I can’t tell you what a good night’s sleep will do for you after being on a bike for 789 miles for the last 10 days! We’re staying at the Edgewater Missoula Hotel which is part of the Hilton Tapestry properties and it’s one of the nicer places that we’ve stayed. We had a group social hour and dinner last night and were all pretty much headed to our rooms by 8 PM. Our fellow cyclist, Vince, also provided us with a preview first run bagged samples of his new creation called Crepe Crisps (soon to be in your local Publix and sold in Trader Joes under their private label) and they were great! He had his partner ship them into Missoula for us.
Some people have asked me how the Trek Travel guides are supporting us, so I’ll provide a quick overview. So, we have two 14 passenger vans with trailers and 1 minivan supporting the trip. One trailer includes bike supplies, meal prep kits, coolers and other food container and materials. The other trailer carries luggage, backpacks and and assorted coolers and cycling fuel, etc. The minivan has limited supplies and is generally used for hydration and fueling foods like fresh bananas and apples, mixed nuts, electrolyte tabs, ice, etc.
As we kick off in the morning we know to put our “Day Bags” into the lunch van which we’ll see at the stop for anything like chamois butter (friction cream for our butts), a change of bibs or shorts, or any special supplies you want access to at lunch. So the vans basically leapfrog the group from stop to stop with the luggage van getting to our next hotel/motel first. We generally get the mileage markers for each stop at the route talk each morning so we know when to be looking for the vans. The crew has done a really great job working together and making it easy for us. We have 2 of them cycling with us each day while the other 3 rotate and manage the vans. When we get to the next hotel/motel, one of the crew generally just hands us our keys and we head to our rooms for recovery with instructions on when to meet up for dinner, etc.
Each of our guides are certified bike mechanics and can quickly fix most issues that might pop up along the route and we have a few extra bikes on top of one van for replacements if needed. On rest day, we have other certified bike mechanics come in and do a more extensive review of our bikes and just doing maintenance work like lubes, tire sealants, brake checks and shifter battery recharging, etc.
So today I did my laundry, made a trip to REI to get a super light collapsible rollup wind/rain jacket that will fit into the back pocket of my cycling jersey, did a great hour of stretching, 45 minutes of leg compression (with more to come), and am headed over to take walk around the University of Montana. I fully expect to be ready for our 116 mile, 4,961 feet of elevation gain ride tomorrow to Helena!
In the meantime, here a few random pics from this adventure to date. Enjoy!