Time to cross the finish line on 2019. This was the race I never thought I would finish! Geez, I have been slacking at this blog thing. Better late than never I suppose.
Total number of races was lower this year at 27. That's 15 races less than 2018 due to budget restraints. I climbed on the podium less times at six appearances, but three of those were on the top step. I was pretty proud of the wins at the DINO Challenge Short Track and the 6 Hours of Blankets Creek. Both had some serious competition. I had just one DNF this year, which is still one too many. That one was due to being sick leading into the Three River Rumble weekend. I hated to quit, but I got dropped only a few miles into the road race and barely completed one lap. No way I had the juice to do two more laps alone. I am also proud of my 5th place finish in Cat. 2 at the Tennessee State Criterium Championships. That was a fast race and it was great to be battling for a good finish at the end. Crits are so fun when you are in good shape!
Please support the companies that supported me this year! Shout out to Maxxis, MOAB Bikes and First Endurance for their help. Thank you guys!
As always, I want to pick a "Race of the Year." I take everything into consideration for this designation. I look at the turnout, competition level, course, race promotion, prizes and overall level of fun that me and my crew had at the event. This year I give the award to the Utah Crit Series race on the flat course at the DLD in West Valley City, UT. What a fun evening that was! The course was a blast and the competition level was smokin' fast! The race is put on by a great group and they thoroughly welcomed me as an out-of-towner which doesn't always happen when you race in new places. Sure, there was no payout for this weeknight training race, but the fun level far overshadowed that detail. Gateway Cup was again a top event as always, with the DINO Series race in Winona Lake also sitting high on my list of faves this year.
Here are the stats for races and finishes in 2019:
Total Number of Races: 27
Race Breakdown: XC: 7 Short Track: 1 MTB Time Trial: 0 Endurance XC: 2 Downhill: 0 Super D/Enduro: 0 Criterium: 14 Road Race: 2 Road Time Trial: 0 Cyclocross: 1
The remainder of October and most of November 2019 was a disappointment as far as riding went. I was busy with work and didn't have much time to ride. What rides I did manage were solo. It seemed nobody wanted to do our group rides anymore. I found myself out there alone most weeks until the time change ended the group riding season. The pride of the group has almost completely ruined this local fun ride. Everybody wants to ride with the front, but they want the pace to conform to their fitness. Dropped riders complain about and badmouth the faster riders. Slower people get dropped and end up riding alone as nobody will wait for anyone else to form a chase group. Because of all this drama, riders across the speed spectrum stopped coming. A second ride started up in a flatter part of town and many of the riders started to go there, or just stopped group riding altogether. I miss the old days of the Wednesday night ride at Exit 1. We hammered each other, but always regrouped. It was a great workout for the fast guys and helped the slower riders get better because they had more time with the group. I have tried and tried to do it this way on our Tuesday ride, but just can't seem to get anyone to give it a try.
Dina managed to get a few days off work at one point in late October. We put in a couple of longer days on the road. On the first ride I took her to Ashland City and introduced her to some real climbs. I found her breaking point on a steep hill where she had to get off and walk at one point. She was not happy with me! We had to cross a main highway that was being paved right as we returned to the car. Somehow my chain got wadded up as we shot across the soft pavement. It instantly snapped the derailleur hanger. Good thing we were within sight of the car.
Hwy 49 bridge in Ashland City
Tough climb up Dry Creek Rd
This hill is awful. Dina can confirm.
Broken derailleur hanger
After replacing my hanger we took another ride into southern Kentucky, riding up to Fairview to the Jefferson Davis Monument and back toward Tennessee.
Monument sticking up in the distance
Jefferson Davis Monument
Words to live by. We obeyed.
We took in the All American 400 at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, the first time I had been able to go to this race in years. They do two late model races for the 400, bringing in top drivers from all over the country. It was a really fun day and beautiful weather. I love that track and hope they can keep it open long into the future.
First race underway
Crash on the backstretch
Legendary short track racer Bubba Pollard got the win
Second race going green
Training wasn't great leading into the Tennessee State Cyclocross Championships at Cross the Harpeth. I had this one circled on the calendar as I always ride well at Harpeth and was excited for the State Championship to be held there, but I just didn't get to prep the way I wanted to this year. It felt very similar to the lead-in to CX Nationals in Louisville last year. I didn't get to do a single cross race before Harpeth rolled around. The mountain bike is usually my choice here, but it was a no-brainer this year considering I hadn't been on my cross bike at all.
