Three Forks to Butte, Montana

Although it had been a little stormy last night, we awoke to a clear morning. Our tour guides had warned us that we should be prepared for rain the entire week. However, after yesterday’s perfect cycling weather; and, with blue skies beckoning, I packed my rain pants and raincoat into my suitcase. No need to carry extra weight along.

After breakfast, the mechanic helped me pump up the tires of my rental bike. Getting back on the road, I felt like I was really flying! Even going up the hills felt easy, although, we were still on mostly flats. Along our route, we were seeing many magpies, which were larger than the red-wing black birds also criss-crossing the road. Just before we arrived at our snack stop, I caught sight of a majestic pelican soaring over the Jefferson River.

Our snack stop was set-up in the parking lot of the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. We didn’t have time to actually go inside the caverns. However, I did quick trip through the interpretative centre, which had various rocks, a selection of animal pelts and a cross section of a 350 year old fir tree.

Even though today was our first mountain pass, we continued on flats to lunch in Whitehall and afterward for miles. We could see storm clouds gathering in front of us above the mountains, like something out of a Tolkien novel. Yet, above us, it was still sunny and clear skies. And by this time, quite hot for me, about 80 F. I thought that a little rain might feel good.

Ten miles before the pass, my Garmin cycling computer switched to climbing mode. This is a “feature” to show the elevation percentage and how long the climb is going to be. Unfortunately, it’s a “feature” that I don’t know yet how to turn off.

About five miles from the top, it started sprinkling. Then, it started raining. And, then, hail started falling from the sky. What to do but keep pedalling? Thankfully, it wasn’t large hail and didn’t last long. Eventually, there was a pull off on the highway where we put on rain gear, which for me was a thin windbreaker that wasn’t waterproof. The rain no longer felt good with the dropping temperatures as we climbed higher.

Up ahead, we saw more cyclists from our group stopped for construction. The road had been closed and was only one way traffic at a time. We had to wait our turn to follow the lead vehicle up and over the pass. Minutes passed. We got colder. My friend was shivering. Finally, they let us through.

I started out confident, sprinting along, trying to warm up. Suddenly, the paved road changed to pea gravel. Everyone else caught up to me as I gingerly cycled through the small rocks. And, the cars from the other direction weren’t waiting for a bunch of cyclists to make it over the pass. (Not that I blame them…we were not that quick on an uphill with pea gravel!) So, we had to also then be listening for the cars coming from the other direction. Then for cars coming behind us. At least it was only one way at a time.

For me, though, the most frightening was the descent of Pipestone Pass in the wet pea gravel. Riding the rental’s disc brakes and balancing just off the seat, my arms and legs were starting to shake. I got off the bike and started running alongside it, managing to keep up with at least some of the cyclists. And, that’s how I made it downhill — spurts of balancing on the bike, then, running alongside the bike.

It was so wonderful to finally see the snack stop on the other side of the pass! We found out there that the road had been paved yesterday. It had just been dug up that morning. Cyclists were sitting in the Adventure Cycling van to warm up. All that running must have warmed me up, because I didn’t feel too cold by that point. Plus, the relief of getting through it!

Afterward, we started the gradual, paved descent into Butte. It felt like flying again after all that pea gravel. We made it into Butte still damp and worn out. The campground tonight as at the bottom of town. Only, we, the “princesses”, had to make the climb up the hill into Butte. The stoplights were against us, turning red and stopping the little momentum we had going in our easiest gears to the point we finally walked the last block uphill. I was so exhausted, I didn’t leave the hotel at all to see any of historic Butte.