Big Ride Day 11

Photos from Day 11

The day started out well with good weather and another excellent breakfast. After breakfast, we immediately started climbing and ascended along side the Clark Fork River (which we've been following for several days now) for about 25 miles. After we finally left the river, we began rolling through the Montana countryside. It is just incredibly beautiful and definitely earns the name "Big Sky Country." The sky really does look bigger out here. It is just great cruising through the slow rollers. Things went smoothly and I snapped a lot of pictures right up until the 75-mile point. I had just stopped for a break when a headwind kicked in and just sucked all the energy out of everyone. I had thought that I would be cruising into camp in a little over an hour feeling great and instead, it ended up taking more like 2.5-3 hours -- it was brutal. I actually felt very strong the whole way but was somewhat demoralized. A lot of other people didn't fare so well. Towards the end, I hooked up with Landon and we hauled butt the last 10 miles or so. My knees were complaining, but at least we made it in before the rain.

The minute I got to camp, the camp manager started announcing that severe weather was inbound and that we should get our tents up as soon as possible. We rushed to get them up and then the severe weather never came. They continued to talk about it all night and it really never materialized.

The whole camp is buzzing tonight about tomorrow's vaunted crossing of the Continental Divide. The staff has been telling us that the weather could be really horrendous tomorrow. Last year, they had blowing snow and extremely cold temperatures on the pass and it looks like we could have the same tomorrow. Everyone is wondering what to wear and what it will be like since this is basically our first experience with really lousy weather. Supposedly, there will be a cold front coming in later in the morning and so they are telling us that the earlier we can get over the pass, the better. I am planing on getting up around 4:30 and getting ready to go.

One more interesting thing that happened today was that my folks showed up during dinner. I knew that we were going to intersect in Montana somewhere but I really had no idea when or if it was actually going to happen. It was nice to see them before my "big day," although it kept me from getting to bed as early as I wanted to. As I fell asleep, my head was full of thoughts about what tomorrow might hold.

This page modified November 25, 2000