1998 - Bike-Aid 3,600 Miles Across The U.S.A.
1999 - The Great Divide Mountain Bike Expedition
June 25, 1998 - Missoula - Brown's Lake
DISTANCE TRAVELED: 59.43 MilesTIME: 6:30 Hours
AVERAGE SPEED: 15.4 Miles/Hour
TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Very rainy in the morning turning into a cloudy but comfortable afternoon. Around 9:00 at night, the rain began to come again and lasted throughout the night.
ROAD CONDITIONS: Good highway in the morning and afternoon except for the last 3 miles to the campground which was a dirt road that was covered with gravel the size of golf balls. This road was very bumpy and created a few flats for people. Not a good road for road bikes and I wouldn't even want to do it on a mountain bike. It wasn't technical but it was very annoying to constantly have so many small jarring bumps.
TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Overall a very easy ride with a very gentle uphill for most of the trip. The end was a very easy set of rolling hills.
DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
We woke up around 7:00 in the morning since we once again had to be out of the YMCA by 8:00. We didn't have any breakfast or lunch food around since we didn't realize that we were so low on food. After throwing my gear in the SAG, Matt, Tom, Jade, and I went to a local restaurant for breakfast. I had a Belgian Waffle with whipped cream and strawberries along with some bacon. This cost all of 3 dollars! We then went to a few bike shops looking for neoprene booties to put over our shoes to keep our feet warm and dry in the rain that seemed so immanent. We spent about an hour looking and finally found a pair that was made by Pearl Izumi for 50 dollars. I obviously didn't want to get them for that price but another rider was considering it. The only problem was that they didn't fit his shoes. After looking for these, we got Katie a new helmet since she had fallen and cracked her old one and picked up a rain jacket for Matt. After this was done we were finally on our way. We left around 10:30 and about an hour into the trip, Tom got a flat.(Picture19) Luckily the rain had just started to lessen so we didn't get too wet. The tire was put back on and we continued on passing a few people since we were the last to leave. Eventually we met up with the SAG and got some sandwiches that we had donated from a local deli which tasted great. I continued on and after a while started to bike by myself since I wanted to go faster than the others. I eventually met up with the front of our group which consisted of Jen, David, and Rich, a rafting tour guide. We continued on in a group for about 15 more miles during which time David had a bug fly into his eye resulting in him almost falling since it didn't fall out immediately. We cleaned out his eye and continued onto the next small town where we stopped and I bought an ice cream sandwich. I also ate two sandwiches that were a few days old that I had not eaten. Fortunately I was able to put them in a refrigerator so they were still good as new. After eating, we all left to finish the last 8 miles of road before the dirt road. For about 7 miles of this, I was with David and Jen going about 22 miles an hour. For the last mile, I slacked off and waited for Rich to catch up which didn't take long since he was still going about 18 miles an hour. We all met at the turnoff onto the dirt road and traveled the last 3 miles very quickly. I actually got up to 27 miles an hour at one point on a small downhill. Fortunately I didn't have any problems with my tires. We got into camp first and began to unload the SAG, throwing everything under tarps in case the rain came. Others slowly came into camp and we began to set up the tents. Around 8:00 we had a great and very filling dinner of instant mashed potatoes with canned corn and some broccoli.(Picture20) I then proceeded to have a Stoker bar to help fill me up along with a can of oranges. These tasted much better and actually filled me up fairly well. We were fortunate enough to meet another rider along the way who was not with the GTE Big Ride and is also riding across the country. He however is unsupported and is by himself. I found out that he has very bad arthritis in his knees and is hoping that they will hold up until the end of the trip. He spent the night with us eating our great dinner and may ride with us for a few more days. I stood around a small fire that we made and watched the clouds envelop the mountains around us and the rain that came down making it impossible for us to see anything very far away. The rain came down hard and finally around 11:30 I was able to go to bed while some other fools were still standing in the rain trying to stay warm while I was in my sleeping bag staying warm!.
TRIP ROUTE: Get onto RTE 200 and follow until around mile marker 53. Watch for sign that says Brown's Lake and has a picture of a fish. Take this dirt road to Brown's Lake and camp here.
