Nice and easy to feel the breezy

STATS:

Cameron, MT to Twin Bridges, MT

Distance: 54.5 miles

By no means was I rushing up to get back on the bike after yesterday’s ride. I took my grand old time packing up, waiting for the sun to warm up the clear Montana skies. I filled up my bottles in the little sink within store, and hopped onto my bike. Surprisingly, my legs weren’t as shot as I would have thought, but boy was my butt sore. Every mile I had to gently readjust, and even apologized a few times to the glutes. I decided, after yesterday’s ride, I would treat myself to a cafe breakfast instead of the usual oatmeal. 11 miles of slight descent separated me from a large stack of pancakes. I took my time, however, not because I wanted to, but because I needed to. The roads were quiet, and gentle giant hills were a pleasant distraction. Eventually though, I hit the fisherman’s town Ennis, where I regretfully chose a restaurant without reviewing the best yelp/google reviews. The food wasn’t bad, it was just overpriced and too small of a portion. I searched online for which cafe I should have chose, and of course it was right next door. I said ‘eff it’, and settled up my tab with the expensive cafe and walked next door and ordered pancakes. Huge flapjacks were placed in front of me for a fraction of the place next door, and I relished in the fact that I have been in two restaurants in less than an hour. I normally would NEVER do this, but I had pancakes on my mind all day yesterday, and this totally put me back into a great mental space.

Full of pancakes and eggs, I hit the road for the one and only large ascent ahead of me. The climb was just over +2,000 feet, but I planned for a short, relaxing day, so once this climb was over I knew the day was smooth sailing. I trekked up the hill, blasting One Republic, making sure to stop at turn off points for the spectacular views. Another cyclist going east stopped and introduced himself. Turns out he lives in Norristown, PA. I invited him to our Richmond pad when he finished the TransAm Trail. The craziest part of meeting people on this trip is I’ve met more than I’d expect from the Philly area, it’s mind-blowing.

I proceeded to bang out the rest of the climb, and cruised into Virginia City. I noticed a library in town, and being that I wanted to take it easy today, decided to stop for a few hours. I’m extremely happy I did, because this library was the nicest of the trip. Coincidentally, after complimenting how nice the library was, I was informed they had just won best small library in Montana for 2017. Their reading room felt like a millionaire’s private study, and complimentary coffee was provided. Not to mention, the librarians were extremely polite and helpful. I spent at least 2 hours there catching up on journaling and wifi-ing.

After realizing I had a piece of bagel in my beard for more than an hour, I deemed leaving was of the best interest for me and the library. I cruised another 20 miles through some cool small canyons and hills. The shoulder was small and gravely, but not too much traffic. I stopped in a small town just because it seemed neat. I noticed another lightweight biker and struck up conversation for a while. Yup, he grew up in PA, what’s new. Decided to grab a brewski at the local brewery, and was kind of disappointed in their IPA. Nonetheless, the slight buzz allowed for a nice cruise 8 more miles to my end destination. I shopped for some snacks and groceries, and made my way to the cyclists-only shack in the city park. This place was AWESOME. Couches, electricity, showers, bathrooms, shade, sink, and space. The man who constructed this knew what cyclists needed, and I thank Twin Bridges for allowing it. I unloaded and sprawled out, taking my time doing everything I needed. Later on, a couple young dudes rolled up, and we talked until we passed out. They’re brothers heading east and were from Rochester, NY, so they knew all about Wegmans! Today was a smooth day, with a perfect ending having a comfortable place to stay. Tomorrow I’m planning on riding 91 miles, we’ll see what lies ahead.

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