Today we rode from Helena, Montana, US to Basin, Montana, US. Sunny weather with clouds, a few drops, and thunderstorms surrounding us at the end of the day. Road conditions were brutal (gravel, lots of difficult jeep tracks). Highlights of the day include the scenery, the difficult tracks, and concurring the 3rd pass of this day.
Riding statistics: on Friday August 12, 2022, the 12th day on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route route, it took 09:30h (06:40h moving time), between 10:37 and 20:08, to cover 69 km (43 miles), including 1672 m (5486 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 10 km/h (6 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 31 °C (92 °F) with a minimum of 21 °C (72 °F) and a maximum of 44 °C (118 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 3 days, 9 hours, 24 minutes and 15 seconds of cycling time to cover 1120 km (696 miles), including 14464 m (47456 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14 km/h (8.7 mph).
Leaving Helena
We had the impression that today was going to be a short, about 60km, (and thus easier) day. That is why we slept in (or at least tried), had breakfast (crepes), and went to the grocery store for some food for the day. At was around 11am when we finally left Helena. All uphill heading out of town. When we looked at the elevation profile of the three passes on the map, it did not look too impressive compared to yesterday. That is where our impression of an easy day came from. Oh boy, during the day it turned out we were wrong. I should have checked the elevation profiles of the climbs on my bike computer, that is not always accurate but gives a very good impression, better than the general profile on our paper maps.
Three passes
The first pass was not that bad. A rather good gravel road (although it included quite some washboarding, which we would have more during the day). We rode through forests and valleys and there were same hard sections, but all rideable. We also were passed by quite a few cars, all with recreational objects on the roof, like boots and Stand Up Paddle boards. So, the first pass went quite well. After some downhill, which we needed to ride careful again, we had within 10km the next climb, nr. 2 of today. The road conditions already got a bit worse, including some jeep tracks, but again it was all rideable. However, due to the long day yesterday we began to feel our legs in the uphills. It was the most warm moment of the day and that did not help. We also passed a beautiful lake high up in the mountains. It was where the cars headed that we have seen. Not soon thereafter we concluded the climb to the second pass. Again we had a careful downhill, it was so step and rough in places. I even had once that he back of my bike started sliding and my whole bike went sideways. We some good technique, and some luck, I was able to correct it. After 10 km the climb to the third pass began. We both could not see how we could make it, we were tired. However, we just kept going. There is no way back or shortcut once you’re this far. Looking back, we both had multiple moments in which we just wanted to pitch our tent somewhere close to the road. However, we continued. Step-by-step, because it was so steep and rough in sections, that we had to hike-a-bike. The distance of this last climb was over 13km and we had the climb 600+ meters in elevation. Know that we probably have pushed our bikes for over 1km in total. After step-by-step being careful not to slip and slide back. Meanwhile, thunderstorms were building up. Including very dark clouds, lightning and thunder. We only got a few drops of rain, and the thunderstorms did not get into the valley that we were in. After getting to the top of the third pass, we could not believe that we just did that. Now, there was only a long downhill into the ‘town’ of Basin. The downhill was doable, but since we were tired and the sun was gone, we did slow down to be careful. Most of the downhill was in a narrow canyon where there was only place for a river and the road. In some occasions there was room for a small cabin. It showed that there had been very bad weather a while ago. The road was just repaired, meaning sand and rocks where dropped in place and a heavy machine ran over it. The whole setting was quite spectacular.
Basin
After finishing the downhill we arrived in Basin. A small town of mostly just one piece of road. We read about a lady that provided accommodations for hikes/bikers, so we gave her a call. No answer. So we drove to the building that we thought it was. All of a sudden an old lady came towards us and asked if we were family blablabla. No, that were a couple we knew, but we were not sure if they made it to Basin. They might have stayed at the lake in the mountains. We decided to rent an apartment from her so that we had a good bed, and a shower. While waiting we got a text message from the other couple, they were in the Basin Community Hall, together with three other men who also started in Helena (they ‘re doing the route in sections). The town of Basin provides free shelter in the Basin Community Hall, however, no services, and we liked being able to shower after such a day. After unpacking only what we needed, and cleaning up, we went to the Bar for a drink with the others. At about 9.30pm we decided to get to bed.
Gallery