I wasn't on good form at all, but I still had a decent race, which really irks me even more because I know that I could contend for the win if I had been able to do my training. We had a solid group of 13 riders that started the Pro/1/2/3. The pace was crazy high the first lap. I was in the middle of the group after the start. The group quickly split just about 1/4 of the way through the first lap. Six riders got a gap. I was behind the split by a few spots. I couldn't have gone with the move anyway. Those front guys just had too much speed for me. I rode my steady pace and salvaged the best finish I could. I ended up 7th, which effectively was the best of the rest behind the front group.
In action at Cross the Harpeth
photo by Tami Kuper
photo by Steve Smail
photo by Steve Smail
photo by Steve Smail
We closed out November with more farm expansion. We started offering seeds pulled from our own veggies this year. I started harvesting seeds to save us money and breed in the characteristics we want for each variety. I have no idea if anyone will want to buy any of our extras, but I will be putting them out there this winter and into the spring. Shannon also tried out a new jelly. A neighbor gave us a few mint plants earlier this year and Shannon used them to make Mint Jelly. I don't care for mint in anything, but the jelly is actually pretty good. And it's green!
Peach Ghost Pepper seeds
Mint Jelly
Turkeys off the side of the trail at home
Finally built our sliding barn door that covers the door to the laundry room we built shortly after we moved in
The year ended with me finally getting back to steady training at the end of November and the entire month of December. I also got in the weight room and started working on just being a better athlete in general. Our annual Thanksgiving training camp was a bit of a dud. None of the family wanted to join this year. Thankfully, Shannon got outside with me at some point most of the days to give me some company. The third day was heavy rain. I wasn't very motivated to get out there, but ended up having a great time. The leaves protected the trail. I got slick conditions without any trail damage or coating my bike in mud. It was perfect!
I finally got a smart trainer! Shannon upgraded me to a direct-drive Tacx smart trainer for Christmas. I hate riding indoors, but a smart trainer is a game-changer. I was immediately having a blast with the real-world videos provided by Tacx, and quickly had a Zwift membership. Of course, I was racing after just two days on the new toy and having a great timed despite getting aboslutely destroyed. I am already getting in better workouts than I have ever had on the trainer before. I am pumped to be on this thing for the rest of the off-season. It is so cool to be able to finally see my power output and get to work on my FTP.
We ended the year with some night riding to visit the Christmas light displays around Pleasant View. We did this last year and it was so fun we want to make it an annual thing. Shannon joined me for a chilly, but fun ride to get the season's festivities fully underway.
We headed up to Indiana to visit Shannon's side of the family for Christmas. I got to work with Shannon on Christmas Eve and even got done early enough to ride my way north toward Indiana. I made it 60 miles up to Hopkinsville before she picked me up and we drove into the night to reach Elkhart.
Tunnel of trees on my Christmas Eve ride
Saw this guy near Clarksville
Geese overhead
Lots of birds on today's ride
I only got in one ride while we were in Indiana, but it was a great one on Christmas Day. The weather was cold, but sunny. I found a few gravel roads to explore in the middle of the ride. On the way back, I saw a temporary service road that had been constructed across the farm fields to allow for trucks to drive over the soft fields to replace power line stands. The plastic road was just too good to pass up. I hopped on and ended riding a couple of miles through some random farm bumping my way over to the next paved road. It was an oddly fun ride to wrap up 2019.
Just one week after getting destroyed at the 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth with Dina, I was back in action for another endurance mountain bike race. I said that I have the itch to do some longer races, and I also wanted to race somewhere new. The 6 Hours of Blankets Creek checked both of those boxes. We were also hoping to get over to watch NASCAR at Talladega this weekend. It turned out that the drive from Canton over to Talladega, AL was not really that far. Epic weekend locked in!
The shoulder was very sore for a few days after Hill of Truth. It felt pretty good by the end of the week though. Shannon and I left out for GA after work on Friday, spending the night at a rest area off I-75. We finally got to test out the bed insert I made for the van. It had to be left behind when we went to Canada due to us wanting to take three bikes instead of the two that the insert accomodated. It was a bit cramped, but the first test went well.
