Biking, Day 8: 7/24/2009

Day 8: Missoula, MT to Helena, MT
Distance: 125 miles
Route: MT Route 200 to MT 141 to MT 12
Lodging: Shilo Inn, $40/night via Priceline

I woke up at 5am to get on the road by 6am. I was nervous about making it to Helena. I had been doing 100 miles or so a day, which is quite a bit.Ｉ mentioned in my last post that biking is a bit slower than I had initially thought. The panniers weigh down the bike and my tires are wider than I am used to, so the overall speed is slower. I forgot to take into consideration things like heat, bad weather, wind, getting lost, my 'seat area', my hands, etc. The first day, my shoulder burned so badly that it blistered 3 days later. I have worn a tshirt the past 2 days so as not to expose my shoulder to the sun anymore. My seat area has been a constant issue with chaffing, soreness, etc. I have worn BOTH pairs of my padded shorts the past two days. The seat I got at Fitness Fanatics in Spokane has helped, too.
I headed out of town on Route 200. It was a beautiful morning. I had looked at the weather, though, and knew I would have bad headwind during the day. Less in the beginning, more later. Also, I saw that there was scattered thunderstorms in the area. I was unsure if I would be affected by those.
I decided I would try to space out my breaks a bit more. The first part of the ride was really hard. It was very hilly and windy. I wasn't making great time, but tried not to panic too much about making it to Helena. I decided to stop every 3 hours or so.
I stopped around 915am and had ridden 40 miles. I stopped at the first gas station i saw, which had a large cow in the front, got a coffee and sat for a bit. I got on the road again around 9:35. Today was the most beautiful day yet. The scenery was ridiculous. Rivers, trees, mountains.
During this middle part, I rode until around 1PM. i turned onto MT 141 from MT 200. I wanted to stop, but it looked like the first town would be 33 miles. That was very unfortunate.
I rode and was making great time. Then, the wind started up. I was about 10 miles from Avon, where the next turn would be, and I was hurting. The sun started getting really hot, too. I knew there would not likely be any place to stop, so I started rationing my water. It's amazing in MT how there can be stretches of road - 50 miles long or more - with nowhere to stop. I'm always shocked that there aren't more people who simply run out of gas. I guess Montanans know better.
I was tired. It was hot. I was thirsty. There were storm clouds rolling around.
Finally, I pulled into Avon, MT. I looked around - nothing. I had drank almost all my water. Then
I saw a little sign that pointed down a road indicating a store. I went down the road and found the most adorable store ever. I walked in, got some snacks, and the woman told me I a) needed more carbs and b) needed to sit to wait out the storm. Agreed.
I sat with the woman, her dog, Chloe, the guy who runs the post office, and a few other locals for a little bit as the storm passed through.
Avon is a really small town, like, population of 125 or something. I wondered how this store stayed in business. The woman, originally from Texas, told me the history of the store. In summary, the store has been around for like 15-20 years. Some guy owned it for the first ten, had it for sale for four years, and finally someone bought it. He had had it as a very general store. The next owner made it 'cute' and started selling crafty type things in there. But people liked having a place to go and buy their milk, etc. So another woman bought it and just ran herself into the ground with it - she had four kids, yet was the only person who ran the store. She had it open from 6am to 6pm, for some reason. Her husband worked in Alaska 3 weeks on/2 weeks off and when he would come home, he had nothing to do. Finally, he was like this is not what I signed up for. So, she sold it to this woman and a few friends. The store is a general store, for bread, milk, etc. It's mainly locals who come in, sometimes road traffic in the summers.
To get a sense of the place, while we were sitting there, a woman walked in 'hey, do you have any coconut?' Nope, but you're the second person to ask in 6 months, so I will order some. 'Great. How about cool whip?' Yep, there's one container in the freezer, I will order another when you take that one.
So, basically, I have no idea how she makes any money.
The storm passed through and I hit the road. It was 33 more miles to Helena. I started riding and ran into serious headwind. I literally couldn't go more than 6 miles/hr. It was horrible. After about 10 miles, I hit the hill that I had heard so much about. They were right - this hill was serious. I was exhausted, the hill was steep and long, I had 22 miles to go and had no idea if I could make it in this headwind before sunset.
I pushed my bike. For the first time on actual roads, I couldn't ride. I pushed, then would ride, pushed then would ride. it took me an hour to get up that hill. When i hit the top, there was a Lewis and Clark sign indicating the altitude - 6000+ feet. It was high. Damnned lewis and Clark.
But, what goes up, must come down. I rode downhill for about 8 miles. I even pulled off and took a few pictures - it was that pretty. Also, my back tire needed air. Going downhill is not as easy as it seems. I try not to go too fast because the bike is harder to control with the gear on the back. Plus, constantly having the brakes on is hard work!
I finally hit Helena just as it started raining. I saw a sign for my hotel, the Shilo Inn, and saw it was at the opposite end of town. I rode through, saw the capital, and went to my hotel. As with every hotel person, the manager was excited about my bike ride. When I tell people my zip code, they keep asking 'what brings you to Montana?' When i say i'm biking back, they are usually very confused. She was also interested in telling me about some relative who was born in Bethesda, a suburb of DC. So it goes.
I went to my room, it was after 7pm. A long, long day. I ordered pizza. I showered, I shouldn't admit this here, but I was too tired to wash my stuff. I wrote a little, and then I went to bed. I decided to let myself sleep in until 6am and hit the road at 7am.
Some thoughts: 125 miles was super hard today. The middle part wasn't so bad, when I got in my groove. But I realize that so much of whether a day is hard or not depends on wind, terrain, and amount of time I have to sit on my seat. 10 hours is a lot of time, but not horrible. 12-13 starts getting unbearable. So, if I have tail wind, no hills, etc and can bust out 15-18MPH, I can easily do 125-150 a day. so, perhaps in the heartland.

Tomorrow will be less mileage, to Bozeman.