First flat, first rodeo.

Claire and I are currently in Lincoln, MT, home of the Unabomber. We had originally planned on heading over Roger's pass today and spending the night in Augusta, but some unforeseen flat tire issues delayed our start, and we were convinced by sone locals that the rodeo was not to be missed, so we stuck around. The flat is (hopefully) fixed, and the rodeo was awesome. The ring of fire, where a bunch of guys stand in a circle while a bull charges them, was my favorite. Other highlights included the chicken scramble and the little kids riding bulls. We hope August has some nice fireworks for the 4th tomorrow. Here's what I wrote for yesterday:

7/2 We awoke to drizzle and a cloud cover in Missoula this morning, and part of me wanted to call off our return to the road for one more day. I found Missoula to be a great town; people were very friendly and courteous towards bikers. It seemed like a large amount of people bike there, about half on mountain bikes and the other half on cruisers. I only saw a handful of fixed gears, kind of a relief after visiting the hipster mecca that is Portland. We had the chance to ride around town without any gear on our bikes, and I must confess it was a little difficult at first. I've grown accustomed to the extra weight and felt unstable as I negotiated the unfamiliar streets.    

But even though I loved Missoula, I knew it was time to get started again. It may have been the fact that I only had one outfit to wear, or the fact that Claire is underage and our evening entertainment options were limited, or perhaps even that I was embarrassed to be seen in public with my hairy legs and pits, multiple tan lines, and permanent grease stains on my body, but my feet were getting that itchy feeling again. 

With our bikes once again weighted down with the lives we are leading right now, we made our way east out of town. I think Claire and I both agree that, in theory, rest days sound great, but in reality it makes the next day all the more difficult. The entire day I felt as though we were just trudging through, perhaps subconsciously trying to make up for the miles lost on our day off. Despite this feeling, the ride wasn't too bad. We had a fair share of inclines, but the majority of the day was flat, allowing us to make today our longest mileage-wise at just over 80.

Sometime during our stay at Lolo Hot Springs I snapped the wire on my bike computer. Despite my best efforts, minimal electrical knowledge, and duct tape, I was unable to make a suitable fix. I picked up a new one in Missoula, which, to put it lightly, was a bitch to put on. You have to attach a sensor to the fork, not a trying task in itself, but when you add a front rack and fender, space up there is limited. I had a frustrating time trying to get the fender back on so it wouldn't rub my wheel, and while I was initially successful, a bump in the road today threw it off again. After riding a little while, I determined that either the state of Montana needs some help in correctly placing its mile markers or that my new computer was a little over-zealous in figuring out our distance traveled. I was fairly certain it was the latter until we arrived at our destination with the correct number on the odometer.

In addition to mismarking miles, Montanans are crazy drivers. The highway we took today was well traveled, as people headed out to their holiday weekend destinations. Luckily we had a large shoulder for all but the last 20 miles or so, but when it was gone we experienced several fast moving cars that didn't care to make room for us.

We experienced our first flat today on Claire's rear tire. We patched it (using the patch kit my good friend Holly gave me for my birthday last year) without even taking the wheel off the bike. I don't think we did the best job, though, and it seems to be slowly leaking air. Tomorrow we will replace the tube and see if we can do a better job on the patch later. 

The scenery today was beautiful- gently sloping mountains that looked as though they had been draped in green velvet and sprinkled with fir trees, bright blue rivers and streams, and snow-capped peaks in the distance. I'm doing  my best to relish it all now, because I know in a few short days we'll be seeing nothing but the flat lands of the great plains.