Between today and yesterday, one might say we got the best of both worlds. Yesterday, we chilled out and took it slow, and today, we rocked out the show. Nobody’s perfect, and boy did we work it. Enough with the Hannah Montana puns, and welcome to our updates from the past couple of days! We enjoyed a much shorter than average day riding from Livingston into Bozeman, which left us some time to go out for lunch, do laundry, and spend some time with our stayover hosts. We completed our fourth official century of the ride today (not including the 90+ mile day into Mankato, MN which many team members turned into a century), as we rode through the Rockies into Butte and saw some spectacular views. 

Ride Overview, Day 49

• Mileage: 35.1

• Elevation: 2,068’

• Ride Dedication: Jeffrey Perpich, Izzy’s dad, a prostate cancer survivor

• Points of Interest: Montana Grizzly Encounter, Bozeman Pass, Granny’s Gourmet Donuts, Spectators Bar & Grill

Quote of the Day

Tales of the Trail

Ah, the beauty of life when you get to sleep in until 7am. Believe it or not, the majority of the team actually loves our strict bedtime (we would NOT be responsible enough to get our 8 hours), but the early wake ups can naturally be a challenge. We enjoyed taking more time in the morning and rolled out for a nice and easy short stretch. Anthony gave us an exciting morning activity in the form of the game “Wah,” in which everyone stands in a circle and repeatedly yells “WAH” at one another while making different hand movements. For the upteenth time, we can’t imagine how insane we must look to anyone taking their dog for an early morning walk.

The journey to Bozeman was fairly uneventful — we found some more license plates on the side of the road, and continued our way through devouring the snacks kindly donated by the 2014 team. One group stopped at the Montana Grizzly Encounter, who were kindly able to haul out a real grizzly bear for them to view even in the earlier hours of the morning. The entire team didn’t feel the need to engage in this activity after seeing a grizzly bear quite close (and for free) on our camping day in the Tetons, but we can’t deny it made a pretty cool attraction.

Bozeman delighted us by being an adorable and very friendly town, where we were cheered on by people on street corners and welcomed by some very gracious stayover hosts. We enjoyed lunch at Chipotle donated by the 2016 team, which we devoured in record time. We then took a team trip to a nearby laundromat, where some of us explored the nearby area that included homemade donuts and a sports bar where some of us were able to watch the thrilling final of the European Championship. Our stayover hosts provided us an amazing dinner after we made a quick Walmart run. We spent our free time caring for our bikes, calling friends and family, organizing our many snack boxes, and in some cases, getting caught up on a few days of missed journaling.

Ride Overview, Day 50

• Mileage: 100

• Elevation: 3,970’

• Ride Dedication: Kev’s Uncle Luke, who passed away due to complications with prostate cancer.

• Points of Interest: Belgrade, MT, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, La Hood Park, Whitehall, MT, Pipestone Pass, Bonanza Freeze

Quote of the day

Tales of the Trail

For today’s morning activity, Izzy saw to it that the team would be well hydrated for our 100 mile ride in 90 degree heat. We had a team-wide water bottle chugging contest, and we’re happy to report that your journalists are in fact the slowest chuggers of the entire team. Riddhima prevailed to leave me as the ultimate loser — well played, young Deems, well played.

While we were certainly well hydrated for our first 20 mile stretch this morning, we also had a record number of pee stops for each group. As I’m writing this, Lucas reports that he has definitely peed in the double digits today (whether you wanted to know this or not, now you know)! The first 40 miles flew by on the state highways of Montana, as we had tailwinds and largely downhill stretches to give us an easy start to the longer day. 

The distant mountains gradually grew larger and larger — as we’ve found they often do — and we got a beautiful ride through a mountain pass before we had to begin the somewhat intimidating up. Several thousand feet of climbing in 15 miles proved to be an adventure, and we’re happy to report that we absolutely crushed it. While having a massive climb at mile 75 of a 100 mile ride seemed daunting at first, we’ve been well prepared by the Appalachians and the climbing of the past weeks. We made our way up and over with the promise of nothing but descent on the other side, and rolled into the scenic city of Butte in the early evening.

Our stayover has welcomed us with truly one of the largest kitchens we’ve ever seen in a church, which we quickly filled with a donation from the local Little Caesar’s, as well as the I4K staple of pasta and lentils. We stopped by Bonanza Freeze for dessert to celebrate another hard and extremely rewarding day on the bike. Tomorrow night we will be camping in Philipsburg, and will likely not have the connection or device power to publish a journal :( We will return with the daily updates once we reach Missoula, and will begin our final round of rider interviews as we enter the final third of the ride!

Cyclist’s Corner

Today’s Rider: Jack Hutchens

How are you feeling today?

Yeah, I’m exhausted. But in pretty high spirits, spending another beautiful day out West. Got past the hard part of the trip, now it’s just enjoying what we’ve earned. 

You’ve fundraised thousands of dollars for our cause. What has been the most impactful fundraising experience you’ve had?

I think donations wise, it’s great seeing just how far the word spreads about this whole thing. Like, you tell one or two people, and then they tell their friends, and it just spreads so fast. That was really great to see. It really does go to show too, cancer affects everyone. Everyone has experienced it. There’s a lot of people willing to give to the cause, which is great to see. One of my distant relatives, a few of them that I met when I was like four or five, even they heard about it and donated, which was just nuts to see. It goes to show that this is something that people care about. This is important work. 

What keeps you going when it gets difficult to put in all of those miles or even to get on the bike?

I’ll be completely real: I’m still a mountain biker at heart. I’m still a total speed addict, so it’s really just the downhill at the end of the day… It’s just really looking forward to the downhills, just enjoying nature. It’s harder back in the Midwest, but now that we’re out West, I can be tired, I can want to be done, I can be hot. It doesn’t matter. I’m still in a beautiful part of the country. When it’s rough, you just have to keep going forward.

Do you have a favorite accessory to wear with your ride uniform?

Honestly, uniform wise, not much. Shoutout to my neighbor Doug, who donated [my bibs]. These bibs have served me well. Not a single application of Chamois Butt’r this entire trip… My syringe full of sealant is chilling in my back pouch. Sealant fixes everything. 

What’s your rest stop routine?

Kind of depends on how I’m feeling to be honest, and like where we’re at. If we’re at a really cool spot, I’ll probably just chill and enjoy it. Get some water. If it’s just like a gas station, I’ll probably just go in and take a dump… These days, it’s just been so hot out because of the heat wave, it’s pretty much been get water, get ice, try to find some shade. If there’s a river close by, take a little dip in that. 

In the remaining portion of the ride, where are you looking forward to visiting the most?

I will say, cliff jumping in Mount Rainier is gonna be fun. Riding through the big redwoods, that’s gonna be so much fun. When you’re going fast on narrow trails, with huge trees next to you, it’s such a cool feeling. I’ll be descending down those trails, and yeah, should be great. It’s been a long trip, but it really doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. It’s passed by. I still remember everything, but it’s gone so fast too. The country is so big, but after doing this it kind of feels smaller in a way. You see a lot of things you just would’ve never seen…it’s a very different way to see the country and experience everything it has to offer. 

Anything else you want to talk about?

I will say, Dr. Bronner’s is pretty sick actually. You see it, and you read the crazy stuff they put on there, and you’re like, “bro, what?” It’s so good though… I will say too, after this, you know biking’s been fun, I’m gonna keep the fitness going into next year. I’ll probably be trying to train for an Ironman at some point. 

(A reminder that any unfamiliar terms can be found in our handy I4K dictionary.)