The Ride Summary...

Home after a 23 hrs of driving and 4 hrs of sleep....I apologize for not posting what was going on sooner but I went into full "driving zombie" mode....was attempting to use Siri to dictate a post but that experience was as useless as "tits on a bull"....sorry if that offends anyone, just came from cowboy country....

Summary of Day 8 Sunday Sept 13th - Livingston to Yellowstone...

It was 65 that morning, warmest of the ride so far....about 1 mile down the road I had to stop and put on much warmer stuff....the wind was south, from Yellowstone where the temp was mid 30's....a very unusual circumstance for me, with the air temp so warm and the wind ice cold....and blowing hard....

left Livingston at 7am for the 53 miles to Gardiner and had crazy wind....from the left, then from the right, then in front....how come never from the back?....through a canyon following the Yellowstone River the wind bounces off the walls as the road curves and changes direction constantly....and apparently after talking to a few people, the wind through there has a reputation of always being brutal for riding either north or south....took me 4 hrs....

once into Yellowstone the temps had warmed up a lot, close to mid 80's....lots of people....lots of traffic....that kind of thinned out when I made the left turn to head toward Roosevelt Tower....while the wind was blowing it really wasn't a factor until the 10 mile climb up Dunraven Pass (8859 ft).... you are more exposed and the extra effort was significant....I was on max effort many times during the 1 hrs 45 mins it took....it was close to 5pm getting to Canyon Village and I was spent....beat up silly....there were several times I wanted to stick out my thumb and beg for a ride but I made it....

Ending the Ride

at the conclusion of one day the prep for the next day begins right away....besides eating, unpacking to dry stuff out, one other main thing is weather check....and the forecast called for crap....the next 3 days was to be a temperature drop (no big deal), thunderstorms (a bigger deal) and 20 - 30 mph wind (the  killer deal)....and below is why....Togwotee Pass on Monday....the risk exceeded reward....

now I had some contingency plans for other options but rather than jump ahead, change a bunch of reservations, we decided enough was enough.... time to call it a ride....physically I was good.... maybe mentally a little beat down....I don't like not finishing what was started but with the predicted conditions it was best to stop....

Summary

my only regret is not seeing the Minnesota family....we owe you all a visit so maybe next fall we will road trip with the pugs....other than that it was a great trip....thanks for following and glad I got to share some of the beautiful USA....

My ride is over

If you haven't already guessed you can tell that My ride is over I am driving home and will post more information later

Parting shots

Day 9 Mon Sept 14

Yellowstone

Canyon Village Lodge, Yellowstone Nat'l Park

I made it and got turned inside out doing so.....totally trashed....the first mile to the last was a fight....never have ridden in wind like this all day....of 96 miles I would guess only 10 were in the big chainring, if that....I have a lot of self doubt if I have to do it again tomorrow....

Spectacular views....didn't take as many pictures as I wanted.....stop....start....stop....start was too hard....even took the helmet cam off as it just felt too heavy....

No wifi here and poor cell too....looks like some pictures on up but may have add some later....

Day 8     96 miles     Total     773

Yellowstone River canyon

Yellowstone

Yellowstone River in the Park

Chute Rock

Yellowstone

Dutch cyclists in Yellowstone

Hwy 89

Yellowstone ! ! !

packing up and waiting for enough daylight to head out....very lethargic today....didn't sleep well and it could a bit of fatigue or the altitude....or it could be the screaming wind blowing already....

Profile today is opposite from yesterday....relatively flat to the park and then up into the high mountains....and probably not remote like the past few days....that is good and bad....

Day 8 Sun Sept 13

Livingston MT

Arrived ~3:30pm....a cloudless day with temps in the mid 80's....brutal wind....will post more later....

The night and even the morning before leaving Townsend I was second guessing my route, Hwy 12 E to Hwy 89 S.....another way to get to Livingston is to head south on 287 then east through Bozeman....2 miles shorter and no big climb....I know I looked at that but thought it was a lot more confusing to avoid riding on I-90....anyway I obviously decided to stick with the plan....

My heart sank 6 miles into the climb when, once again, came up on a "road construction ahead motorcycles should consider alternate route" sign....in other words no road....at 10 miles a sign indicated road construction for the next 10 miles....well it turned out to be only short sections at every bridge, which was 8 or 9....not bad at all....

The climb was up into the Helena Nat'l forest and almost 6000ft....after that I was in high desert....hot, dry and relentless wind....the rest of the elevation profile shows a gradual descent to Livingston....which was good....with the way the wind was blowing it didn't matter, which was bad....you feel like you are constantly battered and not from the same direction....plus I felt the altitude a little bit with any increase in effort....and to finish it off it took 45 minutes to do the final 7 miles west into town....

Pretty excited to be headed to Yellowstone....it's a weekend and there was a lot of traffic here so Sun I expect a lot too....oh well, "share the road" right ?....

Day 7     99 miles     Total     677

The road

Jim Bridger

High desert terrain

Top of the climb west and east

Up the climb

Breakfast day 7

30 mile climb. Yeeow...

