Today we rode from Basin, Montana, US to Butte, Montana, US. Sunny weather with some clouds, a heavy rain shower + thunderstorm in the morning. Road conditions were definitely OK (a fine gravel road all the way). Highlights of the day was that it was really shorter day.

Riding statistics: on Saturday, August 13, 2022, day 13 on the route, it took 06:39h (04:01h moving time), between 09:03 and 15:42, to cover 58 km (36 miles), including 745 m (2444 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14 km/h (9 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 47 km/h (29 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 27 °C (81 °F) with a minimum of 14 °C (57 °F) and a maximum of 38 °C (100 °F).

Totals: So far, it took 3 days, 14 hours, 39 minutes, and 58 seconds of cycling time to cover 1196 km (743 miles), including 15415 m (50577 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.0 km/h (8.7 mph).

Last evening in the Silver Saddle Bar & Cafe, we were informed that the cafe section will open around 7:30am for serving breakfast. We decided that we would love a breakfast before leaving Basin and therefor set our alarms at 7am. Just after 7:30am we entered the café, got ourselves a table, and ordered breakfast. This kind of breakfast was welcome after our efforts in the last two days. I got myself scrambled eggs with bacon, 2 pancakes, and an orange juice. Anna got even a bigger breakfast. We both enjoyed the tasty breakfast. None of the other bikers were in the café. They all decided to leave early. After finishing our breakfast, we returned to the apartment to prepare the bikes and ourselves for leaving Basin.

Around 9am we cycled out of town. First, we cycled on a frontage road and followed the highway for a couple of miles. Soon we found ourselves a stream with fresh water which we filtered to fill up our bottles. A couple of miles later we turned of the frontage road and cycled into a valley. From here we started to climb the first hill. It was still sunny, but thunderstorms were developing around us. We saw lots of rain, lightning and heard thunder in the distance. The effort today was much less compared to previous days. It is a short distance, and the climbs are quite easy. Not too step, and perfect road surfaces.

At a certain moment during one of the climbs we cycled through an open area when a thunderstorms caught up with us. We got into our rain gear quickly because it seemed to go on for a while. It got a bit scary with the lightning and we hurried to get to the other side of the open area so we could look for some shelter. Even before we reached the other side of the open area the thunderstorms moved on, the rain stopped, and the sun got us warmed up again. Short but powerful. We took of the rain gear and the sun dried up our bikes and bags.

The scenery was beautiful with all the hills, trees, meadows, etc. The road continued to go up and down, and we did feel our legs after yesterday’s efforts. Just before Butte, we had three more short but steeps hills to climb. During the climbs we passed the three guys we met at the bar yesterday and a couple from the UK. On top of the last climb, we had an incredible view of Butte. The whole town, but also the huge mining pits were clearly visible.

When we entered the town of Butte, we first went to a bike shop to see if they sold brake pads for Anna’s bike. Not urgently needed, but she wanted to have a spare set. Unfortunately, the ones she needed were not available. Since it was only just after noon, we looked forward for a nice lunch. After checking our phones for possible restaurants, we decided to go for Taco del Sol, which was just a few buildings away from the bike shop. We got ourselves a huge, and very delicious, Taco and drinks. We took our time and enjoyed sitting down and looking at all people and traffic passing by. After filling op our drinks a couple of times and relaxing for a while we decided to cycle to the KOA campground.

The KOA campground was only a 10-minute bike ride away. We got ourselves a shared camp spot and setup our tents. There was not much shade of the trees, and the sun was warm. However, we still enjoyed our camping spot. The UK couple was also on the KOA, and a hiker got the spot next to ours. He was walking a part of the Continental Divide Trail. After setting up the tents and cleaning ourselves a bit, we decided to walk to the grocery store which was less than a mile away. We got ourselves food and drinks and returned to the KOA. While walking back, we ran into Roger. He just arrived in Butte as well and was on is way to the KOA as well. He was invited by the hiker to setup his tent in the hiker’s spot next to ours. This KOA had an amazing shower facility. There were several big cabins on the property with several doors at the outside. Each door gave access to a small bathroom (shower + toilet). It looked good and I enjoyed my shower. Cleaned up I went to my tent for an early sleep. That did not happen, there was a family of three in a small cabin next to our camp spot and they were loud. Eventually they went inside when it got darker outside.

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