the next night. He knew where the good IPAs were. I love the stuff. During the day, I picked up my new tent, GOOOOD BYE bivy sak. In prepping for the Rockies I swapped the small chainring gear for an even smaller one to give me more leverage when I climb the mother load mountains. Twenty-four teeth and you have to strain to see it inside of the other two chain ring gears. At least I won't have any seventy year old women busting my chops because I could make it to the top of the mountain without walking. During day in Missoula I meander around town on my bike taking in the character of the town. The University of Montana is quite nice with a main campus of stately buildings and abundance beautiful trees tastefully around the center green. Bordering the campus, I came across a nice eatery to have lunch at a nice eatery. Students and professors filled the place. After chilling over a delicious lunch, I continued my travels around the older part of town. Stately houses, well kept up, added a certain sophistication to the area. Overall Missoula is a nice town, at least during the warm weather months. Winters must long and cold with staggering quantities of snow.
At day's end after I had time to set up my new in chuck's back yard and go deaf from his neurotic blind Dachshund which barked incessantly at an ear piercing decibal level, Chuck and I took in another brewery, had dinner
And downed two delicious craft IPAs. The next more, it was lift off time after a very pleasant day cruising around town. So that I didn't have to brave the treacherous highway back to Lolo again, Chuck loaded me up in his SUV and drove me there. I picked up bike path which I wa told about. Separated by a good twenty feet from the road, the paved bike path was stress free and a joy to ride. Three miles down the path, the back end of my bike got mushy; yes, my first flat tire of the journey. So much for Marathon Supremes at $90 a pop. Having change out tubes only once before, I wasn't very adept at the process. Pumping up the tire after replacing the tire. I pinched the tube between the steel rim the tire and blew it as I pumped it up. Good move, close to nowhere with limited options, I began the process of patching the original punctured tube. Gear strewn around the bike, I made some calls to Missoula to no avail. Kate helped me get the numbers of the bike shop I used yesterday as well as Adventure Cyclings number. While waiting for the contact cement to set up, a guy riding his bike in the opposite direction stopped to see if he could help. Explaining my situation, this guy, Sherman Daniel, biked back to his truck and returned to take me with the bike all the way back to Missoula bike shop I had used and then, unbelievably, drove me back Lolo to were I had had my flat. I am talking twenty miles of driving. Turns out Sherman and I both are the same age, like the same music and are woodworkers. We hit it off. Truly nice people out here.The list is growing daily who I owe.
A thousand miles without a flat isn't half bad. Anyways by 11:30 I was on the bike path again headed for Hamilton. With the snow covered Rockies on my right the whole way and no traffic to deal with, the next twenty miles were idyllic. I had to deal with some rain but not enough to bother me.
When I rode into Hamilton, I located a local brewery and treat myself to two frosty IPAs then checked out warm showers.com. Score, another great place to stay. I hung their wet laundry up on the line as my way of contributing. Beats camping.
Tomorrow, I am off to Sula. Perhaps I will tackle Chief Joseph's pass but it will be a forty mile ride before I get to the base. Let's not be superman.
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