Arrived in Kalispell

Dear Friends and Family,

8:25 PM Mountain time (10:25 EST), I just arrived in beautifull Kalispell, Montana.

From what I was able to see from the sky, Kalispell is in a vast plain, surrounded by moutains, glaciers, dense forests, pristine lakes and wild rivers. Kalispell itself was a small community of 7000 people 10 years ago, which has grown to 75,000 attracting lots of telecommuters from the Bay area. I was welcomed at the airport by Bob Worthington and his wife Martha, long time residents of Montana. Bob is a friend of Ride Organizer Rick Bush, recently retired and an experienced rider. He and Martha were kind enough to drop me at my hotel and will pick up my gears tomorrow morning. This will give me a chance to ride my bike tomorrow from Kalispell to West Glacier,

then cross Glacier National Park.

(click on the image to see it in big)

A total of 90+ miles with a steep climb to Logan pass at 6,646 feet in the Park along the Sun road, with lots of turns and traffic from tourists. This won't be an easy ride. More than 5000 feet climb from Kalispell, the meteo gives a 40% chance of rain so it could be chilly in the mountain. Of course, there is no cell phone connection in the park so I will be on my own. I was told I must be at Logan pass by 11am because of some constructions out there. Since Logan is 67 miles away from Kalispell, and Bob told me I have a 3 hours steep climb during the 15 miles before the pass, I need to leave 6 hours before 11am, around 5am assuming 17 miles / hour for the first 3 hours. Unfortunately, at 5am, I won t see anything. Therefore, I plan to leave at 6am (the sunrise is at 6:30am), ride ast fast as possible, and take a chance. As a plan B, if I get stuck or too tired during the climb, I should be able to take a free park shuttle which will take me to Saint Mary. I plan to take some pictures during the ride to share with you this adventure.

If you can't wait, click here to see the types of landscape I will go through tomorrow: Lake Mc Donald, the sun road, Logan pass, and Lake Saint Mary.

I might not be able to send you an update tomorrow night and Monday night, so bear with me. The first two nights, I am staying in a campground, then in a small community with less than 10 houses... After that, I should have an access every night.

I wish you good night, I now need to set up my bike that I finally received and go to sleep to be ready tomorrow! (Kudos btw to the Tritech store in Columbus OH, for having done a fabulous job packing my TRI bike)

Yes, I have two wheels, I should be allright ;-)

A bientot,

Mathieu