Salish Sea to the Potomac : Day 18: Glasgow to Wolf Point, Mont.

If you’ve been reading this blog and wondering about how we continue to have such favorable conditions through several weeks of riding across different states and climates, allow today’s account to disrupt that image of our tour so far. Thankfully, we’d looked ahead to the forecast, and determined that we would take a shorter day. We slept in and got a later start that we have, again heading east on 2. Immediately as we set off from Glasgow, we could tell that the tailwind we’d been enjoying since we left Cut Bank was gone, and the cross-wind slowly developed into a more steady headwind. About 10 miles in, the rain began to fall more steadily. We stopped for a quick break and could tell that the mosquitos were back, swarming even at a slow speed. Then, about 15 miles in, I heard something whizzing in my dad’s rear tire, and shortly thereafter, he stopped with a flat tire. It was about the least ideal conditions for fixing a flat tire: heavy traffic, steady rain, strong winds, nowhere to pull off but the dirt alongside the highway. Sometimes, there is nothing to do on tour but accept that these are the conditions you’ve been dealt. I sought silver lining: the rain seemed to keep away the bugs, and rather than biking through, we were now standing still during the heaviest of rain fall. Someone may check me on the physics, but I believe that standing still in heavy rain means you absorb less liquid than if you were ot bike through it.

Our flat fixed, we pushed on, and finally left highway 2 to join BIA 1 through the Fort Peck Reservation. The rain finally ceased, though steady headwinds around 10mph persisted throughout the day. It was lucky that we’d caught some of the Tour last night, as we were prepared to pull into a pace line and take turns facing the headwinds. Scenery continued to be similar, though it was a nice relief to finally be off of highway 2. We have more or less followed the highway all the way from Cut Bank, and today was our longest stretch since then off of 2. About 10-15 years ago, the Northern Tier route would have followed the 2 corridor much further east, however, the oil activity east of here caused Adventure Cycling to re-route south to follow the I-94 corridor along the last stretch of Montana and into North Dakota. Today’s traffic on 2 reflected that shift, as we began to see more trucks and traffic.

Although it was a shorter day, the relentless headwind made it feel much more challenging, and we were glad to be done before 3pm. Winds will begin to be more erratic as we head south tomorrow, then east across North Dakota over the next week, so we’ll be paying closer attention to the forecast and adjusting our mileage according to the wind direction.

Tomorrow, we’ll be heading south to Circle, Mont. before we turn east again to catch I-94 near Glendive.

By the numbers:

Miles traveled: 55

Average moving speed: 11.3mph

Elevation gained: 827 ft.

Total flat tires of the trip: 4

Pit fruits consumed: 3

Bagels per person: 2

Alberton’s passed: 2

Canine High School mascots: 2 (In Glasgow, the Scotties; in Wolf Point, Wolves)