Day 17, Saint Mary, MT - 40 miles

Today was our day to ride over the Continental Divide on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  This Road has been rated as one of the most beautiful drives in America and has been designated a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.  In addition to fantastic views, there are sheer drops with nothing but a low stone wall between you and air.  The weather was forecast to be cold with a 60% chance of rain.  A perfect day for a bike ride.

The Park Service regulations state bikes have to be to the top of the Divide, Logan Pass, before 11am.  To accomplish that, we had to get going early. Barbara, who is 72 years old and rides a recumbent bike, was up before dawn and was the first to get on the road.  I overslept until 5:45 so I was probably the last person out of the parking lot. Not to fear. I love climbing.

The first 10 miles was flat and beautiful. It was wet but it wasn't really raining and the temperatures were in the 50s.  We followed McDonald Creek and were treated to waterfalls and vistas of the coming mountains.  Some in the group, not me, even saw a few bears.  At mile 10 we started climbing.  It was never really steep but it was persistent.  Despite the dropping temperatures, as evident by more snow on the side of the road, with the exertion we didn't feel the cold.  Also with increasing elevation, it was getting more and more cloudy.  Occasionally I would have some short-lived rain but some people encountered sleet.  Because the day was so miserable there was very little traffic.

Towards the top it was so foggy I couldn't see a hundred yards in front of me but I knew I was getting close because of my altimeter.  When I passed the sign that said "Logan Pass Visitor's Center 1/2 Mile" the temperature was 39 degrees and a fine rain was falling.  Last night we had made plans to wait for all of us to get there, then we would strip down to our sports bras and get a picture of us at the top with the snow. Those plans were quickly trashed because it was waaaaay too cold. We snapped a few quick photos and headed into the visitors center to warm up.  I quickly learned that the Visitor's Center has no heat so we hurried into the bathroom (where the sign said the sink water was too cold to wash hands in) to put on all the clothing we had hauled up.  Even with all that on, it was cold and wet and the only thing that would feel better was to get off the mountain.  As soon as I was dressed, I started down. 

The roads were wet, we weren't using our muscles, the official temperature was 38 degrees, and it was drizzling.  Perfect conditions for a descent down a mountain.  For the first 20 minutes I was so cold I had to stop about every mile to warm my hands so I could break.  Then, all of a sudden we came out of the clouds, the sun was shining, the road dried up and it actually was starting to feel warm.  The rest of the ride down was beautiful with snow-capped mountains on three sides and a gradual descent through prairie ahead of me. It was beautiful.

We have climbed our highest peak so the remainder of the trip into Fargo should all be downhill.