Day 9: Divided No More

         

   

 

Deer Lodge to Whitehall, 74 miles, 2111 feet of climbing most ot which involved getting to the Continental Divide at Pipestone Pass (6453 feet).

We had a really terrific day starting out with an ever so quick tourist jaunt in Deer Lodge: the historic territorial jail and the Golden Spike that completed the rail line between Chicago and Tacoma.  Then it was off for some serious riding.  We had a great day, again truncated a little bit sooner than we hoped for due to a very strong headwind out of the east.  (The winds are supposed to run west to east this time of year, so we are hoping that things settle into a more normal rhythm soon.). We bicycled through some truly beautiful scenery on quiet roads today, but the highlight was summiting the Continental Divide at Pipestone Pass. The climbing was tough but not as tough as what we experienced in the Cascades, notwithstanding the fact that the elevation at the Divide is higher.  (The reason is that the change in elevation in the Cascades is greater than at the Divide so it makes for a higher relative elevation change and, hence, amount of climb.) But both were a challenge and we are thrilled that we had good climbs (for us) in both cases.  The one slight disappointment on our climb today was that there wasn’t a big sign (or any signage whatsoever) to acknowledge our triumph – the hazard of using a quiet back road, but the tradeoff was worth it. (Thus, we have no proof; you’ll just have to take our word for it.)  

We’ve noticed that some travelogues and blogs try to introduce geological and/or other scientific explanations for the sights that they pass, with the Continental Divide being a prime case in point. Here is the way we see it: you ride up a honking big hill by way of a lot of switchbacks and steep ascents. If, at the top of the pass when you are taking a break, you happen to spill some of the contents of your water bottle, some of it (figuratively) may drain to the Pacific Ocean while the another portion drains to the Atlantic Ocean. OK. That’s all the science we know, but you get the point. After reaching the summit we had an approximate 10 mile descent at grades exceeding 5%+. It almost makes you silly because you are going so fast that you are either exhilarated or scared to death, frequently at the same time. We were mostly exhilarated although we probably should have been mostly scared.  

Tomorrow is on to more Montana riding heading in the general direction of Bozeman but are figuring out the exact roads right now.