TABR 2017 DAY SIX - Got my mojo on the Lolo

BREAKING OUT OF GRANGEVILLE

After a crappy free motel breakfast with a bunch of young work crew guys, I headed out for DAY SIX --that makes it Friday. Wow, almost a week on the road and I was still moving in the right direction....most of the time. This morning, I slept in a bit and woke up after the sun. Lolo Pass was on the agenda. My butt was 158.5 miles from Lolo City, which was my arbitrary end goal for the day.

For some reason, my brain was slow and I couldn't find my way out of town. I zig zagged through town trying to find Luke's Gulch Rd for what would seem to be forever. Finally and frustrated, I was heading out of town on the right road, and as soon as the town had materialized the night before, it would disappear behind me as quick. The course now was a section of about 17 miles that was dead straight with open fields as far as you can see. Made good time, as I approached the metropolis of Stites pop. 221.

I LOVE THESE SMALL TOWNS

I almost did not get to Stites. There is a really steep curvy downhill just before this town. As I was blasting down straight roads on the flats, I didn't see a 150 degree turn just up ahead. I was in aero and barely got one hand-up to apply the breaks (front break, yikes), I got pushed to the gravely outside shoulder way too fast and there was a cliff. So close, oh so close. I'm sure the hills still echo's with the sound of my profanity.

In Stites, slightly shaken by the death curve, I decided to hang out a while. Shopped in the local store for some stuff and got a postcard to send to Jacquelynn. The store shelves were mostly bare and what stuff was there seemed to have been stocked a decade before. The store lady was nice and pointed me towards the post office. This would be postcard number two with seven to go, one for each state.

Lochsa River would be my companion for the next 60-70 miles. A beautiful river that provided me with so many great sights. I vowed to one day come back to this place and really enjoy this area properly. This river changed names about four times before it becomes the Columbia River that, funny enough, empties into the Pacific at Astoria. So basically I could jump into a raft right now and be back in Astoria, TABR start town, in 3-4 days. Not for me today, but I would love to do that some day. A professional looking rafting group with a complete film crew were going downstream and they pointed one of their cameras at me as I waved back. After that Oscar winning performance, I biked through this cool tow-truck grave yard. I immediately sent a pic to my good neighbour back in PA and vowed that we should come back and take two home with us. Wouldn't that be cool?

This was a good day, one of my favourite. I was having fun riding upstream with a nice tailwind. Stopped at one of the very few food places and talked to a big family of kayakers who had just realized that they forgot all of their paddles way back at home. You've got to chuckle at these misadventures sometimes. I would eventually see them on the water many miles later. They must have found paddles somewhere.

After a good lunch it was time for a good nap. The temperature was perfect and I picked a nice spot near the raging river to have my cat nap. This was nap #3 so far on TABR. A few flies kept landing on my bare legs, but eventually I dozed off. After that recharge, a quick inspection of my shoes revealed that I would need new cleats fast. My shoes were slipping out of my clips on occasion

when I pressed slightly wrong down on them. Lesson # bazillion, don't use LOOK cleats for long distance road trips. The plastic cleats don't last on gravel or cement when you inevitably need to walk around. (should have packed flip flops/thongs, eh, Mark) I would change these cleats three times on TABR and they were very hard to find in small town bike shops. LOOK cleats are ideal for triathlons as they distribute your energy to the pedal better. The SPD shoe and clips system is what I should have had and have since purchased. Much easier to walk in, all while not damaging the cleat as the cleat itself is tucked in the sole. I believe SPD pedal can be heavier than a LOOK pedal at comparable price points.

TABR NOT TRIATHLON Dummy

That was my mistake. Most of my bike set-up was what I was used to as a triathlete. I was going for lightweight, streamlined, aerodynamic and minimalist. 4300 miles is one long bike race, and I should have been equipped more for sleep comfort (any weather), durability (cleats et all), body padding (buttocks) and replaceability (bike parts). More on this later.

BACK TO LOLO

I was covering some good ground today and calculated that I would be over Lolo Pass before sunset. I was going to cross on day six, while the lead bikers made it over at the end of day three or four, incredible. That's over 900 miles folks.

Lolo was a landmark pass, as it also signals your arrival into Montana -- state number three. From the bottom at Stites up to Lolo Pass was over 4000' accent. "These hills make me stronger" and whenever it started to get really hard I would say to myself, "Janie was here...!!!TWICE!!!"

At the top of Lolo, I met about three other riders, some leaving some arriving. And for the sake of me, I can't recall who these fine gentlemen were. Quickly filled up my water bottles and off I went down into Montana and the 40 miles to Lolo city. Those were some fast miles people. If I had had my fancy Garmin watch on tracking, there probably would have been a record announcement for fastest MPH posted on the watch.

Arrived in Lolo in darkness and biked up to a motel that had other bike DOTs showing. The hotel clerk gave me a price of $130 but, I was not in the mood to pay so much for a room. I started to haggle with him. He didn't budge from his price point. I gave him a long stare and left to get some food at McDonalds, which was the only thing open in town. At check-out, while I waited for my food, I met a trucker that told me about all those crazy bikes at Lolo Pass who were in his way as he tried to manouver his truck up the hill. Not sure if he noticed, but was dressed in full bike gear. Was he expecting a sympathetic response from me? He was a big guy and it was late, so I diplomatically avoided giving him my take of this situation.

Grabbed my take-out of Rotten Ronnies and went to look for accommodations. There were none to be found except that steadfast $130 place, so I returned for a second attempt to lower the price. Success, I got a $5 rebate. That small victory was nice to have. Took a shower fully dressed and washed the clothing as I peeled them off -- amazing how much dirt washes down the drain. Laid everything to dry throughout the room. Plugged in all my devices to charge, sent my last text of the day to Jacquelynn, who was getting a routine of staying up until I was safely tucked away for the night, watched a little Colbert on the tele and quickly fell a sleep. My goal of 158.5 course miles on day six was met.

I'm getting the hang of this. Mojo juices are flowing.