BikeUSAat75

Please send comments to this blog or to  bikerat70@gmail.com or 908-268-4250 Started the ride at 6:45 with another rider. Right away there was about a mile of climbing -- great way to get the heart pumping.  Biked 20 miles through beautiful scenery to the first rest stop. I boarded the van because of the 4 mile 1500 foot climb on Interstate 15.  I did get out  at the top and took the 5 mile descent.  For the next 40 miles or so it was rollers through fields of grassland that were between magnificent mountains on each side.  Mile 60 was lunch and we were all treated to ice cream by Trek.  The van was set up right next to a convenience type store.  After lunch I rode another 20 miles through a canyon that again provided fantastic scenery.  At about mile 77 I jumped in the van and rode ahead 20 miles.  When I got out I had about 25 miles left.  I should have stayed in the van. Almost the entire ride was on a two line highway...

Please comment using this block or  bikerat70@gmail.com or 908-268-4250 Left this morning at 7 AM by myself, usually we leave as the slow group of 5 but I couldn't find anyone so I just left. The day was overcast and this morning upon leaving the temperature was 39 degrees. Luckily the wind was from the west so it provided a 10-15 mph tailwind or crosswind a cyclists favorite kind. The beginning of the ride was flat and getting out of the city was fairly easy -- not a lot of traffic.  We went through some forests and then after a moderate climb came to grasslands and cattle ranches for miles and miles and miles.  I know why they call this Big Sky its just so vast and open.. Later came back to a main highway for a 25 mile ride on Route 12 into Helena, the capital of Montana.  Part of this ride was a 4 mile climb of over a 100 feet with grades between 8-9%. For some reason the Garmin broke the ride into two parts so there are two The overall ride was 125 m...

Please send comments to this blog or to  bikerat70@gmail.com or 908 268 4250 After a celebration dinner last night and saying goodbye to three riders who only signed on to go to Missoula we have today to relax and gain our strength back.  From my perspective a week's rest might even be better! Go up at the same time as usual and did QiGong, then had breakfast and off the do the laundry.  Also got a massage and tried to get my personal Garmin 500 fixed. The drive seems to have crashed. Of course dealing with Garmin took about 2 hours and the conclusion is that they will exchange it for a modest fee. Unfortunately they won't send a new one until I'm at my home address which is of course in mid October.  In the mean time I will use the Garmin 1030 that Trek Travel provides. On the day off the guides completely go over all the bikes, clean them up, make repairs as needed and get us ready for the next leg of the journey. Today the weather is beautiful and the ...

No breakfast at the hotel until 8 am.  The guides decided that since it was such a short ride (40 miles) that we should all leave as a group at 10 am -- the reason being we would arrive way before rooms would be ready at the Double Tree.  The ride today was the complete opposite of yesterday. Even though it was 45 degrees when we left the sun was shining the scenery was fantastic, we were going down hill and the wind was at our backs. Can't get much better than that. The last 5 miles were a little hectic for a time but there was a bike path part way which took us off the highway going into Missoula. I arrived with one other rider about 1:15 -- the room wasn't ready so I got lunch and the room was ready. Lolo Mountain Paul had to get a picture in front of the totem pole Fellow riders waiting for 10 AM Road followed a stream down the mountain Burned trees -- look close! Great scenery Great to see a blue sky! River along bike path into...

Please make comments to this blog or  bikerat70@gmail.com or message to 908-268-4250 We started around 7:30. The temperature was 59 degrees with a heavy rain that continued until 1 pm which was then followed by intermittent showers – we even had sun for about 5 minutes.   The entire length of the ride was 91 miles- most of it along the clearwater river. It was spectacular because we were right along side it so we could see the rapids etc – would have been perfect if the sun was shining and the temperature was in the low 70’s.   The first   80 miles were continuous 1%-2% grades but then at mile 80 the steepness increased until the top of the pass at 84 miles.   Another 6 miles downhill (midway down the mountain) to the hotel.   My intention was to bike to mile 80 and then take the van to the top and ride down to the hotel.   I was completely exhausted today for some reason – guess it was the 22 mile climb yesterday. At any rate I got to lunch at...