Big Ride Day 13

Photos from Day 13

Today was perhaps the most grueling and long days of the ride so far. To begin with, it was an extremely cold morning (about 38 degrees) and I got out of camp a little late -- primarily because I was waiting for it to warm up a bit. After a long breakfast, I left and immediately missed the first left turn of the day only a few hundred yards down the road. I didn't realize I had gone the wrong way until I saw two cyclists by the side of the road and they told me that the ride director had stopped them and told them they were going the wrong way. We had to stop and wait for a van to come and take us to the correct route. The funny part about the whole thing was that all the support vans had taken the same wrong turn I did so I kept seeing them along the route and thought I was going the right way. I thought it was kind of strange that I didn't see many other cyclists but I figured that was because of how late I left camp.

There was a lot of climbing in the beginning and it was beautiful, right along a little stream. I was taking it slow today because my knees have really started to hurt. I got to the top of the pass and stopped at the water stop and saw something that I had never seen before -- a cattle drive coming down the road. We actually had to stop riding until it went by because it was taking up the whole road. How cool is that! After the cattle drive went by, I continued on my way and tried to pick it up a bit without hurting my knees because I was really bringing up the rear and this was supposed to be one of the most desolate days of the ride -- not a good time to be riding alone. I rolled through some gorgeous Montana countryside and finally got to the checkpoint in the little town of White Sulfur Springs, named after the sulfur springs there. By the time I finished my lunch, I was once again bringing up the rear. Soon after, though, I found Doug by the side of the road with a flat tire and stopped to help him. We rode the rest of the day together, which was fun. The remainder of the afternoon was a long series of rollers through desolate countryside with a few lakes and an occasional ranch. Near the end of the day, we came across a family of Hutterites by the side of the road. These are a group of people similar to the Amish who live in self-sufficient communities called "colonies." I don't know much more about them than that, but they were dressed similarly to the Amish I've seen and the boys wore these funny little top hats while the girls wore huge bonnets. They were so curious about us with all of our brightly colored artificial fabric bike stuff. And we were curious about them too. It was fun seeing them interact with the bikers. After a while, they all loaded up on the wagon being pulled by their tractor and went back to their farm. We rode past them and waved. It was great fun.

It wasn't too long after that when we got this tremendous tailwind going towards camp and the road changed to a smooth asphalt. We started to fly into camp at about 35 miles per hour and I arrived feeling tired but refreshed by the invigorating end to the ride. Tonight, we are staying in a little park by a river - really nice. After I iced my knees and got my tent set up, it was time for dinner. Dinner was prepared by the Kiwanis and was served in the town's youth center. It was a decent meal, but not great. After dinner, I talked to Christine on the phone and then went to bed.

This page modified November 25, 2000