We rolled into Blankets Creek on Satutrday morning just in time to snag the final good parking spot near the start/finish area. There is a lot more set-up for an endurance race. I usually take a 10'x10' tent for shade and a big table to lay my tools and food on. I always have a plan for everything. The food I will most likely want is ready to grab off the table with the cooler sitting right underneath. The tools I am most likely to need in the event of a mechanical are also sitting out, with all the others close by. The weather has continued to be hot and dry, especially down here in Georgia. The trail was very dusty so I had extra chain lube set out in the event my chain got too dry in the middle of the race. Six hours is a long time and I can't stand listening to a squeaking chain.
The race began with a mass start. They asked that faster riders be let up toward the front, but it was jam packed near the front. I almost forgot my final snack before the start and lined up late, putting me way back in the field. I didn't really know anyone up front so nobody would let me in. I had to start near the back. They sent us down the divided four-lane road outside the park first. We went down one side of the road on a small climb, then did a 180 at a break in the median. The road then tilted downhill as we passed back by the start area on the opposite side of the road. It then turned uphill again to another 180. We were then back on the original side of the split road. It was downhill back to the start area, where we took a fast right turn into the parking lot and onto gravels before finally seeing the dirt on some doubletrack. The singletrack finally came with a hard right a few hundred meters into the doubletrack.
The start was insane. There was over 300 riders that started at once. The road start was a log-jam in the turns, but I managed to pick off a good 50 riders. It was a parade through the first singletrack section and up the first climb. The climb was steep in places and had some root ledges you had to hop up onto. People were falling in front of me constantly. I got held up a lot, but stayed calm and steadily passed those that I could. With all the classes being jumbled together, I couldn't tell who was riding on a team and who was riding solo. My thinking was just pass 'em all!
Me in the black just after the start of the 6 Hours of Blankets Creek
Leaders coming back down the pavement toward the turn into the parking lot
I finally got by a whole line of people when we exited the first singletrack loop and onto more doubletrack. This doubletrack lasted a while before narrowing up again and starting another tough climb. This one wasn't as steep, but was long. Once at the top, it was a jump-filled descent back to the bottom and onto doubletrack again. One last piece of flat, twisting singletrack took us to the trailhead to complete the lap. I was 11th overall exiting the woods. I would say I passed at least 200 people that first lap, including the start segment. Crazy.
We had to dismount and run through the finish line each lap. I passed a couple of more people who were slower at remounting. People were pulling off left and right in the pits. I had no idea what position I was in for my Solo class, I just kept trying to pass more people. I kept my same pace up on lap 2, knocking 35 seconds off my first lap time. There were still riders ahead, so I kept hammering on lap 3, picking up a few more seconds on my lap time. On lap 4, I dropped the pace and began to settle in for what was left of a long day. This trail was pretty tough. Both of the main climbs were challenging and the descents were choppy and rough, really working over the upper body. It definitely tested the sore shoulder at times.
Photo by Dashing Images
I stopped starting lap 5 to refill my pockets with food and get an update from Shannon. She had been recording the riders who were swapping out and obviously on a team. She was pretty sure I was the leading Solo rider. With this news, I backed the pace off a little more as I was starting to feel some fatigue on the climbs. Lap 6 started to get tough as I was fading. I always seem to have a dip in energy levels in races this long, I just have to eat enough to get through it quickly. I always seem to come back to life before the end if I replace to calories. I stopped again starting lap 7 for more food and a quick lube of the chain. Shannon was ready and sprang into action like a pit crew. I hopped off the bike and rolled the pedals backward while she sprayed and wiped the chain. We had never done that before, but you wouldn't have know by watching us. By her estimation, I was leading by 7-8 minutes at this point.
The bonked feeling lasted another lap and I slowed my lap time again. Second and third had gotten together now and picked up their lap times. They had cut five minutes off my lead in just one lap. Shannon was able to tell me during lap 8 that I had lost a lot of time, but I didn't know it was quite so much. Thankfully, my body started to come back to life and I picked my lap time back up. The two chasers also took a long stop in the pits and gave me back nearly every single second of that five minutes they had made up on lap 7. I didn't know that though.
On the last long climb, I could see a rider coming. He was slowly cutting into my gap, making me think he was a solo rider rather than a team rider that should close the gap much faster at this point. I crested the hill just ahead of him and bombed the descent. He hung with me though and attacked me in a full sprint on the following doubletrack. My legs were screaming, but I answered the attack and then attacked him back to try to reach that last singletrack section in front. I was thinking this could be for the win! It seemed like forever to reach that turn into the singletrack. He got another run on me and we sprinted the last 200 meters to the turn. We were sprinting so hard that he lost control and went off the trail into a small ditch, nearly taking me out in the process. But I snuck by and hit the singletrack in front with a gap. I then gave everything I had for two minutes to get through that last section. I held him off, only to find out that he was on a team. Oh well! I am glad to see that I still had the legs to do that kind of effort at the end of a six hour race.
