Up at 6am this morning and on the road at 6:30…was hard for me to get out of that comfortable bed this morning. Some rain clouds in he sky and a little windy—don’t like that to start off with.
Got to Wisdom about 7:40 at 18 miles in….had breakfast at The Crossings. Having country ham, eggs, toast, biscuits and gravy. Small town, but does have a convince store…it’s closed now, but hope it’ll be open by the time I’m done with breakfast. Need some Gatorade and snacks…long way before next services. 50 degrees this morning….cloudy and cold.
No, not open and I don’t want to wait so am hitting the road with two bottles of water and half a pack of peanut butter M&Ms 🙂
Very nice morning for riding…making great time on the road. The climb to the pass is gradual and I’ve been on my large chain ring a lot this morning.
Topped Chief Joseph Pass and the Continental Divide at 11:25 am. I can’t remember how many crossings I’ve made but its been a few. Beautiful day….resting at the top for a couple minutes before heading down the other side.
Riding off the pass was the best downhill of the trip so far. Wide shoulders and sweeping switchbacks where I did between 30 and 40 mph that straightened out and continued going down…rode it for over 12 miles all the way to Sula hardly had to peddle the entire 12 Miles. Stopped in Sula at a camp store/gas station for lunch—turkey sandwich, Diet Coke, V8, and Orange Juice.
The route continued on a downward slope all the way to Hamilton where I’m staying tonight. From the top of Chief Joseph Pass at 7,400 feet, I dropped to about 3,600 feet in Hamilton. This is the lowest altitude I’ve been at in quite a while. Didn’t take many pics today…was having too much fun flying down the mountain 🙂
Got to town after the bike shop closed and it won’t be open tomorrow—Sunday. Also, will be hitting Missoula tomorrow morning as well where the American Cycling Association (ACA) is located, but it’ll be closed since it’s Sunday. So, I’ll either have to take a day off (short day) tomorrow and stay in Missoula until Monday or press on and miss visiting the ACA. Wanted to buy my Trans America bike jersey there….not sure what I’ll do….thinking about it tonight.
A very good ride today….feeling good and strong.
