Wrapping it up

 We finished this challenge strong, with 610 miles logged this week (a record) for a total of 3,259 miles in ten weeks, some 493 miles beyond Burgess. Just for fun, I extended the route down the coast, and it looks like we end up just shy of Charleston, SC.  Or another way of looking at is that we could have started in Seattle and made it to Burgess in ten weeks. Thanks, everyone, for your terrific cycling. I know I did a lot more summer miles than I usually do, and I've enjoyed just about every minute of it. Here's to Nova Scotia or wherever we decide to go when we can actually get together. Cheers, Clem

Our last hurrah

 (Glenn, Keith and Clem, collectively, 48 miles) On the last day of our "biking holiday" based out of Glenn's cabin at Lindbergh Lake, we managed just 16 miles each, and no breakfast until 3 p.m. We had intended to bike to breakfast, decided to drive instead to the cafe, but they were so slammed we never did get in. We biked north around Echo Lake and by Jewel Basin, a well-known hiking area. Finally had breakfast in mid-afternoon as we were closing up the cabin. Big thanks to Glenn for the idyllic cabin home for the week!

Hungry Horse and Laughing Horse

 (Clem, Glenn, Keith, collectively, 144 miles)  Hungry Horse e is a little burg straddling busy Hwy 2. It was named after a coupla nags who broke loose from a pack string early in the winter of 1900 and were found in a snow bank, starving.  It’s also the home of the Hungry Horse News, the only Montana paper ever to win a Pulitzer Prize (for editor Mel Ruder’s coverage of a disastrous flood in 1965). We started out there in the up-and-down bike path leading to West Glacier, entered the park, then took the even hillier Camas  Road over to the North Fork of the Flathead River before turning around as the road from there ( to Canada if you turn right)

is gravel and dirt. Smoky skies cast a pall over the fall leaves but it was still a beautiful ride. On the way home we stopped at the Laughing Horse in Swan Lake and had a delicious restaurant meal al fresco.

Wednesday Ride

 (Art, 22). Are we in Burgess yet?  The champagne’s chilled and ready!

Swan Lake

 (Glenn, Keith, Clem, collectively, 159 miles) Today, we went 26.5 miles further north on Route 83, overlapping yesterday’s ride by 5 miles. Our end point was Swan Lake, where it began to look (despite the photo) that the smoke was beginning to lift, and indeed we were able to see a bit of the Swan Range to the East on the way back. 

Smoke and mirrors

 (Keith, Glenn, Clem, collectively, 99 miles) We arrived in Burgess mid-afternoon—that is, at that moment the six of us

had together pedaled 2,766 miles in two months and three days. In actual geography, the three of us biked from near Glenn’s cabin on Lindbergh Lake 16.5 miles north on Highway 83 then back again uphill through smoky air. The ride continues through Friday.

Who Knew?

 (Art, 26) On this morning ride our group of four passed a fenced pasture with two big white shaggy dogs and a white alpaca. The dogs started barking and running beside us, and the alpaca ran right along with his buddies. While the alpaca’s body loped in an easy run, its head stayed absolutely still, like NatGeo footage of a cheetah running down its prey. 

Week Nine: We're getting close!

 Just 117 miles to go to Burgess in our tenth and final week of this 2,766-mile challenge. As I said in my email, we'll probably blow right past it--IF the smoke doesn't get in the way of our western contingent. We're due to get a bunch of bad air from the 5 million-plus acres burning in California, Oregon and Washington. But so far it's been a very nice late summer.

Beat the Rain

 (Art, 20) Managed to find the only dry hours of the day to log some miles. 

Sunday Afternoon

 (Art, 22) we’re facing a rainy week so logged a 22 mile ride and completed my Tour de Couch Potato 109. 

Of mastodons and men

 (Clem, 40 miles) Rode the "Eight Hills"route on the two-lane highway more or less paralleling I-90 east of Missoula from Bearmouth to Drummond, then just a little bit south to visit the late Bill Ohrmann's amazing welded animal sculptures. 

Sandcastle on the Bitterroot

 (Keith, 24 Miles) Up and over Big Flat Road on a quiet Sunday morning.  As I crossed the Maclay Bridge over the Bitterroot I looked down and saw this nicely done sandcastle!  

As I approached town on my return I spotted this billboard promoting one of Missoula's institutions.  I found myself wondering whther the photo used might be Tom and Kathy Raschke a few years back.  Could it be?  Oh those halcyon days!

Potato Ride

 (Art, 21) Sunday morning outing with these two ladies who became official Potatoes during the ride. As in the Tour de Couch Potato 100 miles since the TdF began. I still have 20 miles to go. 

Week Eight--Pittsburgh!

At the end of week eight, we are on territory familiar to all of us--on the Monongahela River just southeast of Pittsburgh, nine miles short of McKeesport. Coupla fun facts about McKeesport: (1) It's the birthplace of Bette Ford, born Harriet Elizabeth Dingeldein, first American bullfighter to fight in the Plaza Mexico (in the 50s) and (2) where Nixon and Kennedy held their first debate on April 22, 1957, on labor issues. This was three years before their presidential debates. Photo: Here we are at Point State Park on Sept. 9, 2016, at the start of our COD trip.

And what a bridge it is!

(Keith, 18 miles) I waited until almost 11 to ride this morning so that it would be sixty degrees!  Took my usual ride, now named the "3 Bridges".  The third of the bridges on the ride is quite a monument to bike riding in Missoula. Made of Cor-Ten steel it is for pedestrians and cyclists only.  It spans the busiest road in town and connects Missoula's bike trail network with Hamilton, MT some 50 miles south, along with a handful of small towns in between. The bridge was finished in 2017 and cost $4.2 million!

Triple Dipping

 (Art, 22) Much like a 3 for 1 match during an NPR fund drive, I do one 22 mile ride and get to log it in my personal record of miles ridden I’ve been maintaining since 2013, the Rockies to Rappahannock blog, and the Tour de Couch Potato in which 200 riders have the 3-week duration of the TdF to ride 100 miles. I know, it’s not super challenging but you get a cool Potato Name (I’m Spudly) and a sweet refrigerator magnet at the end. 

Hilly ride

 (Clem, 24 miles) South Hills hills to Miller Creek hills over to the Bitterroot River and back. 

Morning Ride

 (Art, 18) Another speedy ride with my cycling group. Averaged 17.3 mph. I need to find an older crowd. 

September!

 (Clem, 29 miles) Bluebird day