I knocked off eight laps on the 7.5-mile loop in 5:41:44. Despite feeling better that final lap, I still lost time to 2nd. He chopped off over two minutes after the long pit stop, coming in just over three minutes behind me. Had he not stopped in the pit we would have been very close to each other at the finish. After we got a chance to look back at the official lap times and Shannon's notes, it turns out that I took the lead starting lap 2. I was the 4th Solo rider out of the woods to end lap 1, then passed all three ahead of me during the remount and through the pits. It wasn't until we climbed on the podium that I realized who I was racing against. Both 2nd and 3rd were Team Type 1 pro riders, 3rd being the legend Phil Southerland. It ended up being one of the most quality fields I have ever raced against. And I had no idea the entire ride. I would put this win up there with the best I have ever had. I definitely have room for improvement, with still having two laps where I felt bonked, but the low was not as low as in past endurance races and didn't last as long.
Dirty face after the race
Top of the box!
Solo Men podium
Kevin Bohanon and Gary Collins made it on the podium today as well
Some of my old Wood-N-Wave buddies did the race as well. We got to hang out for a few minutes after the race which was nice. We were going to get some dinner with them after they got showers, but I think they forgot about us. We hung out with Gary Collins for a while longer, then grabbed our own food at a barbecue joint on the way out of town. We drove over to the Alabama border and slept another night in the van at a rest area.
Sunday morning we were up and over to Talladega well before the race. We had time to attend the local church service there in town, then headed over to the track. Richmond last year was Shannon's first NASCAR race. Talladega is sooo different. Richmond is a short track at 3/4 of a mile, while Talladega Superspeedway is around 2.2 miles per lap. The cars run in a giant pack drafting, very similar to how we race in crits. The roar and speed of 40 cars passing by in less than two seconds is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. I had come to 'Dega once way back in 1997 and I was super excited to be at a race here again.
Talladega has the parking and camping experience figured out. You can get premium parking and camping, but don't really need to. They have fields of free parking with free shuttles to run you to and from the track. Field camping is also free if you have a ticket for Sunday's Cup race. Traffic is also a breeze with all lanes moving in one direction and labeled so you know well in advance which lane you should be in for the lot you are going to.
Before the race they did something pretty special. Richard Childress brought out Dale Earnhardt's old #3 car, the very car he won the Daytona 500 with in 1998. Richard led the field around on the pace laps with it. Once they released him from the pack, he ran a fast lap with the car before pulling off. It was so cool to see that black #3 out there again, rolling off Turn 4 at 180 mph on the track where Earnhardt won so many races. I am glad I got to see Dale race here when we came in 1997. We heard afterwards that Richard's good friend, Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops, was riding in the car as well. Those race cars only have one seat. Johnny was sitting on the floorboard of the passenger side of the car...at 180 mph!
The race was a blast, but it was short-lived as rain moved in at the end of Stage 1. That first lap was so awesome! It's almost silent when the cars are on the back stretch because they are so far away, but when they come off Turn 4 and fly by like a pack of angry hornets, the entire grandstand rattles. They attempted to dry the track, but more rain moved in and forced the race to be postponed to Monday. We both had to work on Monday so we had to go home. I am glad Shannon got to see a few laps of the Talladega speed, but I really wish she could have seen the whole race.
Sunday at Talladega for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 1000Bulbs.com 500
On the way home, I was thinking of every way possible to get back the next day to watch the end of the race. I got up early on Monday and called work. I wasn't scheduled to work on Tuesday so we decided to call everyone and see if they could move their appointment back a day. By some act of God, every patient, with the exception of one, was able and willing to move their appointment to Tuesday. That one patient was willing, but had other plans for Tuesday. It just so happened another therapist had an opening at that same time and was able to see that patient so it all worked out. Next thing I know, I'm on my way south again, headed back to Talladega. My Mom took Shannon's ticket. We were able to drive down, watch the rest of the race and roll back home with relative ease. I can't believe a plan actually worked out!
Chase Elliott led a lot on Monday
Lots of people came back on Monday, but our section was pretty open.
