We woke up to a nice sunny day in Whitehall. We thought it would be a shorter ride at 66 miles to Bozeman, so we sort of dilly-dallied around until we left at 11 am. We had a great breakfast at a local diner. While ordering our food, Marc noticed at they had pie on the menu so he asked about the pie. The waitress mentioned that they just took a hot rhubarb-strawberry crisp out of the oven. So in addition to my two giant pancakes and two giant sausage patties, I also shared a nice slice of pie with Marc. It was delicious with a nice buttery oatmeal crust. Whoa - I ate way too much to for breakfast and regreted it the whole ride. I felt bloated and full the rest of the ride.
It was a tough (ok - the toughest) ride today. Not only did we start out with a tremendous headwind, but we also had ominous clouds following us all the way. We were lucky that we had sun for about the first hour. We then regretted the late start. The weather turned absolutely nasty - a bitter cold wet rain set in around mile 20. It was horrible! The rain, coupled with a nasty side wind and trucks wizzing by us at 70 miles and hour. Its crazy how the combo of side wind and trucks flying by you will throw your bike into a tailspin. A very nervewracking ride!
Finally we made it to the band of clear skies in the town of Norris and we were able to strip off the rain clothes for a while. We turned East in Norris to head the final 30 miles to Bozeman. It was a gorgeous ride through narrow canyons along the Madison River. The only downfall was that we turned East and now had a horendous head wind. The wind is an evil mind game - it really gets to you and starts to drive you absolutely mad. Maybe its the loud thundering noise in your ears, or maybe its just the constant struggle to move forward.
Either way, I could tell that it was getting on Marc's nerves. For the next miles, I sort of kept my distance from him. The final straw for him was when he ran over a large rock in the road and got a pinch flat. We was pissed! All of a sudden he was off his bike and throwing it off the side of the road. Wow, he was having the biking temper tantrum! I just tried to stay back and get all the flat tire equipment essentials out of the bag for him. Unfortunately I never replenished the bike tube in my handlebar bag so I had to dump all the clothing out main bag to get to the tube. It was a mess - clothing all over the side of road!
It had just started to drizzle a cold wet rain when Marc got his flat repaired. And once we got back on the road the rain started in full force. Unfortunately it wasn't just an annoying wet downpour. No, it was one of those mountain storms where it not only brings rain but brings frigidly cold weather as well. We froze our butts off for the next twenty miles. I have never been so cold in my entire life. I couldn't even shift or brake as my hands were frozen solid. I just kept praying that Joe's house was just around the corner.
We finally arrived at Joe's - soaking wet and chilled to the bone. Luckily, Joe had just pulled up at the same exact time we had arrived. What a sight for sore eyes! We ditched our bikes in his back yard and rushed inside to warm up. I was chilled to bone. Even after a hot bath - I was still shivering!
Joe is a good friend of ours from Boulder and moved to Bozeman about 6 years ago. It has been years since we've seen him and it's so good to catch up with him again. He has been the perfect host and has even given up his bedroom so we have a place to stay. We just treated him to great meal at the Montana Ale House and now we are warming ourselves around his wood burning stove. Life is good!
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