On a relative basis, today was an easy 43 mile ride into Bozeman – but it seemed like a longer day to me for some reason. But today’s ride was significant in one respect in that we crossed the 1,000 mile mark on our journey, so that is a meaningful milestone in my book.
So today we gathered at 8:00 AM for the route talk at the Sacajawea Hotel and decided that our group would take a short detour of 4 miles to see the confluence of the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers to form the start of the Missouri River at a State Park just outside of town. It was more a Clark Griswold National Lampoon’s Vacation moment than anything but it was a cool thing to see nonetheless. Apparently, Lewis and Clark camped out at that very site near the start of their journey to the West Coast.
The cool morning gave way to a hot day by the time we got to our first and only SAG stop at Mile 24. There were only a few climbs on this ride and we generally followed side roads down into Bozeman – but these were side roads with 70 MPH speed limits (65 MPH for trucks) with very little of a shoulder to ride on. I have been a little surprised at how some drivers in this part of the country have little tolerance for sharing the road with cyclists. Yesterday, a few riders had “Coal Rolled” on them – that’s when a larger pickup trucks drops the gear and guns the gas to blow black smoke as they pass by – I guess they really taught us a valuable lesson! But by and large, we’ve been treated well by the car and truck drivers out there. But it was again a beautiful ride into town as the city sits in a huge valley surrounded by mountains.
Bozeman seems like a really nice town. We took a circuitous route to get into town on the backside to avoid traffic but Bozeman is the 4th largest city in the state but also the fastest growing. The city was founded by a guy named John Bozeman as a supply center for prospectors headed to the gold in the hills in 1864. The city is also home to Montana State University – and like Missoula, you can tell it’s a college town.
One more P2P profile for you is another married couple, Greg and Laura, both early 60’s and newly retired physicians from Pennsylvania. Greg has done a number or Ironman’s and marathons and Laura is a talented cyclist.
Tomorrow will be a big day as we have on tap a 109 mile ride to Columbus, MT – which will be our last night in the state before hitting Wyoming. Will need to rest up tonight!