View from the top of the grandstand after the race
The week after our trip was madness like any other trip. It was a whirlwind of unpacking, going back to work and trying to catch up on picking peppers. We had a big order to fill and put plenty of peppers on the dehydrater to use later. I am really liking the Devil's Tongue peppers. They are super colorful, grow well and have great flavor to go with strong heat. Our Cockscomb flowers that we planted from seeds we got at Monticello last year are now huge and have massive flower heads on them. We have used them as table decorations in the kitchen. Shannon has been working hard in the kitchen canning jams and jellies. We had to make a fresh batch of the Pineapple-Mango Habanero Jam that was such a hit last year, and added Ghost Pepper Jelly. I expected it to be a jar of fire, but the flavor really came out through the cooking of the peppers and it is quite delicious if you don't mind some mouth burn. It too was popular and quickly sold out. Our online sales continue to amaze me.
An array of Devil's Tongue peppers on a dehydrater rack
Cockscomb adorning the kitchen table
Ghost Pepper Jelly
I wanted to end my season with some endurance mountain bike racing. I had been itching to get back to 6 and 12 hour racing. While there are not as many endurance race options now as there were 10 years ago, we still found a couple to go to. The 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth was the first on my calendar. Taking place at Haw Ridge Park near Oak Ridge, TN, this race is a tough one. Each lap features a tough climb on a powerline ridge known as The Hill of Truth. It hurts. I have raced here a few times before. This was a target race for us when I rode for the Piney Flats and The Bike Shop teams under Everett Baker. We never managed to get the W, but always had a good time racing as a team. I thought it would be fun to do it as a team again as I really didn't ride that much on our trip to Canada and felt like I wasn't ready for a solo 12 hour just yet. Dina was up for it, but we couldn't find anyone else to team up with us. They don't have a Duo category at this race, only an Open Team class that can have up to four riders. Oh well, we are going for it. Dustin and Dina against the world!
I actually thought we could hold our own against teams of four. I figured I could turn the fastest laps there. If I could do two laps my first few rotations and get us out front, we could have a chance of a decent finish in the end. It was a sunny and hot day in Oak Ridge. Thankfully, we didn't camp, but got a hotel instead so we actually got in some sleep and stayed cool. Our team name was the Pair of Peppers presented by Sweetwater Farms. Apparently, it was very confusing to everyone. I got asked multiple times before the start if we wanted to correct the mistake. We thought it was clever, but nobody got it. Just trying to get the farm some love!
The start was super fast. You begin on pavement for almost a mile before turning left into the woods and onto a long climb. I enetered the woods in 8th and was hurting on the hill. I did my best to stay on the front group. I was 4th to the top and crested just a few bike lengths off 3rd. The trail was super dry and dusty as we started the descent. I couldn't see very well. Braking bumps were everywhere as we bounced our way down a virtually invisible trail. We were flying though. Just as I reached the rider ahead, I saw his head and shoulders suddenly dart to the right. It was already too late for me to make the turn with all the braking bumps. I missed it by a mile in the dust cloud and smashed a tree hard with my left arm and shoulder. The tree ripped me off the back of the bike and onto the rear tire, but somehow I held on with my right hand. I was off the trail doing a little bushwhacking as I tried to pull myself back onto the seat. I hit a log and that was enough to polevault me up. I landed on the seat and returned to the trail. It was a miracle save, but I was hurting. That was one of the hardest hits I have ever taken to my shoulder. I held my arm against my side as I couldn't move it. I had to slow down to finish the descent with one hand, dropping back to 7th. It was about the worst way I could have started the race for us. Even if I was ok, I was not going to be anywhere close to 100% today. Since I had planned to start with two laps, would Dina even be ready to take over for me if I could finish the lap?
Start line for 12 Hours of the Hill of Truth
Photo courtesy of ALM Photo
Race underway!
Photo courtesy of ALM Photo
After a couple of minutes I could move the shoulder. It hurt very bad though. There was an open section of trail where I was able to sit up for a few seconds and perform a few tests on my shoulder to see if I had torn anything. The tests were all negative so I put the hand back on the bar and got back to work. Yes it hurt, but I felt like there probably wasn't any major joint damage and that riding wasn't going to make anything worse. Ride on.
Using the arm eventually loosened the shoulder and the pain began to subside. The Hill of Truth was a nice way to take my mind off my shoulder. The descent that followed was super rough. After making it down that, I knew my shoulder was going to be ok. I had also worked my way back up to 4th, the position I was in at the time of the crash.
