It's 7:30pm and we are already in our tent for the night, trying to warm ourselves up. Riding today left us chilled to the bone. Apparently we are currently travelling through the coldest area of America at the moment. Thankfully we dodged the rain today even though we were a little better prepared. Steve had grabbed some plastic baggies from the vegetable section of Safeway in Dillon to wrap our feet in under our shoes to try and protect us from the chilling wind and rain.
The landscape through Montana today made me think of a pineapple ripening under Montana's Big Sky, the ground patterned with a kaleidoscope of changing hues of yellows, greens and browns. Montana's Big Sky did not disappoint - we saw a whole lot of sky filled with big, fat, cumulus clouds.
 |
| Beaverhead Rock |
 |
| Cycling under Montana's Big Sky |
We made sure to take quite a few breaks today to try and warm ourselves up from the wind that we created around us all day just by riding.
First stop was Twin Bridges just 18 miles down the road for a hot chocolate, espresso and banana bread.
 |
| The town of Sheridan |
Second stop was Alder where we had a bread roll, Coke and chips outside the gas station convenience store. Everyone in Alder seemed to be stocking up at the store for their hunting trip, dressed in full on hunting camo, impressive beards ten times longer than Steve's. I felt like I could have been watching an episode of Duck Dynasty, but apparently bow season had just opened up and they were heading out to get them some elk.
Third stop was at Nevada City, an old Wild West, gold mining town from the 1800's, for another espresso. We like Montana because espresso seems to be the "in" thing here.
We also meant to stop at Virginia City a mile down the road, another more touristy, preserved, up market gold mining town, but by this time our legs needed to keep moving, and Steve really didn't need another espresso!
 |
| Nevada City |
 |
| Old Great Southern railroad car, Nevada City |
59 miles into the ride we hit our only pass of the day, everything else so far had been a gradual uphill. 4 miles of 7% gradient before we bombed down the other side for 10 miles into the town of Ennis where we went straight to Willie's Distillery to sample some Moonshine, bourbon and rye to warm ourselves up from the inside out.
 |
| The descent into Ennis |
 |
| Willie's Distillery, Ennis |
 |
| Enjoying a Moonshine Moscow Mule |
Willie's Distillery offers free camping to cyclists at the back of their distillery, so this us where we are now unpacked and zipped up in our sleeping bags whilst a family of deer eye us curiously across the lawn.
CRANKING ODYSSEY STATS
Total Odyssey miles: 1,272
Overall Fastest Speed: Steve (39.9 miles per hour) Mandy (35.4 miles per hour)
Bludge Days: 1
Bonks: nil
Dog chases: 3
Dummy Spits: Steve (2 - Day 10 because it rained; Day 16 - because the rocks in the river were slippery)
Mandy (0.5 - Day 14 those freakin' wreckless Idaho drivers!)
Flats: Katie (4)
Wrong turns: 6
Beer of the day: Willies Distillery Honey Moonshine (ok, technically not a beer but as good as!)
Lesson of the day: A pass is a lot easier to get over at the beginning of the day rather than at the end
No. of days with no shower: 9
Starting weight: Steve (90kg) Mandy (51.5kg)
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment