Cut Bank: Illustration (rest day 11)

Spotted an email yesterday from the National Gallery asking for a few illustrations so have decided to stay an extra day at the ranch and complete the roughs at the local library in town. For brain food I visited the local bakers for lunch who made the most amazing sandwiches (and quite possibly the biggest!). Maybe I should call by tomorrow to get one for the road as I cycle into Canada.

Apart from that Colin is still in the process of rebuilding his bike and as you’d expect it is quite difficult to get the right tools out here to do the job. Joe left for Glacier Park this morning to meet up with his girlfriend and will stay there for a few days (and will wait for Colin to catch up). Matt is in two minds to stay longer and help on the ranch as the poor chap has a really bad allergy to something there, so I guess he’ll be making a move tomorrow. I doubt we’ll be seeing each other again as everyone is doing their own thing and has their own agenda, but it was good to have the company whilst it lasted.

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Cut Bank: On the ranch (rest day 10)

My intention was to leave early, but time flew by and before you knew it, it was midday and the will to get on the bike diminished. So I hung around and helped out for a bit on the ranch feeding the sheep and trying to milk the goats (I think I’ll leave it to the experts!). The lawn required mowing so the three of us did that, it was good to do something different.

Later we popped into town to collect Colin’s new frame from the library, and do a bit of grocery shopping at the same time. There is not that much here apart from the usual motels, fast food joints, and stores so we headed back to the ranch for some tacos and ended the day playing a game involving throwing horse shoes at a post in a pit.

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Cut Bank (day 56)

Before breakfast I met a guy who was riding a BMW motorcycle, it looked similar to the one used by Ewan McGreagor on his round the world ride. So I inquired where he was going, and with enthusiasm he explained that he was riding all the way to a town in the north of Alaska and had stowed away in his panniers an urn with the ashes of his friend who had passed away unexpectedly and who also wanted to do the trip with him. So in a way I guess he did.

Whilst having breakfast Colin, who I met two days ago (with Joe) popped into the cafe to say “hi” and tell me that they were passing by and were having their breakfast by the local supermarket. So I called by and whilst we were talking a man in dreadlocks approached us and asked to see if we had some weed, it turned out that he was one of the band members from the Whalers (the same one that played with Bob Marley!) and had just played a gig the night before in Calgary, Canada.

Further down the road I met a hiker called Michael who was circumnavigation the USA by foot. He began his journey in April from Florida with only a bag containing his personal belongings, and had managed about 20 miles a day so far. He seemed like quite a tough resilient chap, who did not know how long it would take but was determined to keep moving.

On the road to Cut Bank Colin had an accident with a construction sign and was taken to the local clinic to have his wounds treated, I didn’t know about this until I reached town as we were all riding separately, and was informed by Matt who was the fourth member of our group.

Whilst Colin was in the local library ordering his new frame a lady from a local ranch offered to let him stay at her ranch, I think she was surprised to see the rest of us, but was kind enough to let us spend the night there in a little house she had spare on the site.

The ride into the ranch was a bit hairy (and we did get a bit lost an nearly ended up in Browning!). It involved a very steep decent on gravel roads but the view of the trains crossing the bridge was quite something, a great end to the day.

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Shelby (day 55)

Woke up at 5:30am to the sound of some spoilt teenager having a tantrum about being locked out of the house. It was a bit worrying when he mentioned that he wanted to kill somebody, but he cooled off after a while and I was able to relax a get a few more minutes rest.

On stepping out of the tent I noticed that two more cyclists had arrived during the night, they were sleeping under the picnic area in just their sleeping bags and were fast asleep. They were from Virginia and Georgia and were traveling east to Boston but were hoping to complete their route in a month, which is a real mission, but due to work commitments had no other option.

The rest of the day was a bit like yesterday, hmm, I will have to get myself a football!

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Chester: I want an iPod! (day 54)

Today was one of those “I wished I’d packed the iPod” days, it wasn’t boring in the conventional sense, but it definently needed some music to liven it up. Maybe it was the straight roads, endless fields and constant stream of RV’s that made me crave something to take my mind off, or perhaps 54 days is all I can take of being on my own in the middle of nowhere. Nevertheless, I haven’t fashioned a character out of a football (soccer ball) and named it “Wilson”… well not yet anyway!!

