The Gallatin

I did not get a chance to blog yesterday evening, so this blog covers yesterday (June 23) as well as today.

The day before yesterday, I cheated you out of a picture of the magnificent Clark’s Fork of the Gallatin taken in Thompson Falls because I could not get it oriented properly. I have fixed the orientation problem and here is that photo.

I have included it in the blog for the 23d because we rode along the same beautiful stream for many miles yesterday. In total, we rode 102 miles. So, that makes two century rides for me in one week after never having completed one before.

One of the other riders is a marathoner. He told me that last fall he did a series of four marathons in four days in Seattle. He said, up until now, that was the hardest physical challenge he had faced but last week’s rides have set the bar even higher. That’s hard for me to believe, since I have never completed a single marathon and consider running that far even once near impossible.

Here is a shot taken yesterday about 75 miles into the ride, just beyond the town of Arlee, Montana.

You can see the Rockies looming ahead, but the tour organizers assure us that this week will be easier than last.  Anyway, today I rode my bike over to the REI here in Missoula and purchased shoes with toe clips and the pedals to match. Everyone assures me they will make riding up hills easier (as far as I know, there is no one else on the tour without them.)

Tomorrow, we ride about 80 miles to Lincoln, Montana. It’s supposed to be sunny and hot. Hope that makes for some good photos. Tune in tomorrow to see!