Great Divide- SW Montana

July 27 - Grasshopper CG It was another lonely start as I made the 5 mile climb toward Fleecer Ridge. I have found during the trip that rumors abound about the difficulty of Fleecer Ridge.  There is a rumor that there is a very narrow knife edge crossing where a misstep could send you falling hundreds of feet (not true) and that the ascent is difficult and the descent is VERY difficult (true). 

The view from the top of Fleecer Ridge.  Just
where the road goes over the edge it gets REALLY steep.

The view from the top was spectacular and yes the quarter mile descent on a very steep path of loose dirt and busted up shale was not a lot of fun, but it wasn't that difficult.  I walked the bike down using the bike brakes to keep it under control. From the bottom of the steep down hill it was back to a jeep road and a fairly quick trip to Wise River Cafe for brunch.

Elkhorn hot spring

While at the cafe, a lady from Canada ( originally the UK) and a guy from the Netherlands came in who were riding south as well. We talked for quite a while. Cheryl has had quite the ride. She has fallen at least 4 times with one fall near Lincoln, MT resulting in a concussion and a hospital visit.  After the concussion, her boy friend, James, from Canada has been providing sag support, but he heads back home tomorrow.

While we were talking she mentioned she found a Ziploc bag with 3 small bottles of sunscreen, bug spray and hand sanitizer on the Lava Mtn trail a couple of days ago. I had just noticed this morning that I had lost them.  Her boyfriend found me at Little Joe CG and returned the bag to me.

Ran into a herd of cows with 4 bulls who didn't
seem to care too much about getting out of the way.

Cheryl and I rode together off-and-on thoughtout the afternoon.  Since her boyfriend is sagging for her she was not carrying her stuff on the bike so I couldn't keep up going up hill which was most of the afternoon.

We both finished our ride at the Grasshopper CG which is close to Elkhorn hot spring.  For $7 you got a hot shower and a soak in the 100 degree hot spring water which was very nice since I got rained on the last few miles to the campsite.  As soon as I got to the campsite the rain stopped.  While I was setting up my tent, Mike from the UK that I meet yesterday rolled in from the hot spring and he said it was really nice to soak in the hot water after 2 weeks of riding.

While at the hot spring I got to see the extent of Cheryl's bruises on both hips.  Those must have been some really hard falls.  She has a lot of grit to keep going.

July 28 - Primitive campsite near Medicine Lodge Creek

Cheryl and James invited me to their campsite for breakfast.  James had made an egg skillet with sausage, tomatoes and veggies which was really good and definitely beat the oatmeal I was going to have.

After saying goodbye to James, I packed up and headed out.  Mike from the UK left a little before I did but we met again at Bannack SP where I stopped for lunch.  I thought I might see him again this afternoon, but never did.  I did met up with Cheryl about noon and we rode together until I decided to call it a day at 57 miles. 

When we got to the turn for the dirt road to Lima , MT there was a sign that said the bridge was out 38 miles down the road... that is the better part of the way to Lima.  I had cell service at the time so I tried to check the Adventure Cycling web site where they keep updates on the route. I saw a post about a bridge outage but I couldn't read the details without signing up as a member of the forum.  So while I am futzing with my phone, a truck with government plates pulls in on the road.  Cheryl asked them about the bridge. They know the local county road folks and gave them a call.  The bridge was fixed yesterday and they hadn't taken the sign down.  We would have known in another 5 minutes anyway as about 5 bikes came down the road, all coming from Lima.  One of the 5 was a guy from Chicago, the first US citizen I had met riding the great divide in 7 days.

Primitive camp site at Medicine Lodge Creek

I rode about 17 miles up the road to Lima before I found a spot at Medicine Lodge Creek that wasn't private property, that had access to water and looked like a good place to pitch a tent.  When I stopped Cheryl ate dinner at my campsite before going on to try to get in another 15 miles before calling it a day.  I have to give her points for determination.

When I stopped, the wind was blowing pretty hard and was trying to rain.  After about 30 minutes the sprinkles stopped and the wind died down which was good for Cheryl but bad for me.  The mosquitoes were out with a vengeance without the wind to keep them at bay.

While I was cleaning up my bike (and swatting mosquitoes) I found 2 broken spokes on my rear wheel.  The nearest bike shop near the route is in Jackson Hole which is now my finish and still another 275 miles.  At this point I'm hoping it gets me there.

July 28 - Lima, MT

Ride down the canyon to Lima

I checked the spokes on my bike's rear tire before heading out. I found a few that that were extremely tight, so I loosened those and tightened a few others to try to even the stress on the remaining spokes.  I also moved as much weight off the rear as possible and decided to take it easy on the riding, no really steep climbs, no standing and rocking the bike side-to-side and brake with the front brake as much as possible.

Within the first few miles I had a really steep climb, so I walked a good portion of it and relied almost exclusively on the front brake for the descent.  I checked the spokes at every stop and no more broken spokes in 50 miles to Lima.

It was a nice ride and a nice day.  I have landed at the Mountain View Motel in Lima.  Not exactly the Ritz, definitely in need of a lot of TLC, but the sheets look to be clean and the shower was hot, and laundry for $1.75.

Looking at the next few few days, the big climbs give way to flatter river bottoms and rails-to-trails which should be good for keeping the spokes on my rear wheel in tact.