Biking, Day 11: 7/27/2009

Day 11: Pray, MT to Gardiner, MT
Distance: 35 miles (via subaru)
Route: 89 South the entire way
Lodging: Westernaire Motel, $90/night, total rip off


Today I woke up,looked out thewindow, and was sort of excited it was raining. I had done 10 days straight, 900 miles or more (plus a lot of mountain climbing whilst pushing a bike) and was ready for a rest day. It's hard for me to take a rest day, but my body really needed it. I was having a hard time walking, was just exhausted. 100 miles a day is a lot, for anyone. I went downstairs, got coffee, and told them I wanted the room for another night. Well, the lady informed me, there were no rooms available. Bullocks. I asked the possibility of a cancellation and she told me the policy – 48 hours advance. Hmm. She suggested I hang out until 11am or so to see if there were cancellations.
I went to my room to map out routes. I came downstairs about every hour to check on cancellations (I went down at 7am the first time). At ten, I decided it was time to face reality and get moving. I could go to Gardiner, MT, 35 miles down the road at the entrance to Yellowstone. I looked for places to stay there and, with mother's help, found an over-priced motel. I packed up, went downstairs, and started getting on my bike gear.
As I was getting ready to get on and ride, a mid to late-30s, athletic-looking woman came over and asked how my ride was going so far. I said good, that I was making good progress, but that I really had wanted to take today off, but the hotel was sold out. She said that she had also wanted to stay another night and was told the same thing – that the hotel was sold out. She mentioned that she used to ride bikes professionally, and now coached. She had lots of friends who toured, but had never done any touring herself. As we talked, she then offered to take me down the road to the next town. I accepted.
We loaded up MC (Mary Catherine)'s, Subaru, threw the bike on top, got some snacks for her two girls, Ruby (age 5) and Ellie (age 7) and started down the road.
MC was super cool – grew up in Missoula, went to college in Colorado, traveled the world leading expeditions, teaching ESL to Japanese, etc. She married Tom, who she had known much of her life, and who is a fly fisherman and owns his own outfitter. He was out fly fishing, which is why he wasn't with them for the day and why the golden seat in the Subaru was available for me. MC had done a variety of jobs from leading expeditions, to teaching, to now coaching biking, being a trainer, and being a life coach. She mentioned that 100 miles a day was pretty far. I concurred.
When we got down to the next town, MC offered to let me hang out with them and to show me yellowstone. Since I had decided to take the day and rest, I was totally down for a guided tour of Yellowstone by a very cool woman and two very adorable and well-behaved girls.
The tour was awesome – we saw Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris and the Steamboat Geyser, and a few other stops along the way. The way MC taught her children is the way I would want to teach mine – they saw, asked questions, and she explained things. I actually learned a ton. Yellowstone is a huge volcano! You can fall through the surface and boil (and people have)! There used to be way more surface water at Mammoth! Even cooler was stepping into their life for a brief moment. For the first time in a long time (maybe ever), I could see myself having kids – granted,these kids were very tolerable and cute – but watching how a cool, smart, athletic mother, well, mothers, was very neat. Also, hearing about MC's life was interesting – she got into bike racing while getting her master's degree, she got her MA degree in Reno, NV, had her first kid when she was 37 (which makes her 44 – she doesn't look a day over 36), built her own house with her husband, and has managed to find new, interesting ways to make a living. The fact that they took me, a complete stranger, in for the day is telling on how they live life. It was refreshing.
Additionally, she gave me tips on biking (protein, electrolytes), told me about how horrible gluten is, and promised to introduce me to her friend who tours and told me about a ride I should do that goes from DC to NYC – www.climateride.com

Beyond spending the day learning about Geysers and the Jenni family, that was pretty much it. I decided I would head through the park by bike tomorrow and go through the east exit toward Cody, WY. I won't make it to Cody – 131 miles – so I booked a place in Wapiti – 115 miles.