After a couple of brisk morning climbs, Piper and I stumbled upon a 15-mile downhill. We were delighted to ride 40mph through the pine forests, alongside cool mountain streams and through the canyons. It was absolutely beautiful, but sorry, no pictures. We were completely unwilling to break our downhill momentum for the purposes of taking out the camera.
We entered Helena, Montana, and I accidentally hit a patch of hot pavement. The heat melted my rear tire and tore the thing to shreds, so we stopped at a bike shop and I picked up a new one.
Outside of the grocery store in Helena, we ran into a couple of other cyclists from the east coast. They started their tour in Seattle, and were heading to Massachusetts. Again, we were astounded by the amount of gear they carried. Each of them carried full panniers plus BOB trailers stacked high with gear. Wow, we thought. These guys are rugged.
After Helena, we climbed a brutal six mile hill up into the Rockies. By the end of the climb, my legs felt like jelly. But the view was worth it.
Later that night, we met a married couple in a campground who had ridden a tandem bicycle up the mountain. They were preparing for an August bike tour starting in Maine and ending in Florida. We hung out and talked bikes by the campfire, until darkness and exhaustion forced us to sleep.
