Goodbye Montana, Hello Idaho

Posted by Andrew on July 20th, 2009 -   

I really enjoyed riding in Montana: new terrain, varied terrain, great riding partners, good camping, pretty good weather, and really interesting people along the way. One problem throughout the state: broken glass all over the side of the road.

I’m not sure I get it… are some of you that lazy that you can’t bring the bottle home with you? Just leave it in the back of the car, in the trunk, or those seat-back pockets that never seem to be as useful as they should be. Or tell the dude in the backseat to hang on to it - all of the action is in the front of a car anyway, whoever is in the back might as well just hang on to empties and watch the hills roll by. No, I didn’t have many flats, just two or three related to a tire puncture from NY that grew into a 3mm hole and gravel-magnet. I am pretty careful with my tires these days since I want them to last; I stop and check my tires whenever I roll over the remnants of your cheap beer.

Stop throwing bottles out of the window. Or at least get them more than 4 feet out of your window into the grass. What? Can’t throw it that far? Weak.

You can continue to throw sort-of crushed cans on the side of the road - they won’t puncture my tires, so I really don’t care. Besides, guess where those cans end up? You know, the ones that end up blowing off the side of the road into the grass? No idea? The cans end up in your hay. I have never purchased a bale of hay, but I would imagine that a shredded can sticking out of the sides doesn’t improve the value. So go ahead with the cans, I’m sure that’ll work out well for you in the long term.

Anyways…

Glacier NP was outstanding! I rode a long day to get to the east entrance to the park, then took a 0-day before climbing up over the Continental Divide at Logan Pass. I spent my time off cleaning the bike, replacing my front tire and brake pads, and cleaning up some gear before using the shuttle system to see some of the park.

Wow, outstanding shuttle system! I rode up to Logan Pass and down the other side to get a burger and a beer at Lake MacDonald Lodge. Burger was excellent, and the Moose Drool Brown Ale was outstanding - exactly what I needed on my day off! It was fun to scout out the road and see the sights beforehand, even though the experience is certainly different from a bike. You can’t feel the temperature changes from the shade, snow, ice, and streams when you’re in a car. I probably wouldn’t have seen the large black bear rummaging around by the side of the road in a car either. Even if I did, stopping a car creates traffic issues, but stopping my bike really doesn’t matter. I’ve got some good pictures of the bear!

The climb up to Logan Pass from the east is not too bad. The first 12-ish miles are flat or very gently uphill, and I never needed my smallest chainring (lowest gearing) for the last 6. Met up with a tourer from Scotland at the top who had only been on the road for 2 weeks. We exchanged traffic stories and talked bike gear, because that’s what you do. Also chatted with a few riders on a supported tour through several mountain passes in the area - all riding light road bikes. Pansies.

Heading down the west side is amazing! I didn’t bother sticking to the sides of the road since I was going down as fast, if not faster, than the cars and motorcycles. I don’t think I made it past 35 mph due to the twists, turns, and road construction, not to mention the slightly scary drop off the side of the road.

Perfect day, perfect weather, traffic was not an issue, and the huge huckleberry ice cream cone in West Glacier at the end was fantastic - I couldn’t ask for a better experience going through Glacier. This was my first time through, and I’d definitely recommend it however you want to get through the park. Make sure you get out of your car to feel what it’s like out - I saw too many people getting out at the top, then going straight back down

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