What a day! I’ve been in a few nice hotels over the years, but The Super 8 Motel in Columbus, MT looked like the St. Regis to me after 7 hours and 109 miles with the last 18 miles in a huge thunderstorm with 20+ MPH headwinds, 9 miles of which was on I-90.
The day started early with a rollout of our group at 6:45 AM headed to The Feed Cafe in Bozeman for breakfast. We later got rolling around 8 AM for what seemed to be another cool morning start with the sun rising quickly to warm us up. The best thing about the ride profile today was the fact that the most of our planned 2,718 feet of climbing would be done in the first 2 hours of the ride, after which we would generally trend downhill or flat with a few rolling climbs near the end.
We made quick work of the first few climbs and were at the mile 17 stop pretty quickly and the mile 40 stop by maybe 10:30 or so. The scenery was great and it was easy to tell that we had come into the flatter parts of southern Montana with the Columbus area framed by the Beartooth Mountains to the south and the Crazy Mountains to the northwest of the Yellowstone River Valley.
Our lunch stop was a mile 67 in the Big Timber area as we were generally on side roads that followed the direction of I-90 headed to the east. We had a few short stints on I-90 with one of the larger segments near the end of the day’s ride.
Overall, it was a fairly easy day except for the headwinds we had been expecting. But, we made good use of our paceline swapping out the lead maybe every 2-3 miles. We crossed the Yellowstone River in the charming town of Livingston, MT and took a few photos. The general route of travel in this huge valley was pretty much following the river. So, the miles ticked by slowly but consistently and we were all generally feeling pretty good at the final mile 91 SAG stop to hydrate, pee and fuel if you needed it.
By then though, we had been trying to outrun some gathering clouds and an obvious storm approaching from the southwest. So on we hopped back on I-90 for a 9 mile segment as the wind kicked up and the thunder started. For some reason, we got a wicked tailwind as the storm rolled in which helped for a while until the rain really kicked in.
We had 2 bridges to cross on the interstate though that had no shoulder at all so we stopped at the start of the bridge, looked back at traffic until we could make a mad dash across before the next set of vehicles was upon us. Soon after we got over the 2nd bridge, we exited for the final 9 miles into town and then the rain and headwinds really kicked in. In the lead, I was having trouble just to hold 10-12 MPH the headwinds were strong. By the time we neared the Super 8, we were soaked, dirty and cold. But it sure made for a memorable ride experience.
After cleaning up and getting half way settled, we all loaded up and took the vans for dinner at the 307 Bar and Grill right next to the truck stop. It was a good dinner.
So this was our last full day in Montana and I have to say that it was spectacular. I can’t tell you how peaceful and almost therapeutic it is to ride through the canyons, forests and wide open spaces with the sun and wind on your face while looking at God’s creation. I can certainly understand why so many people like to visit Montana – it’s beautiful.
So tomorrow we hit our 5th state as we head to Lovell, WY. It will be about a 90 mile ride with again about 2,700 feet of climbing so hopefully get there without any issues like today so that we can rest up for the 20 mile climb up Big Horn Pass on Saturday!
But tonight, I will slumber tightly in Room 217 of The Super 8 Motel next to the truck stop in Columbus, Montana!