Today we rode from Harvey Campground in the Flathead Valley, British Columbia, Canada to Eureka, Montana, United States. Again sunny weather with little clouds. Road conditions included mainly gravel roads and some paved roads. Highlights of the day include a 12+ mile downhill in one go, and reaching the US border.
Riding statistics: on Friday August 5, 2022, the 5th day on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route route, it took 11:10h (07:51h moving time), between 07:09 and 18:20, to cover 132 km (82 miles), including 1093 m (3586 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 17 km/h (10 mph). During today's ride the average temperature was 25 °C (80 °F) with a minimum of 2 °C (34 °F) and a maximum of 48 °C (126 °F).
Totals: So far, it took 1 days, 7 hours, 40 minutes and 52 seconds of cycling time to cover 450 km (279 miles), including 4813 m (15791 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.4 km/h (8.9 mph).
Leaving Harvey Campground
Alarm set a 6 am, goal is to leave at seven. It has been a cold night and at 4 am I got my long john, socks, and a shirt. That was better. A few minutes before 6 I was awake. Just in time to disable the alarm. Within an hour we packed all our gear on the bikes, had a quick breakfast, cleaned up, and left. To get out of the campground we already had a massive uphill with loose rocks. The legs were warm. My fingers not so much. My bike computer showed 2.8 degrees celcius at that moment.
The lodgepole road
Our alternative way out of the Flathead Valley (to avoid any wildfire risks) was to use the Lodgepole road. A road from the east side (where we were) towards the Original Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. The people at he Harvey Campground informed us that it was about 38 km. The first one or two hours it seemed our legs were tired, our bikes had a drag, or whatever. We both did not realize we were going uphill all-the-time. The scenery however was beautiful, we had the sun from behind and that made it even more beautiful. Any short downhills however still where cold. Eventually we seemed to hit a to and from there we had a massive downhill. High speeds, no pedaling, very enjoyable. However, attention is required. The road is still a gravel road with loose gravel, potholes, etc. Meanwhile the temperature had increased to 24+ degrees celcius. Much better! As expected (and seen on our bike computers) we simply ended on the original route just before the town of Elko.
Elko
We had our hopes et to get a good lunch at Elko. When entering Elko we maybe had the idea more buildings would come, but there were not many. Main St. was just a normal street with some houses and large gardens. Fortunately there was a gas station where we bought some ice cream. There we also made calls to our loved ones at home to inform them that we were out of the Flathead Valley and update them on the tour so far. We also met Roger, originally from Switzerland but living in the US for several decades. Nice guy, nice bike, too many bags, and way overloaded. He knew that he had to send some gear home but had decided on what to sent back. However he still had a huge pace as we found out later. Break done and we continued.
Warmsutter
Next stop is Warmsutter. Hopefully better food options since there is a convenience store. We had spectacular scenery. Different than the days before. The large mountains were replaced by big meadows and grassy fields. Including lakes and some more people living there. Eventually we reached Warmsutter and found the convenience store. There was Roger as well. And oh my, what a dump with a lot of bad food. So I ate two ice-creams and almost a full bag of potato chips Drank a bottle of water and bought another bottle + a Gatorade for the rest of today’s trip. We took a slightly longer break since we still had to go to the border (11 km) and then to Eureka (22 km) to sleep at the local city park.
The Border
When we neared the border we got in the queue, between the cars. Once it was our turn all went smoothly. I just also needed to go into the office for a picture, fingerprints, and paying 6$. Easier than expected fortunately. Short toilet break and up to Eureka.
Eureka
The 22 km to Eureka were not that bad. Nice grasslands, cows, and although a back road, quite some pickups it was already evening traffic with people wanting to get home. When arriving at Eureka we want to the Riverside city park to spend the night. There were more cyclists and besides one, we already met all of them. Nice. So even with our Flathead detour we still ended up together in Eureka. It is just a city park with no services, but there is a gas station 24/7 with a toilet and junkfood, and a meal can be bought nearby. We decided to walk into the main street and find a place to eat. Finally we found an American grill. Once we were in and sat at our table, a sign was placed outside that no more people would be service because lack of staff. We were in by 1 minute to spare. Lucky us. We had a nice burger with fries. After our dinner we walked back to campground, hid our food somewhere away from the tents and went into our tents for a good night of sleep.
Hi Eef,
Nice stories you write, which are enjoyable to read.
Seems you are still on track to make it in time.
Enjoy!
(And let is further enjoy)
Groeten,
Ad
Hey Eef. How do you feel physically and mentally after the first days. Are you getting used to the long cycling days and do you feel confident for the rest of the trip?
Hi Sander. All goes well, maybe even better than expected, both mentally and physically. We only had sunny weather, that helps a lot for morale 😉 I can only hope it continues like this. Regards, Eef