Pedaling Pilgrim Blog Home

Miles to date: 1,372.5

We had a good night sleep on our cozy mattresses at the Junction City Saloon. Thankfully Geeto thought to turn off our red light so we wouldn’t attract any curious travelers. Lecy kept his green light on to show his support for U.S, military veterans.

I noticed this morning that my right ear is sunburned due to the daily southern exposure, while my left ear is fine. I guess that’s just the price I pay for 18 days of sun. Though it seems the untamed hairs on both ears are flourishing at the same rate. I’m not sure why for some of us old men the ear hairs are the fastest growing, but I’m starting to wish I had packed a razor to control this growth. I did notice that Geeto has some healthy ear salad, so I’m not going to worry much about mine.

Eastern Montana today seemed to redeem itself: the scenery was a little more interesting and dramatic, and the towns were more quaint and friendly. We saw 96.3 miles of it today, which was another overachievement. We made it to Miles City, which is about 40 miles beyond where we planned to camp tonight in my original plan. We’re not trying to cut out any days from the journey, but we had planned on Monday to ride 106 miles from Dickinson to Bismarck; now we are considering different overnight locations to cut that day to 75.

Like every day, today was a mixed bag of joyous victories and agonizing defeats. When I woke this morning, I had an ominous feeling about the day. After a challenging hill just outside of Custer to start the day’s ride, the foreboding I sensed whacked me with 1, 2, 3 flat tires between 8-10am. I changed more flats in 2 hours than most people do in a lifetime.

Adding insult to injury, the first flat occurred near the start of an unexpected 6 miles of gravel road (Ride with GPS said today was 99.7% paved roads). Somehow in this gravel, I picked up a staple. After we changed to tube and reassembled the tire from this first flat, I told Lecy I forgot to sweep for sharps on this inside of the tire. Therefore, the staple had no problems stopping us for a second flat minutes later.

After the gravel and 2 flats, things went methodically to Hyshan (about 25 miles into the day). Entering Hyshan, I felt my front tire was low. I don’t know what I ran over for that third flat. At the store in Hyshan, we picked up snacks, changed the flat tire and ran into a fellow biker (and a fellow Matt!) traveling from Maine to the Washington coast. He then plans to go south to California then head south and back east to Key West. His journey will take 8 months, so I figure we’re only 1/4 as crazy as Matt. (Prayers for your continued safety Matt! Glad you sheltered from the Billings thunderstorm). Changing that third flat gave us more time to chat with Matt. And, it let Geeto dub me with a new moniker: Sammy 3-Flats. (If you’re keeping score at home – Lecy: 4 flats, Geeto: 3, Matt: 3).

Lecy’s daughter Julia called about 50 miles into our day today. It sounded like they had a nice conversation. I overheard part of it when Lecy said, “Yes, another day on the bikes! We’re surviving.” Julia’s response, “It seems like you’re thriving!” And she’s right. We are doing excellent.

Sure, we started the day with 6 miles of surprise gravel roads and three flat tires. Then the headwinds picked up again. Then we were let down again by Ride w/ GPS that wanted us to travel 30+ miles on I-90 (bypassing 20 miles of our friend Old Hwy 10). Then we hit 95 degrees and 13 climbs (some over a mile in length). But we took it all in stride and considered the day fairly routine. We are indeed thriving.

Tomorrow, our plan is to go 81 miles to Glendive. This again is overachieving, as our average on this leg should’ve been 74 miles per day. But we’re feeling good about banking extras. Day 20: Miles City to Glendive

For playlist addition today… first, I had this tune in my head after the third flat tire today. The temperature was heating up, the promise of headwinds loomed, and I was adding unplanned repair times to our day. It’s Bad You Know

Second, as homage to these beautiful Black-eyed Susans, that act as little beacons of joy nearly continuously along the roadside: Flowers By The Roadside. After a difficult morning, these little beauties brightened up my afternoon.