Bozeman, MT

Three days and 390 miles. Overall, it's been great - good weather, very scenic and an interesting group of people. The discussions at our various stops along the route seem to focus on tender butts and effective remedies, but we've been assured that this is a temporary affliction as we become more saddle hardy with time. There are 52 people on the tour including the crew. I have been making an effort to ride with different people each day so as to get to know everyone. Not sure I'll ever really get to know the fast ones - they take off early and don't stop much along the route.

We stay well fueled along the route - a PAC Tour van is waiting every 25 miles or so with lots of food and drinks. I've been told that you can actually gain weight on these rides. There are only 8 of us newbies - the rest of the riders are PAC Tour veterans - they say these rides are addicting.

Our first day was 148 miles and the second day 137 miles. Today was "only" 101 miles, and tomorrow we ride to West Yellowstone, a mere 90 miles. You do get a new perspective on distance riding. Except for a tender butt, I feel pretty good.

Kalispell, MT - The Tour

Everyone on the tour arrived Kalispell today. The parking lot at the motel became the makeshift bike shop and debriefing center. We all went out for pizza and beer - a nice nutritious meal to prepare for our 148 mile ride tomorrow to Missoula.

Glacier National Park

My bike saga: A week before the trip I took my bike into the shop for what I thought would be a routine repair - a noisy bottom bracket needed some work. It ended up to be a serious problem - a crack in the carbon frame. This was going to be my high mileage week in preparation for the trip, but, instead, I didn't have a bike. The bike was under warranty and TREK replaced the frame, but I didn't get my bike back until Tuesday evening, a week later. We had planned on leaving Tuesday morning as we had a motel reservation in West Glacier on Friday, July 25. Instead we left Wednesday morning.

Three days and 2275 miles later, we arrived in West Glacier, MT - lots of driving. A little plug for Toyota - everything fit inside the Prius (my bike, Jim's camera equipment, clothes, etc), and we averaged 48 mpg even doing 75 mph across North Dakota. We met Steve Bowman, Blaine Chamberlain and Mark Hogan at Glacier who had flown into town that day.

Steve, Blaine and Mark's bikes were in boxes in Kalispell, MT so they went for a hike on Saturday. I was anxious to get on my "new" bike so I got up early the next day and rode up Logan Pass in Glacier National Park and down the other side to St. Mary - a 50 mile ride with a 12 mile climb at a 6% grade and a long 10 mile downhill on the other side. Fun ride. Jim met me in St. Mary and we drove back through the park stopping at the many roadside tourist sights on the way back to W. Glacier.

Sunday morning, I rode my bike up to Logan pass (30 miles) and met Jim at about 10 am who had been taking some early morning photos. We then took hike that started at the pass near the continental divide that wandered 12 miles through some spectacular country. Steve and crew did a hike on the other side of the park up to the Many Glaciers area. A side note: in 1850, there 150 glaciers in the park. That number is down to 32. The park is expected to be glacier free by 2030. Will we have to give the park a new name? We'll leave that up to Congress. We all met up in Kalispell, MT that night and all slept well.

Ridge of the Rockies Bike Ride and Road Trip

The route:

  Driving from Ithaca, NY to Kalispell, MT, leaving July 23

  with 2 nights in Glacier National Park.

  Ruth will ride her bike from Kalispell to El Paso, TX - 

     Bike Route: 1943 miles in 19 days with 88,000 feet of climbing 

   (with PAC Tour). The ride officially starts on July 28.

  Jim will drive to El Paso following the same basic route.

  We should arrive in El Paso on Aug. 16.

  We'll drive back to Ithaca from El Paso, returning around Aug. 19-20.