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

QUICK DESCRIPTION OF THE RIDE

-Arrival on Saturday night in Kalispell. Put the bike together on Sunday and leave early for Glacier National Park. If the weather conditions allow, will ride to West National Glacier (29 miles), cross the park (50 miles) during the day, (at night the cougars are dangerous), to arrive to Saint Mary KOA on the east side of the park. See security recommendations for bikers here

-In Saint Mary, I will join the CASA fundraiser trip which will depart on Monday morning.-After 5 days of epic adventures (soon to come), I will arrive in Gardiner (North of Yellowstone).-On Saturday, I will return to the civilization (Bozeman), rent a car, and visit Yellowstone for two days, before departing for Columbus on Monday morning and go back to work.
More information on the ride: here.

I look forward to sharing this adventure with you, and making a difference for the children of Montana.

What is CASA and how to give online?

CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) was created in 1977. It is an organization that speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the courts. Every year more than half a million abused and neglected children are in need of safe, permanent, nurturing homes. That's where CASA steps in.Casa promotes and support quality representation for children to provide each child a safe, permanent, nurturing home. As trained advocates, CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to be a voice for these children in court. The result is that a child is placed into a safe, loving home where he/she can thrive. It is the CASA vision to provide a volunteer for each and every abused and neglected child who needs one. During this ride, we will support in particular CASA of Montana.

CLICK HERE TO GIVE:

Click on "Guest transaction link" then, enter amount in front of Park-2-Park rider the amount: $5 or more Enter rider name: "Stremsdoerfer" (so we will know the total we collected) Click continue. Enter your credit card information, confirm the payment. That's it, you have made a donation to CASA and will receive a receipt / confirmation. Feel free to forward to friends!

Welcome to Race2Live!

Dear Friends and Family,

I thought it would be fitting to start this blog with the story of my soon to come trip to Montana from September 1st to September 5th. Essentially, I will be riding over 400 miles by bike between Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park with a group of 49 riders to leverage some funds for CASA, a non profit that protects neglected and abused children and find them a home and a mentor.




During this ride, I will strive every evening (internet connection permitting), to share with you some pictures and notes from the ride, and hope to inspire you to donate online a modest amount of $5 or more. In addition, I will include a couple of entertaining"bonuses" like some pictures of Yellowstone that I will visit at the end of the ride, and hopefully no close up of a Cougar or a Bear met while crossing alone on my bike Glacier National Park :-))