July 1, 2021
Day 57: Circle, MT to Jordan, MT
Child’s Play, and No Gaps!
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Climbing Today; 1,760 ft Climbing to Date; 85,017 ft
We knew today had the potential to be tough, so we planned a 03:45 wake-up. I woke up early and climbed out of bed at at 03:00, as did Doc, and after breakfast in the room I was rolling at 03:50, with Doc following shortly afterwards. I was concerned with the road construction at about the 30-mile point on today's ride; other cyclists had been shuttled through the construction zone, and I did not want to do that. For me, the point of bicycling coast to coast is to ride a bicycle coast to coast - if there are any "gaps" in the trip where you didn't cover the distance under your own power, then you didn't really bicycle coast to coast. Others feel differently and say that if you must be shuttled over a construction zone through no fault of your own, then it doesn't count against you. OK, I respect their view in this matter, but it's not mine. I would argue with the flagman that I had the same right to the road as everybody else and that I was going through under my own power - I was hoping to avoid that argument and the possibility that I may be blocked from traveling through the construction area by getting an early start and getting across the zone before there was much going on. And so, I was in a hurry this morning.
It was fun getting out in the dark. We are far enough north that the sun rises early and stays out late, so we hadn't beaten the sunrise yet - until today. The moon was out and it was light enough to barely see in the pre-dawn morning. It was about 70 degrees - the low wasn't low and the high was forecast to be over 100 today, so that's another reason we wanted to roll out early. An eastbound cyclist told me about a husband/wife team that had suffered heatstroke yesterday, so that emphasized the seriousness of this heat.
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I pushed on hard towards the construction zone - but it was 30 miles away and I would have to cycle another 38 miles afterwards, so I could only afford to push so hard and still have energy reserve to finish the day. Along the way I spotted the first antelope I have seen on this trip - now it feels like I'm in Montana!
The buck above ran away from me, then turned back and bayed at me as though he was challenging me to a duel.
I reached the road construction zone; the pavement had been destroyed and there was only a dirt surface for 6 - 7 miles. No problem, I just rode slowly on the packed dirt. The surface was being sprayed with water to hold the dust down, and this made it muddy in places. As much as possible, I rode on the right side of the orange cones, and occasionally the left. Then I reached a stoplight with a sign saying "Stop at light and wait for pilot car." The last thing I wanted to do was to wait for the Pilot car and then argue about riding my bike through the zone. It was only a bit after 07:00 and there was no other traffic at the time, so I went on past the stop light and rode past a vast army of construction machinery busy moving dirt and preparing the road surface - this is a really big construction job with several hundred folks running around doing their various tasks. I made it a couple of miles and then the Pilot car came headed my way, leading 3 vehicles from the other direction. I got off the road to let them pass, and I got a rather nasty look from the Pilot car driver. I didn't mind the scowl as long as I could get through. After they passed I hightailed it through the remainder of the zone and finally passed the stoplight at the other end and was back on a paved surface. I was pretty relieved to have made it through and have no "gaps" in my journey. Doc was a bit behind me, but he employed similar tactics and also made it through. So we are "complete" on this journey so far.
Once I got a couple of miles past the construction, I stopped for a cool drink of Gatorade. I had frozen the Gatorade last night so that it would stay cool for a while this morning. Imagine my disappointment when I looked around on the rear rack and the Gatorade was missing! It had apparently bounced off from the bumpiness of the dirt/gravel surface in the construction area. So now I had less fluid with me than I had planned on, and I had to carefully watch my water supply for the rest of the ride to Jordan. There seemed to be a lot of climbing today, but Ride With GPS says it was only 1,760 feet. The terrain has become a series of constantly rolling hills, and when combined with 90 - 100 degree heat the climbs become significant. Jordan came into view soon enough, and when I rolled into the town shortly before 11:00 it was already 89 degrees.
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The wind was our friend today. It blew from the southeast and we were heading west, so most of the time we had a tailwind component. Without the friendly wind, this would have been a very hard day. As it was, the heat still made it a hard day. Tomorrow I am planning a 76-mile jump to Winnett, and it has more than 3,000 feet of climbing. So it would be a hard day on a loaded touring bike anyway, but the extreme heat makes it even harder. So once again we are planning for an early start. Doc is planning on a 50-mile day and camping. I will take a rest day on Saturday, and Doc will ride the remaining 26 miles on Saturday to rendezvous with me. So that's our plan, at least for now.
Map Update. There are 153 map panels for the entire Northern Tier route. We are currently on panel 44, and as we continue westward we will work our way down. So now you know.
Small Town Hotels. They can be challenging to deal with. As I said earlier, it took me 4 calls to finally get a room reserved in Circle at the Traveler's Inn. Last night, after going to sleep early in anticipation of today's early start, I was woken by a phone call. It was the owner of the hotel, an elderly gentleman, who wanted to know if I was going to show up and rent a room. I explained to him that I was already in the hotel - he was confused because of a note left by the lady who usually handles the bookings.
So then, I had left a voicemail at the Northern Inn in Winnett telling them I wanted to reserve a room for Friday and Saturday nights. This morning, I called again and it was answered by a gentleman and I was able to reserve the last room they had. Later, I got a call from a lady (turns out it was his wife) who told me that there were no rooms available for me. I told her that I had already reserved a room and guaranteed it with a credit card. She said, "Oh, you must have talked to my husband." So there you are - I THINK I have a room reserved for tomorrow night and Saturday night, and I will certainly be disappointed if I bicycle 76 miles in this heat and don't have a room waiting at the other end. Just part of the trials and tribulations of bicycle touring.
Child's Play. On my 2015 Transam tour, I met a couple of guys in eastern Oregon who were heading uphill when I was going downhill. It was a very hot and dry day, and they were headed to Prineville, which is where I had started from that day. I explained to them that they had still had 3 miles to climb to the summit, and that there was no water or services for the 30 miles remaining to Prineville. Their reply was "Child's Play." Well, it really wasn't going to be child's play, and they knew that. It was going to be a serious adult game and it might be very tough indeed, but saying "Child's Play" was their way of saying that they were mentally up for the challenge. So I have kind of adopted that saying for when things get tough. By the way, I gave them the water from one of my bottles to help ensure they would make it - most of the rest of my journey that day was going to be downhill so I didn't need it.
And so, in regards to the extreme heat and tough riding conditions we are now experiencing, I am adopting the "Child's Play" saying once again. It isn't child's play at all, but it helps to steel me for the task. Over and out.
Good night all. Our bedtime has become anytime after 19:00 assuming we have things prepped for tomorrow. So I need to get busy. I hope you are all busy doing something meaningful in your lives. Today's video includes exciting footage of the run through the construction zone, so grab some popcorn and try not to fall asleep. G'night all...
Today's ride: 68 miles (109 km)
Total: 3,000 miles (4,828 km)
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We missed you by a day. We were in Circle last night, July 1. We came to Circle from Wolfpoint ( the old route). We rode to Glendive today July 2.
Sorry to miss you.
Hope your trip is awesome, you are coming into an amazing part of the trip, nw Montana, Idaho and Washington.
Safe travels!!!
Terry OBrien
2 years ago