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Havre MT (rest day 9)

It was a good thing I checked into a Motel last night, on opening the door I found it to be cold, wet, and windy and in no time I decided to take the day off. So I wandered down to the office to let the owner know what I was doing and bumped into a couple of Harley Davison bikers who were actually heading for Washington DC, basically my route but in reverse. They were waiting for the rain to ease off, but had to bite the bullet and dry off their machines before hitting the road and heading back into the storm.

Last night I googled “bike shop” into google maps and noticed that one was located a few blocks away, so rolled my bike over there to have the mechanic look over it to see if he could solve the grinding noise that the bottom bracket was making. He was an honest chap and said that my best bet would be to go to a bigger bike shop in White Fish or Kalispell, where they’d have quality parts. He did reassure me that it would last the distance and not fail on me, but still, the noise produce is going to drive me crazy!

Visited the cinema and saw Will Smith’s latest offering; Hancock. I thought it was one of his better action movies, and would recommend it to anyone who is into the genre. It only cost me $5.50, which I’m told is expencive for a US cinima. On the way out I bumped into two cyclists who were cycling from New York and were heading west in the same direction and route as I. We had a good chat and decided to meet up a bit later at the city park where they were camping and have a game of boules (except it had some Italian name!), which with beginners luck (and the help of Bud Light) I won.

The mechanic from the bike store showed me his “beers worth drinking” collection (see above), and Colyn wrote a list of those I should try before I leave the USA. It went something like this:

Cheap Beers:
Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR)
Miller High Light
Michelob Amberboch

Lagers:
Samuel Adam’s Boston Lager
Landshark

Ales:
Sierra Nevada
Blue Moon (which you should drink with a slice of orange)
New Belgium

Misc:
Rogue
Stone
Dog Fish Head
Archer
Magic Hat
Lost Coast

Basically they didn’t want me leaving the USA with the impression that they had probably the worst beers in the world!

We later visited Murphies (an Irish bar) for a pint and some food, the burger was really nice and was coated in a Jack Daniels sauce which (I’m guessing) gave it a sweet taste. Joe and Colyn were both vegetarian, so were limited with choice, I think they had to settle for potato wedges!

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Havre, MT (day 53)

Thankfully the weather report on the TV was wrong, there had been 30mph winds forecasted for the day but it started out quite still, so I decided to make the most of it and get as many miles done as possible before it started to blow. Sure enough around midday, whilst I passed through the Fort Belknap Reservation it became gusty, by which time I was past caring, just greatful that the previous 40miles had been done before hand.

After Fort Belknap I pulled into a diner in Harlem and had a beef sandwich and mashed potato with gravy. It’s a great dish for the hungry cyclist as it is easy to digest, not greasy, and picks you up when your energy level is low. Yes, I know that almost any food does that, but none does it quite as well as a beef sandwich, maybe there is something in the gravy?!

With energy levels close to full I continued along route 2 through more flat grassland to Zurich. At the planning stage I wasn’t expecting Montana to be so flat and exposed, I honestly thought it would be a lush green state covered in pine trees, but so far it’s been anything but that. It was a good thing I packed the mirror lenses and sunfactor 50 as there really isn’t any shade - the only shade I could find was under a lone tree in the reservation!

From Zurich the hills began to appear, nothing too taxing, quite a relief really as the flat sections were becoming, quite litterally, a pain in the derrière. Most people would say: “hurrah, no hills!” but I’m the opposite, I like to be moving around on the saddle, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing. Moving around also helps with relieving pressure on the hands, and for the last week or so the two smallest fingers on each hand have had that “pins and needles” sensation, but thankfully nothing too noticeable.

It was a surprise to reach Havre today. Last night I thought: “hmm, on a good day I’d get there, but with the wind blowing I’d be lucky to get to Harlem (half way).” But as it goes it turned out to be a good one (mile-wise), and as the sun was setting I rolled into Havre, a town with so many motels to choose from that it was quite confusing, so I ended up picking the one that looked the most American, and settled for Siesta Motel, which had that “classic 60’s look” and wireless thrown in at a reasonable rate. There were cheaper ones, but they were full, and none, I doubt, had brand new carpet fitted - which I promptly covered in newspaper to avoid any oil dripping from the hub!

Distance so far: 5636.98Km / 3502.6mi

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