Day 29, Jackson to Dillon, MT

Miles – 49

Ave Riding Speed – 3-27 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 4.5

Weather – Sunny and 81

We were up by 6:30am this morning and started putting the pieces of our gear, spread across the room, back into place. Kim asked me if I heard the storm last night. I guess it was thunder, lighting and a good rain. A good storm is like a lullaby to me and I heard nothing. I noticed my front tire was almost flat and got to turning my bike over and pulling the wheel off the frame. There was still some air in it, but I had just pumped it to 75lbs about 36 hours ago. I removed the tube and pumped some air back into it, but couldn’t find the leak. Potentially a bad valve stem seal or something, so I saved the tube for an emergency. I replaced the tube, pumped about 40lbs in the tire using my small hand pump and assembled the tire to the frame.

Ken, from the Life Cycles group, whom we had met back in Sula, was sitting outside enjoying a cup of coffee, so I asked him if I could borrow their tire pump again. He was happy to oblige. I thought I might as well freshen up all our tires while I had the chance.

By the time we got back on Hwy 278 going east, it was 9am. We knew the boys from the Life Cycling group would be right behind us.  Their squad of 12 riders passed us a couple miles out of town. We met up with Froseni (I used to call her Frozen as I didn’t have her name down) and John, heading in the same direction, and chatted while we were riding down the highway, then we moved out in front to take advantage of the wind at our backs.

The ride up to Big Hole Pass, about 800feet up, elevation 7,360 feet, went pretty well. It was a steady incline from Jackson for about 9 miles and then the grade shifted heavily upward. For the next 3.5 miles we rode and walked till we reached the top. On the backside of the pass, we were feeling comfortable around 26 mph. Then we came up on David, who was heading west.  He had left the east coast on May 2 and was making good time. David sent most of his belonging home and was traveling light and fast. After a couple more miles downhill we came up on Richard, who was heading west also. We told him about David up ahead.

The ride to the bottom, between Big Hole Pass and Badger pass, was great. There was little traffic on the no-shoulder highway and we were cruising, with the sunshining and the wind at our backs. Coming up on Badger Pass we had a 3.5-mile climb, another 800 feet up, elevation 6,760, that went pretty well and we rode most of it up. The next roughly 18-mile ride into Dillion was a great stretch, downhill all the way as we held a steady 18mph, arriving in town by 1:30pm.

Dillon has a population of about 4,500, so they have all the amenities, like a grocery store with fruit. We’ve been craving grapefruit. The grocery store is right behind the hotel we’re staying at, so we rode over to pickup some groceries for the day. As we walked our bikes and groceries back to the hotel, one of my plastic grocery bags ripped open and we lost a huge bottle of Kombucha. Stuff happens! Since we couldn’t check in yet, we fixed our lunch in the hotel breakfast area. Tuna and Miracle Whip sandwich, pickles, broccoli salad, chicken breast, watermelon and Kombucha. Kim showered up and went down to the breakfast area to catchup on some post cards, banking and social media. Dinner will be the second helping of lunch. Just hang’n loose for the evening and checking out our maps for the next couple days till we hook up with Colton at a camp ground close to West Yellowstone for a couple days.