To West Glacier MT: Let's go for a ride

June 2, 2023

Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish is surely the nicest hotel we'll stay at on the trip. It was a treat to use their PC to work on the journal this morning. Now I’m back to plinking it out on the iPad mini.

Our ground floor room is spacious enough that we can spread out and work on both bikes at the same time. The mission for the day is to put the bikes together and ride 30 miles to West Glacier. After breakfast we get to work.

Getting a jump on things while I break down the boxes

We had to take a lot of stuff apart to fit the bikes in the 8.5 inch wide boxes that meet Amtrak standards. It sure would be nice to have a work stand to reassemble everything. There are a few anxious moments when key parts elude us. Barry is missing a screw for his rear brake and I can't find the headset assembly for mine, but eventually it all shows up.

I goof up some things, like putting a spring in backwards on the front wheel skewer. Barry figures out right away why the wheel isn't straight and the brake is rubbing. His brake cable is fraying but usable for today; he can replace it tonight. Overall he's pretty patient with my efforts. A lot of it is just turning the wrench.

Between the belt drive, the Rohloff hub, and the disc brake, it's quite a trick to seat the rear wheel so the bolts line up on my bike. It's easier when you turn it upside down.

It takes close to three hours to get everything functional, pack up and load the bags. We ride to the post office to mail some tools and traveling bags to our friend Terry in Portland, and then stop at Glacier Cyclery for brake cable and housing. It's 1:00 by the time we start east on the 30 mile ride to West Glacier.

The weather is ideal for our first ride day, in the mid-60s and partly cloudy with a light breeze. Once out of town we're on quiet roads to the north of U.S. Hwy 2, gazing at the soaring green forests and distant mountains.

Our recumbent seats are a nice perch for leaning back to enjoy the view

Giant barn for the Blankenship Volunteer Fire Department

After reading in the CB forum about the Varia radar detector we started using one last week. I love how it beeps, flashes lights and displays little car icons when vehicles approach from behind, usually before I hear or see them in my mirror. We have it mounted on Barry's seat bag since he rides in back and it talks to both of our Wahoos.

The orange bar on the left shows a little car for every vehicle it sees moving toward us from behind.

At the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead River we stop at the Blankenship Bridge and talk to some guys who are riding Northern Tier from Anacortes Oregon to Maine. They aren't carrying any bags because they have a chase vehicle with a banner branding them as the Grind and Whine tour from Delaware. I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of them, they were fun.

At the confluence of the North Fork and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River

There's a mile or so of gravel on Blankenship Road. We were thinking of riding back to Whitefish Sunday on Hwy 2 for the pavement and different scenery. Traffic will be the tradeoff I expect. The roads today were pretty quiet.

When we hit US Route 2 it's a nice surprise to find a bike lane and side roads for the last 2 miles to Glacier.

Our room at the West Glacier motel is not as palatial as the Grouse Mountain Lodge - just big enough to hold the bikes, us and our stuff, barely. It’s basically a launch point for our trip up Going to the Sun road tomorrow, so we’ll be here two nights.

Mission accomplished!

Just the basics ma’am. Easier than camping, half the cost of a night at Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier NP.

West Glacier Village has everything we need. Tasty pork sammies at the cafe, a good grocery store and camp store, laundry and a bar.

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Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 32 miles (51 km)

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Rachael AndersonYippee! You made it to West Glacier. I can’t wait to hear about your ride up Going to the Sun Road. The coast down is amazing!
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11 months ago