June 10, 2005

Nick was the stronger man today.

When we awoke at 5:30 in the AM it was mostly clear and sunny. By the time we were ready to leave it started raining so we suited up and headed out. We finally rolled out around 8:45. Our plan for the day was 107 miles to Culbertson, MT. It rained for a while then cleared. First the winds were cross from the left, then a tail for a while when it cleared. We could see a storm coming from the southwest to the northeast and with the tail wind picked up speed to see if we could out run it. We were riding on a very slight down hill (about 100 feet for 10 miles) at speeds around 20 to 28 MPH. The storm seemed to be getting closer. We stopped for a brief pit stop and could see it raining less than 300 yards behind us, and it was raining hard. I noticed then that Nick could really move when motivated to stay dry. As in the ride into Ovando five days ago I was in the aero bars, pushing a high gear at a high cadence and had all I could do to keep up with Nick. We held that pace for over an hour and were able to out run the storm as it passed diagonally behind us. When it passed the winds shifted and were now a cross from the left which brought much cooler air from the north. It wasn’t raining but the stiff cross wind slowed us down considerably. I commented to Nick as we rode together. “You are the stronger man today!”

The weather was like that all morning and most of the afternoon. We watched the sky and either speeded up or slowed down to avoid getting drenched. A couple of times we were caught in a light rain and had to stop and suit up again. Rain gear on – rain gear off -- rain gear on was the standard of the morning. After lunch we were only threatened with rain once but slowed down considerably to avoid it as it passed the Indian town of Poplar, MT. When we reached Poplar some streets were covered with an inch or so of water. We went through the town (somewhat depressing) to reach the old route 2 which is now called the Indian Highway as the Adventure Cycling Association maps suggest the route to avoid some significant rolling terrain.

On the Indian Highway we saw one of the many roadside crosses that we see every day indicating where people lost their lives in auto accidents. This one was unusual in that the grass in just that section was mowed, and on the barbed wire fence there were tied a good number of bandanas. It was an obvious showing of honor to the dead.

A Way to Show Honor

A number of cars (although there were few on that road) gave us a solid honk the kind that in NYC or New Jersey could elicit road rage. At first we wondered what that was all about, but as we traveled through more of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation we had it happen a few more times, often accompanied by a friendly wave and smile. When I got a flat later in the day one car with locals actually stopped and asked if everything was OK. Another gave a solid honk and waved. We surmised that the solid honk was a friendly one and felt better about the people in the cars after that.

The weather was clear at the end of the day so we decided to camp. We are in Culbertson City Park, a well kept park in a well kept town. We were gifted with a rainbow in the southeastern sky.

Rainbow from Culbertson City Park

Maybe I will see the Big Sky stars tonight.

Cycledog (Ride the extra mile!!)

© 2005 - JNS