I decided to go on for another lap and didn't even mention the crash to Dina when I came through the finish line. On lap 2, the shoulder continued to improve. I had more time to focus on the race. I came to two conclusions on this lap. First, this course is hard. It was working me over and I knew it was going to be a major challenge for Dina. Second, I had my work cut out for me with the competition. While I was holding down 4th, I was in no way catching the top 3. They were pulling away. The heat was also taking its toll on me and it was still early in the day. The cool days in Canada made me soft. I felt like I rode better, but I was two minutes slower on this lap. Not good considering I rode at least three miles with one arm on that first lap.
Dina took over and struggled with the terrain and heat. She was happy to hand the timing card back over to me for two more laps. The shoulder was much better now. I had time to ice it during Dina's lap, and Shannon did a little massage on it. The legs, however, were trash. I could tell I was going slower. The clock confirmed this as I slowed an additional two minutes on this lap. My second lap on this stint was even worse. I lost five more minutes as I just felt drained the entire lap. My fourth lap was 10:29 slower than my first lap. Ouch. That hurt worse than the tree.
Dina looked less than thrilled to go out this time. She slowed down quite a bit on her lap time too. We decided to go to one lap turns to try to save what little I had left in the tank. I started off on my fifth lap in the midday heat, our seventh lap overall. I tried harder, but the body said no. The heat roasted me, especially on the Hill of Truth. I was happy just to clear the climb without dabbing a foot. The lap time again got worse by another 35 seconds.
Dina was waiting when I emerged from the lap, but I could see she did not want to do another lap. She looked tired. Things got worse when her diabetic sensor malfunctioned during the lap and she lost all data on her blood sugar. I continued to feel worse, even while off the bike. When she finished her third lap, I told her I had to take a break that I was too bonked to continue. She was a little annoyed with me, but also did not want to do another lap. She had no idea what her blood sugar was doing and was feeling pretty tired as well. We agreed to just take a break for a while. Somehow, we were still in 7th at this point.
After a long rest, half a gallon of chocolate, and a couple of hotdogs, I felt better and wanted to try another lap. We might have had to rest, but I had no intentions of just quitting. We were nearly two laps down and now in 11th out of the 11 teams. I felt better this lap and picked up my time by four minutes compared to my previous lap. It was nothing spectacular, but I was moving forward. Dina said she did not want to do another lap so it was up to me to finish for us. I wanted to get in at least one night lap. I took a 10 minute break to put on lights and headed in for another lap, my seventh of the day. I went in with the leading teams who were lapping us for the second time. These riders were only on their third laps. I pushed hard to hang with them the first half of the lap, eventually having to let them go on the Hill of Truth. It was probably my best lap of the day considering how deep into the race we were. That night lap totally changed my view of the day. I went from not enjoying the bike to ready to sign up for another race.
That was my final lap of the day. We ended up 11th out of 11, but we got in a solid 10 laps. It was a rough, humbling day, but we fought on. I definitely have some work to do. I was not fast enough to be in contention at any point today, even before the crash. We took on the world and the world won this round. The crazy thing was that my seven laps would have been good enough for 3rd in the Solo class.
Day 2 in Glacier National Park began with the sounds of rain on the top of the van. The weather just won't let up on this trip. The only good thing is that with rain comes rainbows and we got one leaving the campground.
Rainbow in St. Mary Campground
We had more hiking planned for today. We moved south from the main portion of the park to Two Medicine Lake. More road construction gave us a flashback to Cypress Hills in Canada when we got the van stuck. This construction came with complete road removal. The road was down to dirt in the pouring rain. Great. To top it off, we had to wait about 20 minutes for a pilot car to lead us through. The car was going way too slow for my liking. We were rolling into some big climbs in deep mud at a crawl. I just knew we would have some trouble, but the van cruised through it yet again. We made it through and got to see yet another rainbow. It even turned into a double for a few seconds.
Rainbow on Hwy 89 trying to turn into a double
After the construction ended, we turned our dirty van onto Hwy 49, which turned out to be a super fun road...for me anyway. Shannon could have done without the world rally event that followed. The road is narrow and twists along the side of the foothills. It would have been super fun, but some deep potholes kept me from getting too wild.
Two Medicine Lake is surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. The plan was to see as many of the falls as possible and explore the lake. We planned to hit a few short hikes and then get on a boat tour of the lake. The tour would end with dropping us off on the other side of the lake, where we would hike six miles back to the parking lot passing multiple waterfalls along the way.
