St. Ignatius to Missoula

Monday, June 23, 2003

Westbound: Plains to St. Ignatius Eastbound: Missoula to Lincoln

My half day of rest had revitalized me. I had a light first breakfast from stuff I had gotten at the grocery in town and got underway. I then stopped at Ravalli for a second, more substantial breakfast.

The highway south was then a mixed experience. Initially it was reasonably flat, kind of busy, and not overly endowed with shoulder. Even though the weather was good where I was, the sky to the west looked threatening and the weather channel had warned of storms. I thought it might be useful to get out the little radio I had packed. I figured I could stand local programs for a while if they gave me the weather every half hour. I then got two bad inputs.

First the radio could not pick up any signal. I couldn’t believe so close to Missoula there was no commercial radio, but I could believe the little radio I had was good only in urban areas. That was a disappointment. The real problem was a broken spoke I spotted as I was rummaging through the pannier. That could be a problem. I tied the spoke off and wondered at the wisdom of not bringing the Kevlar spares other folks talked about. I resolved that issue by recalling that however much I wished to be a compentent bicycle mechanic, I hadn’t had time to learn how to use them and Missoula was then less than 50 miles away on a fully paved route. So off I went again.

The next issue came at the hill between Arlee and I 90. Ravalli is about 2700 feet, Arlee about 3100 feet, and the top of the hill is about 3900 feet. The good news was that there was a climbing lane. The bad news is that I lost the shoulder. Happily there wasn’t enough traffic to make it a problem and folks either gave me the full lane or passed me using the left part of the very wide right lane.

The tower whispered, “Call home.”

Eventually, the sloped lessened and I pulled onto a side road to rest and have a drink. I saw a minivan turn in and thought this looks like soccer Mom country even if it is rural Montana. I then turned around and saw a cell tower. Whether or not I was in the ‘burbs, I had a shot at calling home to check in. The tower, or another nearby, gave my phone four bars. Three cheers again for Verizon.

After a quick conversation, I headed down slope and soon came to a major gas station-restaurant combination where I got some tasty lunch and read in peace. Inside had comfortable furniture, but the tobacco smoke drove me outside where it was beautiful with broken clouds and no sign of rain.

The rest of the trip down to I 90 was uneventful. Mostly down hill, not too steep, pretty good road, not too much traffic but not nearly empty. This US highway did have traffic and services, just no lodging until the Interstate.

The Interstate was ok but the shoulder was kind of debris infested. I caught up with my first fellow cyclist a few miles short of Missoula. We chatted for a bit, side-by-side, but I was comfortable at quicker pace than he. In fact, he looked kind of beat as he stood for every slight incline. I left the highway to enter Missoula in hopes of locating one of its good bicycle stores.

My V-Rex on the Rack

I found good roads, some bike lines, and soon a shopping center with an upscale sporting goods shop. They didn’t do bikes but were kind to lend me their phone book and guidance on how best to get downtown. Missoula Bicycle Works was the ticket. I got the wheel repaired, had the brakes and gears adjusted, bought some stuff, and got advice for lodging. Very nice people.

I then went to the Campus Inn, unpacked, had a Subway for dinner, called home and had no success in using my new Earthlink account to send email from my Qwest account. I could reach Earthlink and even use it read my Qwest mail, but I could not send mail via Qwest. Frustrating then though I later received a cogent explanation.

In the lap of luxury, I called it a night.

43.89 miles in 4:19 on the bike for an average over the two big hills of 10.1

Westbound: St. Ignatius to Plains Eastbound: Missoula to Lincoln