The Rise Up Ride: Day 57, The Fast But Furious Flathead Route
Date: 18 June 2021
Start Location: Missoula, MT
End Location: Polton, MT
Distance: 108.6 km
Time: 6:01
Total elapsed: 7:25
Elevation: 666 m
Thanks to Jackie Slovak, Adventure Cycling's Development Director, for a caloric breakfast meeting of tacos and mind meld about fundraising and visioning. I'm looking forward to reengaging with the organization and helping plan for something big in 2026.
Jim, John and Frosene give me a bittersweet send-off down the Bitterroot Valley
What is it about the unintended consequences of seemingly good ideas? The Montana Department of Transportation has recently installed new "mumble strips" down the centerline of the major highways from the Bitterroot to the Flathead and the Kootenai. These are intended to prevent head-on collisions, however they actually act as a barrier, unintentionally, for drivers who might safely move to the left, giving cyclists a little more space. It was a hectic day, riding up the undivided Montana State Highway 93 with marginal shoulders, up and over several passes and along the majestic Mission Range to near the tip of Flathead Lake. I had an extraordinary number of closer-than-usual passes today.
Andrea arrived, like an angel, soaring above the bike path on the pedestrian/cyclist overpass in the town of Pablo. We coordinated by text message and like a harbor pilot she escorted me in for a safe landing on her way cycling home from work. She and her husband, Doug, were such welcoming WarmShowers hosts at their lovely home on tribal land in the country. They have both had fascinating lives of travel and service, and are engaged in the local Salish Kootenai College and the local clinic. Nice folks and I was honored to get to know them and be received so warmly in their home.
Tomorrow I'll head out early to avoid the weekend traffic along the eastern shore of Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in the lower 48 states west of the Mississippi River.
