Day 21 – July 3, 2015
Lochsa Lodge (over the Lolo Pass 5225 FT) to Missoula – 57.7 miles
Bumble Bee – Audrey
Wow, can’t believe we made it all the way to Missoula! It was a really tough one. Gregg made a good decision to get the cabin, slept like a log. Got up at 3 and left at 4:47am.
It was cold this morning. We were at about 3500 Ft, altitude makes such a difference. Our biggest feat today was doing the Lolo Pass. It was 6.5 miles of straight up at a grade of about 7 or 8 percent. It was tough. We both got into our “granny gears” and slogged up. I managed to pull ahead, I don’t know why but I get into some kind of zone, pushing up that mountain. It was hard, I had to play mental tricks with myself to keep me going, things like “you can make it up to that road sign and the bend”, “you can slow down and relax when it gets flat” – it never got flat but I did slow down. At one point I had to take a “nature break” having drank so much power water, by then, as soon as Gregg caught up, up on the bike again for the last 3 miles! It was so nice to see that hump. Wow we did a major pass with 90 to 100 lbs on our bikes! Awesome!
After a short stop at the top at the Ranger Station – Discovery Center, where they offered us free hot coffee or hot chocolate, we started the downhill. It was only about 4 miles of steep decline but then a steady downhill all the way to Lolo Hot Springs. There we had a pretty bad breakfast and decided right then to push it all the way to Missoula. Our only enemy again was the rising temperatures and no shade.
My wrist began to hurt yesterday afternoon on our 67 mile day. It’s the road pressure hitting the palm of my hand and shooting up into my wrist. To the touch, right where my hand meets the forearm I feel sharp pain. That, along with my usual post 25 mile, feet burning, I was suffering. The climb in the cool weather is nothing. I told Gregg I could have done maybe another 2 miles of uphill, but downhill breaking and the heat hurts.
I tried to distract myself. Another game that I play is “the smells of the road”. What do I smell? I hear – the traffic, the rivers, the birds, the deer, Gregg’s peddling, but what do I smell? There are lots of road smells, that is definitely something you don’t get from driving a car. The logging trucks fully loaded, smell like cedar. The river, smells like fish and rocks. The thickets in the early morning, smell like deer. When the temperatures rise, you actually smell the road, a thick heavy asphalt stench. When you stop by a wooden bridge in the noon day sun, you smell the melting railroad ties or wooden planks. You also smell death. You smell it often. The smell of those poor victims of the road, mostly squirrels, mice, birds, lots of birds, and of course, deer. Many times you don’t see them but you smell them. I have seen about 5 dead deer. One bambi in the middle of the road just outside of Orofino.
But it is the pleasant smells that I concentrate on, the baking cedar trees in the 100 degrees, smell like inscense. And, sometime its the flowers, those wild flowers along the road. Oh, and the horses, and cattle, also nice smells to me.
Anyway, after a long haul in about 90 degree weather we made it to Logo, where we stopped for a cold drink, gatorade, and a call to the hotel to change our reservations since we are arriving in Missoula about 2 days early. Then it was another, we unpleasant ride along a busy highway in the heat to Missoula. We stopped briefly at the mall to pick up Gregg’s MacBook charging device. Then, a circuitous trek thru town guide by my Google Maps. Yes, we finally got cell service again.
So, here we are, in Missoula. Time for laundry, cold beer, good food, and sleep. We are take a 2 day O day. Robin, my brother, and his wife Peggy, are arriving tomorrow night. We look forward to spending some time with them and just simply relaxin as much as we can. My wrist will appreciate it.
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