1998 - Bike-Aid 3,600 Miles Across The U.S.A.
1999 - The Great Divide Mountain Bike Expedition
July 6, 1998 - Lame Deer - Forsyth
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 61.88 MilesTIME: 6 Hours 30 Minutes
AVERAGE SPEED: 16.9 Miles/Hour
TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Hot and sunny in the morning turning to a cloudy afternoon with some rain and hail. It then got clear again with only a few clouds. There was a small headwind in the morning which didn't really affect us but in the afternoon it got much stronger especially when the storm came.
ROAD CONDITIONS: Overall good roads with some cracks that made the ride a little bumpy and about 6 miles of gravel that had just been laid.
TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Small rolling hills that were very easy although there was one medium length hill that wan't too steep.
DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
Today we got up at 8:00, packed up our gear from the tepees and waited to be taken back to the Boys and Girls Club to finish packing so that we could move on to Forsyth. We left the Pow Wow around 9:00 and as soon as we arrived at the club, I took a shower and put on my biking clothes. Matt and I went down to the local IGA food store and bought some breakfast. After eating quickly, I finished packing up and threw my gear into a big pile to be loaded into the van. I left with Matt and it turned out that we were the last to leave. Only 7 of us continued on to Forsyth and the rest stayed in Lame Deer for a Sweat Lodge which was to be held at 6:00 at night. They had to bike 105 miles the next day to catch up with us. When I finally left, it was 11:00 and we quickly caught up with Katie, Lana, and Julie who had left about an hour earlier. Lana had had a flat so that took up about a half an hour. We passed by them and were averaging about 18 miles an hour and finally reached our first town which was Colstrip. We went to the local Town Pump and bought some drinks and sat under a tree eating lunch. Matt and I stayed for a while while we went to a strip mine and took a 1:30 hour tour. We drove down into the mining area after going over some of the reclaimed land.(Picture57) This project tries to keep the land as natural as possible and they do a very good job. To do this, they put in markers showing the depth of the original soil so that everything will grow back the same. They even plant cold and warm prefering plants so that there will be growth in both the winter and the summer. After this is done, the land can be used for grazing or farming. We found out that they have to dig down 100 feet until they reach the coal which is only about 25 feet thick. They start out by taking off the top layer of grass and putting it onto areas that they are reclaiming. They then have a 19 million dollar machine scrape off the first 100 feet of soil and place it on top of the previously mined areas.(Picture58,Picture59) Later bulldozers reshape the replaced land. They then blast the coal with explosives so that it can be easily removed. They then have a smaller machine scoop up the coal and put it into a dumptruck which can hold 160 tons of coal. the truck goes to a conveyer belt where it dumps the load and then the coal goes to the powerplant or is put onto rail cars to be shipped to other places. The previously mined area is then filled back up with the soil that they took from the new digging area. This process is repeated time and time again as they move their trench along the ground. We then drove back and saw an area where they had recreated an existing pond and restocked it with fish. There were trees and bushes along the banks making it look very natural. They said that they can also use these ponds to test the water so that they can make sure that the water quality is not being affected. To make sure that the mining is clean, they even have their cranes electrically powered with huge cables going to them providing the energy needed. Their 19 million dollar machine was put together on the spot where they are mining and took 1.5 years to put together since it is so big. We also learned about a new project that they are doing to make the coal more valuable and to make it work better. They "clean" it by taking out all of the impurities and then drying it so that it can be sold at a higher price. However because it is so pure, it is also very combustable. They can't transport it on conveyer belts but instead it has to be put into carbon dioxide continers. Also, it is so pure that if it were to be set out in air, it would instantly ignite into flames without any matches! We finally left around 3:30 and continued on to finish our last 35 miles of riding. Everything was great until we hit a small storm which gave us some rain and small hail. It cleared up quickly and we continued on finally arriving around 5:30. We unloaded our food for the night and made some burritos. There was tons of chicken for us since it had been bought for the whole group along with cheese, sour cream, letuce, tomatoes, salsa, and a few other good things to go along with it. I would say that it was by far the best dinner of the trip. It was also nice that we had some free time that was quiet and it was very easy to keep everything clean and to do any chores that needed to be done. I then took a shower and went to bed around 12:00.
TRIP ROUTE:
Take 39 North for about 55 miles and cross over I 94. Take a right at the stop sign at the bottom of the hill and follow into Forsyth. Go until Ford dealership and take a left crossing over the train tracks right before it. Follow road and make first right and then first right at the four way stop sign. The school is infront of you and is the Forsyth Middle School.
