Cut Bank, MT

Cut Bank, MT
67 miles

Today's ride was great- a nice tailwind for the first 40 miles, and then easy hills the rest of the day. We also stopped for coffee along the way and enjoyed a pot of French Pressed coffee. Absolutely delicious and more than enough caffeine to power us the rest of the way to our host.

We're all like kids on the night before Christmas-- tomorrow we bike to Glacier National Park, which is something everyone has been eagerly anticipating. There is so much excitement and scurrying. Tonight I finally put on my new chain to prepare for our imminent climb and descent on Glacier's Road to the Sun. Hooray!

Just keep biking...

Malta, MT
70 miles

Continuing again with another 64 mile ride to Chinook, MT! Let's do this!

Montana, The Treasure State

Glascow, MT
54 miles

I've decided that Montana is aptly nicknamed "The Treasure State". Our rides the last couple of days have been some of the most picture-esque and incredible yet. The rides have been a bit shorter, allowing more time to stop along the way and enjoy the scenery around us. I love being able to look out for miles and see nothing around me but big sky and endless fields of gold. The variation in lighting during today's ride was especially breathtaking- beautiful sunrise, stormy skies and sunshine. I wish I could be more poetic, but there's no other way to put it- It's simply beautiful.

Today was another mail drop and I'm overwhelmed with how many cards and packages I received. Turning 22 is awesome! Seriously, you guys are the best at keeping me well-fed and in the best of spirits! I now have the challenge of fitting all sorts of goodies into my ever-expanding backpack.

During our rides, we have something called the "sanity mile", which is the point of our ride in which we know we're going to make it and survive. Typically, riders' sanity miles occur when there's 10-20 miles left in the ride. Suddenly, a daunting day of riding feels like an easy, casual ride. I'm realizing that I hit the "sanity day" of the trip. My birthday marked day 50 of the trip, and today means we've only got 19 days left. Less than 20 days feels entirely manageable. It's the home stretch of my ride, but we've still got another 1,000 miles to go....

Officially West

Powers Lake, ND
74 miles

Brush Lake, MT
70 miles

Culbertson, MT
50 miles

We are officially West! Yesterday we crossed into Montana and said goodbye to North Dakota (good riddance! I'd had enough of your evil headwinds and scary roads). Now we are in Mountain Standard Time... One time zone from being home!

Powers Lake was a tiny, tiny town of 253 people. The ride into "town" had literally nothing. Not even a gas station. No Internet service, no cell phone reception, no shops, not a lot of people. I marveled at the remoteness of North Dakota and how far away I felt from everything. The desolation of it all helped the conversation flow between riders during the ride. I had some of the best conversations and we worked hard to make the ride as interesting as possible. We had a lot of fun climbing haystacks and traversing the most amazing sunflower fields.

Brush Lake's ride featured crossing state lines, which is always exciting. For the most part, the ride was barren of life, but mile 62 brought the town of Grenora, with a delightful cafe, post office and that's about it. But to us, it seemed epic, and we feasted on the first non-pb&j food we'd had in a couple of days. (food is quite sparse these days. Hopefully we find a grocery store soon).

The last part of the ride led us to Brush Lake State Park, where we camped for the night. Unfortunately I don't have pictures, but the day was spent swimming in the beautiful lake and enjoying the isolation of having the campsite to ourselves. It was also a unique experience because I've never gone camping in a prairie before. The absence of trees made shade difficult in the day, but extra special at night. Laying in my tent and staring up at the stars in the sky, it felt real- we were in Montana, Big Sky Country.

This morning's ride was short and sweet. A tailwind carried us most of the way to town as we breezed over the foothills. The town of Culbertson is tiny, but we all love it for having Internet, cell phone service and people walking around in real cowboy boots.

Bike & Build prom

Rugby, ND
62 miles

We had Bike & Build prom! My date Baxter and I took a 1970's theme and got groovy costumes. Pretty sure I looked like the epitome of a human disco ball. A night of music and dancing was a much appreciated change to our routine.

Now we're in Minot, ND. The 64 mile ride was an ominous one. Hail, rain, thunder, lightning, nonexistent shoulders, big trucks, gravel everywhere. Everyone was so relieved to reach the host site and get out of the storm.

Minot, ND is nicknamed "The Magic City", which I find ironic due to the surrounding area's recent oil renaissance. Strip malls of construction supplies and big trucks are everywhere, and overall, I sense a lack of community.

Today we had a build day and worked on flood repairs. My group was sent to a home that needed new floors. Even a month later, the neighborhood was still in absolute shambles. I felt like I was in a war zone- debris and trash everywhere, eerily vacant homes, a truck with a siren driving by periodically to offer water and donuts to people. Walking around the neighborhood got me thinking about emergency and disaster preparedness in general. I remembered FEMA's failed response during Hurricane Katrina, wondering if things were better here. The weather was cold and rainy, so we got creative with staying warm in our construction clothes. Leg warmers with shorts? My Bike & Build fashion faux pauxs continue...

116 miles into North Dakota

Devils Lake, ND
116 miles, yup!

Today was a grueling ride of insane headwinds. Our pace line could barely keep above 11 mph... The wind was that strong. And Highway 2 struck again with a vengeance, destroying more tires and tubes.

Luckily, the riders I was with were really good sports and we got through all 116 miles. We had an epic race against the clock to get into the host site before the van was going to go pick people up. People cheered us on as we sprinted the last leg and into the church parking lot. It came down to a matter of seconds- not that they really would have vanned us since we were so close, but it was an incredible rush of adrenaline. We felt so victorious... Like Olympians. I wish I'd had Gatorade left in my bottle, I would have poured it on my head like the athletes do on TV.

We're now in our 11th state, North Dakota! 11/14 states... Getting closer to the west coast, pacific standard time, seeing people that I miss, and good Mexican food! Seriously, my first meal back in California is going to be a burrito with SO MUCH guacamole...

Well, that's it. Pretty exhausted. Time to crawl into my sleeping bag and wake up again in 8 hours to bike some more!

Crookston rest day

Crookston, MN
92 miles

Yesterday was another ride along Highway 2. Me and my fellow riders have decided that Highway 2 is EVIL. Pure evil. I got stung by a bee for the first time and my second flat yesterday. Others didn't fare well, either- the girl I rode with got 4 flats and a slashed tire. Collectively, our group got 17 flats in one day. The road is not good for riding bikes, but there isn't really another alternative- this part of the country has very minimal infrastructure. And so we will continue along, using extra caution...

Since today is our day off and I wanted to flex my creativity muscles-- not to mention I had an old tube lying around-- I did a craft! In honor of the upcoming Bike & Build prom, I found some fake flowers and made a corsage and boutonnière. I think my date as I will look dashing.