took the frontage roads northward. Today was a much kinder day for traffic. People came by slowly from both directions, and a few even gave a polite honk to let me know of their approach. Oh it felt good to ride. My bike felt good., the road was smooth, and I could just fly!
Well I could fly until about 5 feet before our lunch spot in Cascade. I pushed on the pedal and heard a large pop. All of a sudden any resistance from my pedals was gone and my chain was on the ground. Gah! I really had been hoping for a win day. Everything was going so well.
Thankfully Art and Josh were just behind me, and I had the tools and parts to make an emergency repair.
My bike still seemed cranky so I took it easy the final 30 miles to Great Falls. The terrain changed quickly with the sky seeming to open up and the horizon move far into the distance. Perhaps that's why they call it big sky? I don't know. Back at home it's pretty much all sky due to the lack of elevation changes. I looked back at the mountains one last time. They already seemed so small and so far away. Was I really there only yesterday? But anyway....... Rolling into Great Falls I was able to find a bike shop that could take a quick look. Turns out I had the wrong size quick link in my emergency kit. So a new quick link later the shifting feels right again, but the sound is off. The mechanic didn't seem to know much about electronic shifting.
We went for supper at a local brewery called Mighty Mo. Get it. Because we're along the Missouri. Ha! I do love a good pun. We started outside, but THEN IT RAINED! Sigh...... does this count as a rain day if we're in the town?
Fishing seems to be big business out this way. Trout especially. The canyon then spit us out along Interstate 15 and we took the frontage roads northward. Oh it felt good to ride. My bike felt good. The road was smooth, and I could just fly! sy again. Plus tailwinds are supposed to return in couple days. Perhaps a rest day isn't all bad. Starting to hit a couple milestones in our journey. We're just over the 1,000 mile mark (~25% of total) and have climbed almost 40,000 feet (~40% of total)!
'till next time
-Matt
Miles Ridden Today: 64.57
Total Miles Ridden: 1,055.6
Feet Climbed Today: 1,467
Total Feet Climbed: 38,504
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