Day 7 - Missoula to Butte

Yesterday Dave started off slow and less than enthused about riding over 130 miles. Today it was my turn. My legs felt heavy and the first fifty or so miles of the route was flat or nearly so, which isn't my favorite kind of riding. Dave was in the zone today though and had an excellent day on the bike. The picture to the right is him on a short climb on a road that paralleled I-90 (you can see the freeway traffic off to the left down below). Fortunately, we didn't spend much time on the Interstate today.


Dave was in good spirits. I snapped a shot of him as he pedaled alongside one of the rivers we saw today. The weather was near perfect again. Cool in the morning and a bit of a headwind at times, but not as hot in the afternoon as yesterday. We've been exceptionally lucky and we know that we're likely to face less favorable conditions later.







The scenery continued to amaze as we rode rollers on secondary roads paralleling I-90. We could see the freeway once in awhile, but couldn't hear it (at least I couldn't). The road surfaces were good until we got near Butte, when we hit roads like those one might find in Nebraska. In fact, one stretch was similar to the road between Fort Calhoun and Boyer Chute with the open seams every so many meters. I have to say though that the jarring feels a little more punitive after 122 miles on the bike.




We got our first glimpse of the mountains we'll climb in a couple of days. We also had the opportunity to test our climbing legs when we left Philipsburg after lunch. For whatever reason, Scott felt much better after lunch and the climb put some pep back in his legs. He passed a number of people even after stopping along the way for a couple of photos. The best phot is the look back down the road into the valley. We climbed the road up from Philipsburg and the photo is taken after a switchback near the top of the climb.


The top picture is the climb looking back down the valley. The next is Scott after taking the photo. The next is Dave showing them how boys from Nebraska climb. The next picture is a waterfall that we all wished we could jump in after reaching the top. And finally, the last picture is a nail that went through the tread and out the sidewall of Scott's read tire as he rode out of Anaconda. Nothing like fixing a flat on the side of a busy road in the afternoon sun after pedaling 113 miles. What I think about it though. With all the luck and fun we've had thus far, I shouldn't complain.