Okay, I’ll try to hit the highlights of the past week of riding:
- We visited the adventure cycling association headquarters, and they were impressed with our instrument collection and took fancy pictures of us – we had to sign a release officially declaring us as models. We will do our little turns on the catwalk.
- Camped at the fairgrounds in Hamilton, and were disappointed that there was no July 4th parade
- Had a big climb up into the Big Hole valley – my memories of the insane amount of mosquitoes there still hold true – if we slowed to less than 15 mph, the black clouds of little vampire bugs that were drafting us would catch up and attempt death by a thousand bites
- Caught a killer tailwind heading into Bannock – I hit 53.7 mph coming off the pass! We did the final 20 miles in less than an hour
- Twin Bridges had an amazing bike camping spot – a special shelter with showers on a grassy spot right by the river. We met some other cyclists and had a little jam session, and then did a pub crawl of all both bars. We only left the Lost Cabin bar after they sold us eggs
- Learned more than we knew we needed to know about brooms at the Nevada City historic ghost town. The broom maker was married to the tinsmith. Don’t buy brooms with yucca in them!
- Caught some live music at a pub in Ennis by the most facially emotive one-man band you’ll ever see
- On the road along the Madison River, we were thrice tempted with signs promising “cold beer” that only delivered disappointment. Luckily a woman named Tish empathized with our plight, and gave us some Modelos while her husband taught us the difference between wet and dry fly fishing
- Yellowstone was amazing – we took an off day there to see more sights and to rest a bit. We visited a ton of geysers and pools, saw some buffalo, and went for a swim with a whole lake to ourselves! Saw two great ranger talks – one on why Yellowstone has such unique features, and one on “Scumbags of Yellowstone” We met a westbound bicyclist named Orion and shared tales over beers.
Ok, I’ll have to catch up the rest later… We are still having a great time! Now, on to what you really want – pictures!
