Day 66: 48 Miles

Hamilton, MT to Missoula, MT

Today didn’t start out great. I was on the road right around 7:00 AM, but not more than 5 minutes into the ride I took my first fall off the bike this trip. I giant piece of metal wire got caught in my front wheel, bent my fender into the tire and stopped me in my tracks. It happened so quickly that I was on the ground before I even knew what happened. Luckily, I was only going 5 mph, because I otherwise would have had more injuries than the slightly skinned knee I ended up with. My bike sustained no injuries which was great because the piece of metal could have easily broken a few spokes.

Today’s ride was otherwise uneventful. It was only 48 miles from Hamilton to Missoula and most of that was on a bike path which ran alongside the highway. I made one stop at a gas station to use the bathroom and grab a Gatorade, but otherwise I rode continuously at a decent pace all the way to Missoula.

When I arrived in Missoula I made a stop at the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters. Adventure Cycling has been my resource for all the maps and route information I’ve used along the way. When I got there, I was given a tour of the building and learned a bit more about everything they do. They also took my photo to post on the wall where they have pictures of all the cyclists who have passed through Missoula this year. My picture, along with everyone else I’ve been riding with, should hopefully appear on the website soon (link is below). The pictures are posted in the order people show up, so I was able to see all of the people that were in Missoula yesterday. To my surprise, almost everyone I’ve ridden with over the last couple months got to Missoula yesterday. I hadn’t seen Charlie since Illinois, but he had passed me during my rest days in Jackson Hole and arrived in Missoula yesterday. I hadn’t seen Stephen since Breckenridge and he had also made it to Missoula yesterday. Mark, Patty and Bill were also in Missoula along with Noah, Mike, Liz, Dave, and Camille who I had seen the day before.

https://www.adventurecycling.org/resources/visiting-cyclists/

While I was getting a tour of the Adventure Cycling building, Mike and Dave walked in. A few minutes later Bill also arrived. The Adventure Cycling Building is apparently the place to be when you are a cyclist with nothing else going on during the day. I talked to Mike and he was trying to organize a group get together at a bar tonight for all the cyclists that are in town. It is crazy to me that I rolled into Missoula alone and suddenly knew 10 people also in town.

I left Adventure Cycling around noon and was ready for lunch. I of course found a brewery and stopped in for some beers and food. Draught Works Brewery was doing a special where you could pay $2 extra with your beer purchase to get 2 ribs. I had 2 flights of beer each with a couple ribs and followed that up with another pint. According to Montana law, that was all the beer I was allowed to drink at the brewery today. Montana only allows 48 ounces of beer per person, per day. When I purchased my first flight of beer I was given 2 tickets. That mean I could order 2 more flights, or 2 pints, but nothing more. I don’t quite understand the reasoning for the law, but after I hit my quota I left the brewery and headed to the Shady Spruce Hostel where I am spending the night.

At the Shady Spruce Hostel, I met Dylan who was managing people checking in. He was nice enough to let me put my bike in a shed with a lock on it so it was safe. When I booked the bed at the hostel, it was supposed to be $10 extra for bike storage. I opted not to pay online for that and figured I could talk someone into letting me store my bike for free. I was put in a coed room for 6 people. Dylan let me know that the other 5 people were all together as a group. I had the room to myself when I arrived and took a quick shower. Soon after, the group of 5 other people showed up. They are all in town for the Missoula marathon. This was great news for me because it meant they would be going to sleep early and getting up early. There is nothing better at a hostel than having a full room of people all on the same schedule.

After the marathon group left to get dinner I rested for a bit and waited for plans for the night to materialize. I’ll hopefully see a bunch of familiar faces tonight before we go our separate ways. Tomorrow I’ll head into Idaho through a stretch that is going to have limited food, water and internet. I will try to make a post tomorrow, but can’t guarantee I will have phone service to do so. I will post updates as soon as I am able to.