Day 14, Sunday, July 13.
Rundyard, MT to Malta, MT
Daily Mileage: 130.38 miles
Total Mileage: 1,198.7 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 7:23 hours
Average Speed 17.6 mph
Montana is known as the Big Sky State and man the sky is huge. We woke up in our mosquito-infested camp and tore it down quickly by 8:30AM. The train that ran about 100 feet from our tent kept waking us up throughout the night. It's amusing that a train can wake us up but none of the locals seem to notice it, while we can sleep peacefully through the sounds of the big city.
We started riding on the same roads as yesterday, this time without the great tailwind. Our legs were tight and tired, and our first goal was 40 miles down the way, Havre. We're still not sure how one pronounces this town (actually we're not sure how to properly pronounce a lot of the towns we ride through). We figure you just go with the furthest thing from the spelling and that's how you say it. Anyhow, we stopped for about an hour, had brunch and changed David’s front tire. We both were so tired that we just sat in the sun and watched as people went in and out of the grocery store—fascinating.
Montana is really huge, which is a bit depressing as we want to start flying through the states. However, the commercial truckers (no more logging trucks) are so friendly. They honk their horns and give a friendly wave, unlike the other motorists who can travel as fast as they like on these open and empty roads (at the time Montana’s daytime speed limit was “Reasonable & Prudent”), but insist on stopping right behind us to honk and yell obscenities before pulling around and flying off into the horizon. A railroad parallels US 2, and even the trains toot their horns and throw a friendly wave.
The second forty miles of our trip took us to Harlem, a town right on the edge of the Belknap Indian Reservation. We met up with one of the guys in the sag group again. He rode with us to Harlem, and me, trying to be a tough guy, pushed the speed in excess of 25 mph as though we were just out for a quick twenty-miler on a Saturday morning. We finally made it into Harlem and said our goodbyes, quickly resuming our much more reasonable pace.
Our third forty miles of the day began with a flat tire. We stood alongside the rode in a nest of mosquitos trying to remain calm about it all. Once the tire was fixed, we hopped back on the bikes and were pedaled the last leg of our journey at around 20 mph. The hills became more frequent and the trees, which we hadn’t seen since the mountains, began to reappear. Then in the middle of completely flat land, a random strip of mountains popped out of the landscape, literally hundreds of miles away from any other mountains.
When we reached Malta, we did a quick tour through town (it’s not that big of a place), and realizing that everything was closed because it was Sunday night, headed to the Subway/Conoco for some dinner. Following dinner, David and I made a few calls back home including one to our friend Jason, who was quite impressed with our accomplishments thusfar. Then we headed for T-Park—the facilities are horrible and the mosquitoes are even worse. We're really getting good though at setting up quickly in a manner we’ve dubbed “Mosquito Camp Mode.”
(Photo: The beautiful flat lands of middle Montana.)
Daily Mileage: 130.38 miles
Total Mileage: 1,198.7 miles
Daily Time on Bike: 7:23 hours
Average Speed 17.6 mph
Montana is known as the Big Sky State and man the sky is huge. We woke up in our mosquito-infested camp and tore it down quickly by 8:30AM. The train that ran about 100 feet from our tent kept waking us up throughout the night. It's amusing that a train can wake us up but none of the locals seem to notice it, while we can sleep peacefully through the sounds of the big city.
We started riding on the same roads as yesterday, this time without the great tailwind. Our legs were tight and tired, and our first goal was 40 miles down the way, Havre. We're still not sure how one pronounces this town (actually we're not sure how to properly pronounce a lot of the towns we ride through). We figure you just go with the furthest thing from the spelling and that's how you say it. Anyhow, we stopped for about an hour, had brunch and changed David’s front tire. We both were so tired that we just sat in the sun and watched as people went in and out of the grocery store—fascinating.
Montana is really huge, which is a bit depressing as we want to start flying through the states. However, the commercial truckers (no more logging trucks) are so friendly. They honk their horns and give a friendly wave, unlike the other motorists who can travel as fast as they like on these open and empty roads (at the time Montana’s daytime speed limit was “Reasonable & Prudent”), but insist on stopping right behind us to honk and yell obscenities before pulling around and flying off into the horizon. A railroad parallels US 2, and even the trains toot their horns and throw a friendly wave.
The second forty miles of our trip took us to Harlem, a town right on the edge of the Belknap Indian Reservation. We met up with one of the guys in the sag group again. He rode with us to Harlem, and me, trying to be a tough guy, pushed the speed in excess of 25 mph as though we were just out for a quick twenty-miler on a Saturday morning. We finally made it into Harlem and said our goodbyes, quickly resuming our much more reasonable pace.
Our third forty miles of the day began with a flat tire. We stood alongside the rode in a nest of mosquitos trying to remain calm about it all. Once the tire was fixed, we hopped back on the bikes and were pedaled the last leg of our journey at around 20 mph. The hills became more frequent and the trees, which we hadn’t seen since the mountains, began to reappear. Then in the middle of completely flat land, a random strip of mountains popped out of the landscape, literally hundreds of miles away from any other mountains.
When we reached Malta, we did a quick tour through town (it’s not that big of a place), and realizing that everything was closed because it was Sunday night, headed to the Subway/Conoco for some dinner. Following dinner, David and I made a few calls back home including one to our friend Jason, who was quite impressed with our accomplishments thusfar. Then we headed for T-Park—the facilities are horrible and the mosquitoes are even worse. We're really getting good though at setting up quickly in a manner we’ve dubbed “Mosquito Camp Mode.”
(Photo: The beautiful flat lands of middle Montana.)
