*Blink*

Today held an important new first for me…traversing an international border on a bike! Pulling up to the guards on my bike in spandex gave me more of a thrill than it should have but that was a blast and, no, I wasn’t carrying any firewood.

We had to climb many miles of uphill to get to the border crossing. That’s a pain that’s gonna linger I must say.

I think there were two major hill sections with 10 miles of uphill combined and then various other hills. One amazing thing was a 5 mile DOWN hill ride where I maintained 40-45 mph for the duration.

Bugs hurt at those speeds. Also small potholes become … well they hurt a lot unless you get your butt out of the saddle in time! Zowie!

We had to fight a heinous headwind for the last five miles of the ride. Zoiks! We arrived at the ridiculously beautiful Prince of Wales hotel/lodge just before 3pm and have a few hours of down time.

My total ride distance was 52 miles with 3500 ft of ascent.

Biking with a van full of snacks and cold drinks following you around is a Good Thing ™. I could get used to it big time.

Tomorrow (Monday) is a day off where we get to choose our own activities and schedule. No clue what I am going to do other than SLEEP IN.

Actually, I do… there is a nice 10 mile uphill bike to a lake where you can rent Kayaks! Sounds perfy… with a downhill 10 mile return! Both Bill and I are very interested in that particular option.

We’ll see if I can drag my sorry carcas out of bed.

…to remove the smile from his face. Bill and I just returned fgrom our off-day activity. The 10 mile hill to a lake. Cameron lake.

Well we were a bit disappointed as we climbed the hill on our trusty Titanium steeds because after the first 5 miles it seemed that we started to go down hill. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem but we were looking forward to a 10 mile downhill blast when we were done.

Anyway, we got to the top and rented two kayaks and paddled around the ridiculously beautiful lake. In the rain. Sort of. It rained off and on on the way up the hill and while we were out on the lake, nothing major.

This was my first time in a yak and I really liked it-as I suspected I would. Bill and Michele can tell you that I’ve been ranting about trying or buying one for a year or so.

A single user boat is quite responsive and it was very stable.

We were forced to buy some hot chocolate to have with our bag lunch and Pie in a Bag ™ and then geared up for the half downhill ride home.

Well, I’m not sure what happened, but it really was downhill the whole way-with two or three speed killing dips, I couldn’t stop smiling the whole 10 mile blast and I still haven’t. It almost made me want to go back up and do it again. Almost.

:-)

Our first day of the actual backroads trip started at 8am outside the Grouse Mountain Lodge. There was a table set up with all kinds of food and a couple of vans with our bikes and trip leaders.

Our two trip leaders and the 9 participants are all great, which is a relief (see Tim Cahill).
We got a briefing about what to expect for the day and packed ourselves bag lunches for our 7 mile hike in the park.

Our group is sized small enough that we all fit into one van which makes it spiffy.

The drive up the “going to the sun” road was spectacular as expected and we got to Logan Pass around 10:30am to start our hike.

Our route took us above the road we drove in on for a total of 7.4 miles and just over a thousand vertical feet of ascent.

The weather was perfect and the views spectacular and clear. We timed it perfectly it sounds.

We just arrived at our furst lodge: Many Glacier Lodge which, like all of the lodges, is rustic. Ill leave it at that. However, the view out my window is devistating-making up for a lot. A glacial lake surrounded by mountains. Darn.

The lodge is location rich and grand in stature yet appalling in acomodation if compared to anything modern. However, if thought of as a cabin in an unbeatable location, it works. It is also packed.

Anyway, its off to a wine tasting and then a get aquainted dinner, although the hike and van rides already did that mostly.

Pictures will be added later as I’m posting these from my phone and am having trouble with them.

I just picked up my new Trek 7700FX and, of course, because we live in hell (Minnesota) it started snowing immediately. All I want to do is ride. RIDE.

So, I did the only thing that anyone in my position would do. I ordered studded snow tires for my mountain bike and will just do the rides like Bill — screw the snow.

Grump.