Day 7 Sat Sept 12

Lake Helena

Hwy 287 S to Wolf Creel

I-15 S to Helena

Townsend MT

Arrived around 3:30pm....more later....

Slept pretty well at the Bunkhouse even though it dead quiet....so quiet that expelling a bit of natural compressed air might be heard through out the whole house....and I did cross paths with a large dude walking down the hall to the bathroom wearing just speedo size underwear....must have been a Euro....

The ride to Townsend had two contrasting parts....Hwy 287 was remote and peaceful....a bunch of steep rollers through ranch land....saw a wolf way up on a mesa and he must heard me as he stopped and stared....a little later a big porcupine crossed the road in front of me....actually had to stop and wait for him to get across but I was too slow with the camera....

At about 40 miles 287 merged with I-15....was able to take a side road for 7 miles but got on the interstate for 20 miles....that big spike on the profile map around mile 60 was part of that and at the top (posted picture) you looked down at Helena....you may think freeway riding sucks, and it kind of does but Hwy 2 out of Libby had the same speed limit 75 mph, was one lane with no shoulder in a lot of sections....I-15 had 6-8 ft shoulder and good surface....both seem to have about the same amount of traffic....but it was certainly back into civilization....

After that I went east around Helena along Lake Helena to Hwy 12 to finish the day....very nice out that way with beautiful houses on the ridges looking down at the lake....and what would be a day without more riding on I paved road as about 10 miles of Lake Helena Road was packed dirt....that goodness it was dry....

The warmest day by far....in the 80's....I was battered by headwind most of the day and my face is red and sore from that and strong sun as there wasn't a cloud in the sky....I need sunscreen as that weather is forecast for Sat too....

Day 6     112 miles      Total    578

Day 6 Fri Sept 11

Bunkhouse. Augusta MT

Bynum Rock Shop and Dinosaur Museum

Augusta MT

A beautiful day....sunshine....started out in the upper 30's and warmed to the mid 60's....strong wind though and I was in wide open ranch land and farms all day....15 mph is my guess and you could see how it could have been much worse....

A quiet day....very little traffic....and really only one town, Choteau.....Bynum does't count....if there's no gas station there's no town....

A lumpy day.....the hills were long and steep.....so were the downhills.....so it kind of evens out.....tough on the legs....

It surprises me that with the harsh winters, the road surface in Montana has been really good.....that is when there is a f-zing road....second day in a row I ride up to construction with NO ROAD.....and no "pilot vehicle" ride this time....apparently the company was sued by a cyclist because their bike got scratched in the truck and they had to buy a new bike.....same company doing the work yesterday so somebody didn't get the memo....the saving grace was this section was closer to getting asphalt on it then yesterday....30 minutes for 5 miles....

Staying in a pretty cool little place in Augusta called "The Bunkhouse".....I'm not quite comfortable with the idea of shared bathrooms but a guy has to do what a guy has to do....no getting around it.....

Day 5     99 miles     Total     466

On the road to Augusta MT

A couple of pictures while stopping for a "natural break"....

Glacier hairpin turn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-syHYSHhb8&sns=em

Glacier tunnel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH7iJ7dcqGc&sns=em

Logan Pass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpd_onnKr4A&sns=em

Glacier road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayJnpaZv_9Q&sns=em

Day 5 Thurs Sept 10

Browning MT

What a day....seems a bit surreal as Glacier is too much to take in with a single ride....the weather was  as good as it could be this time of year....the past few days were colder except at Logan Pass where there was still snow on the side of the road and the wind was screaming....had to bundle up quick there....

A few cyclist on the road with a tour group from CO....a constant flow of cars but not bad....the road is very narrow in some sections....hopefully the videos I posted work for you to view.....of all the things to do getting ready for the ride I never tested that on my iPhone and I need a decoder....as you can see too there is a lot of pictures....again I don't know how or if I can post multiple pictures in one post....f me I'm not a real blogger....

My impressions : the most rugged intimidating mountains I have ever seen....harsh conditions....steep elevations....the main color is gray but where the water flows from the glacier hillsides of pale green....the air is different....pure....it has a unique smell....I feel fortunate to have had at least a day there and was able to pass through....

From St Mary on the east side exit the road to Browning started with a steep 5 mile climb....the continued to stair step up for another 10 miles....yeeoow....just what my legs didn't need....the the road was a bit more down then up and through some beautiful ranch land....and then the best part....not really....with 6 miles left to go I ran out of road....literally....the asphalt was gone....ripped up and under total construction....I rode a mile and a half on that and thought the fillings in my teeth would fall out....finally came up on workers and it was one way only for cars so I rode in the "pilot" vehicle for the last few miles.....

Laundry time at the Holiday Inn as I can no longer stand me....

Day 4     93 miles      Total    367

Glacier tunnel

Logan Pass

Glacier road

Glacier hairpin turn

Reynolds Creek fire

Logan Pass