After having the motel standard breakfast I sit on my bike very late. Half past seven is not even an early start. Fortunately the road out of Butte was fairly flat. And until the first major climb I had 6 miles of easy rolling. The climb into Thomson Park was paved but steep.
With the beginning of the gravel section I rode over a wide forest road with a view over the tree covered landscape back to Butte. As I crested Continental Divide Crossing #5 and stopped for a snack I had once more to explain an older couple what I am doing here. They just replied that would be too strenuous and they go for fishing now. I’d liked to do that also.
With the crest there was a complete change of the landscape. Wider open humpy and grassy land with the typical up and downs. The sun dipped the scenery into a magic light with different colours. Riding through this scenery was a real treat topped with the final downhill down to Interstate 15, pure fun.
Traversing the valley led to one further major climb up to the famous Fleecers Ridge. The climb was not special steep but my legs were already done again. I had to stop for my third snack in the meantime.
The sky got this typical dark colour and was just about dumping its wet load down to earth. I made it to Beaver Dam campground before I put all my rain gear on. Ten minutes later I took shelter under a huge fir tree. The lack of broadleaves was a steady annoyance during the whole Tour Divide.
A mix of snow and hail turned the road within minutes from brown into white. 15 minutes later the show was over and left a wet and muddy uphill.
As I got out of the forest onto a plateau I saw the ramp up to Fleecers Ridge, bumpy, rough, wet from the hail shower a few minutes ago and unrideable with a fully loaded bike. But pushing me and my bike up wasn’t real fun too. As I got to the top I saw the way leading to a second top in the far. The torture wasn’t over. Without checking my GPS it was quite sure for me the second top was where the downhill began. After a further half a mile I looked at my GPS and my track was gone. Not the first time during the last seven days and it won’t be the last. I turned around and saw Mason Gravley and Paul Austin who were just about to follow my mistake. The really imperceptible turn was just about a few steps right off the first crest and led over a grassy trail to the downhill. I fixed my sunglasses at my saddle bag and we took some photos. The first step of the downhill (I hadn’t got a clue about a second one) was rough but ridable. I thought by myself why was Mike Dion in the movie pushing his bike down this trail? But suddenly the trail tiled down and I got immediately off my bike. Pushing down the bike made more sense than ever. In the steep terrain it was very difficult not to slide down, because the heavy bike was just about pushing me down and not the other way round. As I got to the bottom of the downhill I realized that my sunglasses were gone. I had forgotten to put them back onto my nose! $110 flushed down the drain. That was my first loss and shouldn’t be my last one. No way going up again and looking for the glasses. What a bummer! In the rain I reached WiseRiver. Resupply in the one and only grocery store and fortunately they sold sunglasses. I got one for $17.
I gave up having lunch at the bar next to the store. No time. All the way down to Polaris, my destination for today, was paved. I had to change the batteries of the SPOT and got off my rain gear because the sun made me sweat. One hour later a car stopped in some distance in front of me. A man got off and took some photos of me. ??? When I reached him he introduced himself as Russ Kipp the owner of the Montana High Country Lodge in Polaris. He asked me if I’d like staying at his lodge for the night. I definitely would, that was my plan anyway.
He confirmed the lodge be just a 3 and half hour ride from this point.
Almost no traffic along the road and the changing landscape helped that the more than three hours went by not too slow like it was usually the case. The downhill after Crystal Park into the valley of Elkhorn Hot Springs was one of the faster one and I came to the lodge right before the rain. Some other riders, Thomas and Mirko as well, were already finished with dinner. What a nice lodge. The walls of the huge hall were filled with padded heads of different animals.
After a shower, some Cokes and dinner I just listened to the pouring rain on the tin roof in my bed.
With the beginning of the gravel section I rode over a wide forest road with a view over the tree covered landscape back to Butte. As I crested Continental Divide Crossing #5 and stopped for a snack I had once more to explain an older couple what I am doing here. They just replied that would be too strenuous and they go for fishing now. I’d liked to do that also.
With the crest there was a complete change of the landscape. Wider open humpy and grassy land with the typical up and downs. The sun dipped the scenery into a magic light with different colours. Riding through this scenery was a real treat topped with the final downhill down to Interstate 15, pure fun.
Traversing the valley led to one further major climb up to the famous Fleecers Ridge. The climb was not special steep but my legs were already done again. I had to stop for my third snack in the meantime.
The sky got this typical dark colour and was just about dumping its wet load down to earth. I made it to Beaver Dam campground before I put all my rain gear on. Ten minutes later I took shelter under a huge fir tree. The lack of broadleaves was a steady annoyance during the whole Tour Divide.
A mix of snow and hail turned the road within minutes from brown into white. 15 minutes later the show was over and left a wet and muddy uphill.
As I got out of the forest onto a plateau I saw the ramp up to Fleecers Ridge, bumpy, rough, wet from the hail shower a few minutes ago and unrideable with a fully loaded bike. But pushing me and my bike up wasn’t real fun too. As I got to the top I saw the way leading to a second top in the far. The torture wasn’t over. Without checking my GPS it was quite sure for me the second top was where the downhill began. After a further half a mile I looked at my GPS and my track was gone. Not the first time during the last seven days and it won’t be the last. I turned around and saw Mason Gravley and Paul Austin who were just about to follow my mistake. The really imperceptible turn was just about a few steps right off the first crest and led over a grassy trail to the downhill. I fixed my sunglasses at my saddle bag and we took some photos. The first step of the downhill (I hadn’t got a clue about a second one) was rough but ridable. I thought by myself why was Mike Dion in the movie pushing his bike down this trail? But suddenly the trail tiled down and I got immediately off my bike. Pushing down the bike made more sense than ever. In the steep terrain it was very difficult not to slide down, because the heavy bike was just about pushing me down and not the other way round. As I got to the bottom of the downhill I realized that my sunglasses were gone. I had forgotten to put them back onto my nose! $110 flushed down the drain. That was my first loss and shouldn’t be my last one. No way going up again and looking for the glasses. What a bummer! In the rain I reached WiseRiver. Resupply in the one and only grocery store and fortunately they sold sunglasses. I got one for $17.
I gave up having lunch at the bar next to the store. No time. All the way down to Polaris, my destination for today, was paved. I had to change the batteries of the SPOT and got off my rain gear because the sun made me sweat. One hour later a car stopped in some distance in front of me. A man got off and took some photos of me. ??? When I reached him he introduced himself as Russ Kipp the owner of the Montana High Country Lodge in Polaris. He asked me if I’d like staying at his lodge for the night. I definitely would, that was my plan anyway.
He confirmed the lodge be just a 3 and half hour ride from this point.
Almost no traffic along the road and the changing landscape helped that the more than three hours went by not too slow like it was usually the case. The downhill after Crystal Park into the valley of Elkhorn Hot Springs was one of the faster one and I came to the lodge right before the rain. Some other riders, Thomas and Mirko as well, were already finished with dinner. What a nice lodge. The walls of the huge hall were filled with padded heads of different animals.
After a shower, some Cokes and dinner I just listened to the pouring rain on the tin roof in my bed.
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| Fleecers Ridge |
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| Wise River |
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| Polaris |
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| The Lodge |
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