First hike up was a paved path to Running Eagle Falls. The water goes underground and then emerges as a waterfall. The hike was lame, but the waterfall itself was really cool. Next up was a steep climb up to Appistoki Falls. The hike was short, but tough. The view was not the best. You couldn't really see the front of the falls unless you climbed down into the canyon.
Running Eagle Falls
Appistoki Falls
The sun had shone for us on those two quick hikes, but now it was clouding up again and the wind was wild. Two Medicine Lake was rough. So rough that they canceled all boat tours for the day. So again, plans had to change. We wanted to do more hiking, especially since it wasn't raining. We quickly pieced together a plan to do an out-and-back to two waterfalls that we would have seen if we had done the boat tour. The trail around the lake was beautiful. Eventually we left the water's edge and moved into the forest. We saw only a handful of people on this hike. The nice weather disappeared just before we reached the first falls, Aster Falls, as more rain began to fall.
Two Medicine Lake
Aster Falls
The rain quickly became a heavy downpour. Besides being soggy, my feet were sore from all the hiking in my boots which were literally falling apart. I glued the sole in multiple places when we were at Jasper National Park. The repair job was still holding on, but just barely. The soles were so thin that I could feel every rock and root in the trail. We reached a swinging bridge, which I thought would be the end of Shannon's hike. She is not fond of any kind of bridge that moves, but she wanted to see Rockwell Falls. We finally reached the falls and enjoyed the view for a few minutes as the rain continued to pour down on us. It was a long hike back stomping through puddles. My poor boots finally gave in just before we reached the end of the trail. The bottom began to peel off. I literally wore them out on this trip. This hike gave us a total of 9.4 miles of hiking for the day. We did 11.6 miles the day before and a grand total of just over 78 miles on the trip. No wonder my feet hurt and my boots fell apart.
The swinging bridge
She did it!
Rockwell Falls. You can see the upper and lower portions from this angle.
We had the chance to stay one more night and do some early morning exploring, but we had seen just about everything we could see on the east side of the park. The weather forecast was for more heavy rain and strong winds overnight and into the next morning, so we made the call to head for home a little early. I had a backup plan of stopping in the Black Hills and Badlands on the way home so I was ready for this. We probably would have stayed for the boat ride, but the odds of the weather cooperating enough to be out on that lake were looking low.
We had no real plan for the rest of Montana. Once you leave the mountains, Montana is pretty flat and open. There's not much to see. We picked up our last groceries for the trip in Great Falls, then continued southeast, reaching Billings after dark. Only one place in town was packed and that was the arena where a big rodeo was going on. We again could not find a place to camp and ended up sleeping at a rest stop. The back of the van is becoming our regular bed at this point.
The next morning we were up early and moving on I-90 to get on over to South Dakota so we could spend the day playing in the Black Hills. I wanted to do a little mountain biking, see a bit of the Badlands again and visit the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site just outside the park. We drove by the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. We stopped by, but it wasn't open yet. It was quite expensive to get in so we did not wait another hour for it to open.
More storms formed up at the Wyoming-South Dakota border as we crossed into Wyoming. It was looking like another washout day if we continued to the Black Hills. We made a last-second decision to turn south on I-25 and head for Cheyenne. The weather was looking clear at Curt Gowdy State Park. The detour added only one hour to our drive. That was well worth it to get in some bike time. We got there in the early afternoon and I got in a couple of hours of much needed mountain bike therapy. I was so into the riding I didn't even take a single picture. I just enjoyed the singletrack and sunshine. Shannon enjoyed the rays as well and also fixed us a nice dinner. We even got showers before we left! It was a nice end to the trip. Rather than stay the night and have to depart super early in the morning, we decided to continue on down the road. We drove through the night, reaching St. Louis in the late morning and home in the early afternoon.
It rained on us at least 11 of the days we were gone, but we made the most of it. Many things went wrong and forced us to change our plans, but again, we made it work. What a trip! It was my first time going out of the country. I hope I get to go back to Canada soon. There's so much more still to see even in the areas we visited on this trip. And much, much more to ride. We feel like we only got to see half of Waterton Lakes and Glacier so we will definitely be back to see those. I know the trip cleared my mind and had me feeling refreshed and ready to go after some lofty goals for 2020. We hope you enjoyed reading about the trip!
