Steve's TransAm Adventure

We went by the Adventure Cycling headquarters when we got in to Missoula yesterday. For those of you not familiar with ACA, it was previously named BikeCentennial and it created the TransAm route as a celebration of the Bicentennial in 1976.    That year I had just finished my freshman year at the University of Virginia when I heard about the TransAm.  I have been wanting to ride this route for 50 years!  I guess there is something to be said for not giving up on your dreams.   Today I got a haircut and went to REI to buy some new sandals because my shower shoes are not comfortable to walk any distance in, and at the end of a day of riding, I really don’t want to put my bicycling shoes back on to walk to dinner.  If I wear them too much they don’t dry out and start to stink! I also bought a new sleeping pad at REI just in case Brian and I are unable to find a motel.  Although I no longer have my tent, if it comes right down to it I could put my ground ...

67 miles, 986 ft ascent / 1664 ft descent, 4:46 saddle time,. Sunset over Clark Fork River in Missoula MT My Garmin died today, so my Strava posting did not include the total mileage.  Four of us stayed with the WarmShowers host Curtis last night. From left to right: Brian, Erick, Guy, me and Curtis  We departed at about 0700 and met Kevin for breakfast at the Studmuffin bakery. Breakfast at Studmuffin in Darby (Kevin is on far left) Our ride was mostly downhill today. Darby is at 3991 ft and Missoula is 3200 ft.  It was nice not to be crossing a pass today.  Everything was going great until about 20 miles outside of Missoula when a front blew through and we were suddenly in a strong headwind.  It was probably steady at 15 to 20 mph with gusts of 40 mph.  It literally nearly brought me to a standstill a couple times.  Brian, Kevin and I formed a pace line and took turns pulling into the wind.  As quickly as the front blew in, about 40 minutes late...

57.7 miles, 1562 ft ascent, 4:38 saddle time, elevations: min 3885, max 7278 ft Big Hole Valley with Bitterroot Range in distance Today involved another climb over a pass (761 ft ascent in 3.7 miles), and there was nowhere for breakfast, so we went without.  On the way we passed the Big Hole National Battlefield Park.  This commemorates one of several battles between the Nez Perce Indian tribe and the army of the white man.  The story is sad and tragic.  The Nez Perce were badly treated, as were many of the native Indian tribes.  The white man repeatedly broke treaties and promises.  The Ne Perce tried to flee to a place of safety and were pursued by the soldiers, who were given orders to exterminate them.  The route today followed the route of the Nez Perce for part of the way.  It is a story that they did not teach me in history class when I was young. The route taken by the Nez Perce when fleeing the white man’s army Once we crested the pass we...

68 miles, 3670 ft ascent, 6:25 saddle time, elevations: min 5067, max 7381 ft We left the bike hostel at about 0700 and headed into town to McDonalds, which was the only place for breakfast open at that time.  I have not eaten in McDonald’s in many years, so this was a change for me.  I bought an egg McMuffin, which I ate right away, and a bacon, egg and cheese bagel, which I saved for my “second breakfast”.  The day started with two major climbs over two passes, Badger Pass (1128 ft ascent in 6 miles to 6760 ft) and Big Hole Pass (1240 ft ascent in 6.32 miles to 7360 ft).  There were awesome downhill runs after each pass.  My bike handled much better without the additional 6 lb tent on the back rack.  I did not take many photos today because it was cold, cloudy and rainy.  Here is a view of the Big Hole valley with overcast skies. Big Hole Valley I mentioned in yesterday’s post that this part of the country is one mountain chain after the next, separa...

70 miles, 2876 ft ascent, 5:26 saddle time, elevations: min 4634, max 6930 ft I forgot to talk about our guardian angel yesterday.  I previously told you about how our WarmShowers host in Lander, Dannine, came to rescue me when the winds 3 miles south of Lander became dangerous.  Well, at the Earthquake Lake visitor center, Brian broke a clip on his rear right pannier.  He had to strap it to his rack, which made it difficult to remove.  Well, we were riding along and stopped in a turnout to rest and a campervan pulled over to the side of the road.  Lo and behold, it was Dannine, Vicky and a friend.  They werre on their way to Missoula for a concert and saw us.  Dannine happened to have the same pannier as Brian, so he was able to switch clips and repair his pannier.  Also, Brian and I both have sleep issues that make camping challenging.  I was concerned about carrying a heavy tent (6 lb) over multiple passes that were coming up.  We had...

