Day 8

Welcome to the Bitterroots.  This day started out very badly.  We camped at Thompson Falls Middle School. Supposedly another ride group was at the High School and we were moved to the Middle School to make room.  We had the choice of sleeping in the gym or outside on the lawn.  I chose outside for two reasons, I snore and I like to sleep outside.  I give the other riders a break from my log-sawing whenever possible.

I camped in a niche by the stairs to the gym.  It was a nice isolated spot with a nice lawn.  At midnght I discovered why the lawn was so nice and green.  I was woke up to blast of water from all directions as the sprinklers came on.  Fortunately, because there was a chance of thundershowers, I'd put up my tent rain fly and buttoned up pretty well.  Before I fully realized what was happening I was out of the tent pulling up stakes and dragging my tent and gear out of the deluge.  The biggest problem was that my bike was locked to a tree in the middle of the lawn and getting blasted by the spray.

I jumped back the mix and did my best to open the combination lock in the dark and with no glasses.  There were a couple of exterior lights outside the gym and after several attempts I got the bike free.  I was soaked head to toe and just a little bit cold.

I grabbed one of my clothes bags, went into the gym bathroom, and donned dry clothes.  I hung my wet clothes, rain fly, and ground tarp on the fence outside the gym and moved my tent over to the main field.  Obviously, they'd only turned the sprinkers off over there.  I wasn't the only one to get blasted.  Mike, my rididng friend from Utica, NY has the same experience as me.  The benefit of carrying nylon and lycra clothes on this trip was that everything was pretty dry in the morning.  Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.

Following that ordeal I was able to ride my first century ever.  It was hot and we put in 105 miles to Missoula.  The first half of the ride went quickly and was really beautiful.  We followed the Clark Fork river through valleys in the Bitterroots.  Montana is truly gorgeous.

The final quarter of the trip included a multi-mile pull up to a 4000' pass in 90+ degree weather.  It was hard to keep enough water on the bike.  I ran out about half-way up the grade and was really happy to see Larry and the water jug at the top.  After that it was a fast decent into the Missoula valley we a long ride through town to the University of Montana.  I met up with my buddy Tony and my son Dana at the school and went out for a big steak dinner.  I stayed at a motel for the next two nights.