day 13 (68 miles)

we got off to such a late start today... we didn't get out of whitefish until almost 11. i had shopping to do for dinner, and brad and julie were holed up in a kinko's making cards with the team logo and website for us to hand out to interested people. a couple of us also cycled up to the mcdonald's in the same parking lot to pick up a second breakfast. it was a shame to have to leave whitefish so soon...it had been a really great place to hang out, and it would have been a nice place to spend another day or two resting up.

sediment in the creek

our route for the day took us from whitefish through west glacier (where we entered the park the day before) and then diverted towards our last mountain pass until pennsylvania. our camping ground for the night was located about 8 miles from the top, so we did most of the climbing today and would just have a quick jaunt up for the next day. one oddity about the day's ride was a five mile stretch over dirt roads that would avoid some busy sections of the highway. our road bikes aren't so great for going through gravelly or dirt roads, so there were quite a few near crashes during that section. through here, we crossed a bridge that spanned the confluence of two creeks. it was really cool because one of the creeks was full of sediment and the other was fairly clear, so you could see the waters mixing together.

glacier np in the distance

one thing we learned is that people from that area of montana really love huckleberries! they're a local favorite, and there's a stretch of highway near glacier national park where there is shop after shop selling huckleberry pie, huckleberry ice cream, huckleberry jam, and of course, huckleberries. we decided we needed to sample this local delicacy at a restaurant in west glacier. unfortunately, they were fresh out of the pie, but we did eat some of the ice cream. the huckleberries were really tasty...i'd describe them as a mix between a blueberry and a raspberry. at the counter, we met a really nice couple on vacation. we talked with them for a while, handed out our very first of the newly minted cards, and they handed us a 20 dollar donation when we said good bye.

the moral of today's story: be careful what you wish for. after the non-restful rest day, i was pretty sleepy and sluggish, and i kept thinking that i didn't really want to be on my bike. i was also getting annoyed with the road coming out of west glacier because there was almost no shoulder and it was quite busy. we were continuously getting buzzed by trucks and motor homes going by at 65 mph. well, with about 25 miles to go, i heard a loud bang and felt all the air go out of my rear tire. no big deal, i thought...i have the right tubes and i'm getting good at changing them, so i'll be up and running again soon. when i looked at my tire, though, there was a one inch gash through the rubber, and i wasn't carrying my spare tire with me. there was no cell phone reception (of course), so i sat back to wait until julie and brad came up behind me thinking that one of them would be carrying a spare. apparently, julie had stopped off for a nap, so i was sitting by the side of the road for about 45 minutes, and unfortunately, she also didn't have a spare on her. due to our late departure, it was already getting late in the day, and i needed to get into camp to start preparing dinner. folks tend to get unhappy when their dinner isn't ready on time... luckily, because julie and i have the same bike, we were able to remove the whole back wheel from her bike and put it on my bike. she was pleased with that plan because she wanted to take a longer nap, so she and brad stayed at the roadside while dan and i went on ahead to camp to send the van back with her back wheel.