72 miles, 1389 ft ascent, 3131 ft descent, 4:49 saddle time, elevations:  start 6723. End 4976 ft Looking West across Hebgen Lake We started our day with continental breakfast at the Kelly Inn where we stayed last night.  The term “Continental Breakfast’ really doesn’t mean much because it can be anything from all packaged pastries to fresh eggs, meats, pancakes, bagels, etc.  This one was more toward the latter.  I had seen waffle makers at multiple of these hotel breakfasts, but today I saw my first automatic pancake maker.  We departed at about 0800 to temps in the upper 40’s and light wind.  The route was mostly downhill, as you can see from the ascent/descent and elevations above and the profile below.   Yesterday we followed the Madison river out of Yellowstone NP, and today we continued to follow it.  The photo at the top is the manmade Lake Hebgen, which was created by damming the Madison.  On August 17, 1959 there was a 7.5 earthquak...

Norris Geyser Basin 40.8 miles, 1282 ft ascent/ 2573 ft descent, 3:24 saddle time, elevations, min 6675 / max 8260. I am no longer going to include max grade because I have come to realize that RideWithGPS values are vary inaccurate.  Suffice it to say that on some of the uphills I am in my lowest gears and barely moving 5 mph.   It was cold again this morning, so we went across the street from the campground for breakfast and to warm up before breaking camp.  Out objective today was to ride across the middle of the figure-8 and out of the park to West Yellowstone, which is a town just outside the park boundary.  We had to ride up and over the rim of the huge caldera that sits within the park(30 x 45 mile oval).  It is the remains of a volcanic eruption many, many years ago.  After getting up and over that, it was mostly downhill from there, which would have been great except for a strong wind from the west :(. On the other side of the rim we stoppped at th...

Looking East over Jackson Lake 20 miles, 1014 ft ascent, 1:49 saddle time, min elevation 7690, max 7970 ft We broke camp today at 0630 with the temperatures in the 30’s.  As usual, my fingers were frozen, which made it difficult to pack up my bike.  We rode to the Lake Hotel (2 miles) for breakfast.  This is a very fancy hotel ($500/night), we kind of stood out in our biking clothes as we plugged in all our devices and proceeded to eat a massive amount of food at an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.  Yellowstone is not particularly biker friendly with narrow or no shoulders, so we planned to go around the east side of the lower loop (of the figure-8) and across the middle to the West entrance and out of the park (about 60 miles).  The east side of the lower loop travels through Hayden Valley, which is an area that is full of Bison, Elk and Wolves.   Bison in Hayden Valley I took this photo in an area where cars could not pull over :).  The valley is im...

61.3 miles, 3348 ft ascent, 5:04 saddle time, max elevation 7970 ft, starting elevation 6794, final 7800 ft The temperature dropped down to the 30’s last night, so by the time I had broken camp and loaded up my bike, I was very cold.  As usual, the coldest part was my fingers and toes, which were numb.  We had breakfast at the restaurant in Colter Bay, which gave me a chance to warm up.  Note to those considering camping in Grand Teton or Yellowstone Nat’l Parks, there is no cell service, and the only internet is in restaurants annd the shower/laundry bldg.  There is also no place to plug in electronics at the campsites.  Brian annd I took all our charging gear to the restaurant and requested a table near an outlet so that we could charge while we were eating.   That is why my blog posts have been apearing the next morning.  We finished up a long breakfast (about 2 hours, some things take a long time to charge) and then departed at about 10:00.   ...

55 miles,  Sun setting on the Tetons Today was a planned layover day in the Colter Bay campground.  After having breakfast at the campground restaurant we rode (without panniers) south to a town called Moose, which is about 5 miles north of Jackson Hole.   Probably the closest I will get to a moose The ride was mostly flat as it followed the Teton Valley.  It is hard to describe how beautiful this area is with the lakes and the Tetons jutting abruptly up from the valley floor.   I want to share with you a little about my riding companion and friend, Brian.  He has a PhD in Political Sciencd and has spent his career in Global Affairs (now retired).  He has worked as an aid to a senator, a college professor at Northwestern, a lobbyist, and on boards of non-profit organizations .  This has given him a wealth of experience, but also a special talent to connect with people.  It is uncanny how quickly he can connect with people, establish some comm...