Urge for Going

Lochsa Lodge, Idaho to Missoula, Montana. Friday, May 31, 2024.

My favorite Joni Mitchell song (actually, I like the Tom Rush version better), but not such a fun memory this morning. I worked out the time and realized I had to leave here before 6 AM. The temperature was 31°. WTF!? It’s May 31 for God’s sake! Not only that, but I discovered the warm gloves and the special waterproof gloves I’d exchanged at Showers Pass in Portland, were nowhere to be found. Must be sitting in some motel somewhere, overlooked in my rush to pack. All I had were my lightweight cycling gloves, good to about 45°. My Urge for Going was getting weaker by the minute.

But it had to be done. I had an 1800 foot climb to Lolo Pass, not as formable as the climbs to Paradise and Timberline Lodge, but I’d done those on a bare bicycle. The first 8 miles were a continuation of the gradual uphill I’ve been doing for the past few days, but the last 5 miles were 8% grade, typically more than I can handle on a loaded bicycle.

“I think I can, I think I can” was my mantra as I cranked slowly uphill. My granny gear is as low as you can go, but at those speeds it’s really hard to keep from weaving all over the road. At least the traffic was minimal this hour in the morning. I had to stop to rest three times, and in the last half mile I full-on bonked and had to walk. As I rounded the final bend to the visitor center at the summit, I got back on my bike so as not to appear too pathetic. I limped in at 8:47 AM, and a ranger took my photos.

But it was really 9:47 AM, this was the Montana border and Mountain Daylight Time. I was so focused on the time because I wanted to make the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) headquarters by 3 PM, to have an hour with them before they closed for the weekend. I still had 44 miles to go, but it was mostly downhill. Freezing at the beginning, but improving as the altitude diminished and the day got warmer.

Montana! I was in Montana! The state has always had a mystical allure from me, home to Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, the headwaters of the Missouri, Little Bighorn, and the Unabomber. The only state highpoint, Granite Peak, that required rockclimbing skills. And, most importantly for me, the ACA headquarters.

For an atheist, I seem to make a lot of pilgrimages. I talked about the REI flagship store in my Seattle post. I did the mother of all pilgrimages, the Camino de Santiago, in 2019 (an incomplete blog is in the menu above). I had driven through Missoula before, but avoided stopping by the ACA headquarters, felt the only way to arrive there was by bike.

And there it was, just as I hoped it would be.

The doorhandles were wrapped drop handlebars, how cool is that?

Inside were a cyclist’s lounge, with ice cream and cold drinks, lots of ACA memorabilia from the Bikecentennial glory days, a photo wall of all the cyclists who’d passed through, and Sam and Geoff, who knew more about cycling in these parts than anyone.

I monopolized their time for an hour past closing. They gave me state cycling maps with info about shoulder quality and traffic densities, critiqued and made suggestions for my proposed circuitous route to connect the highpoint “parking lots”, gushed over my bike, weighed it on their special scale (126 pounds with no water!), and got a professional photographer to shoot me for the back cover of Adventure Cyclist magazine. I was reminded of that inane song by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show:

(Rolling Stone) Wanna see my picture on the cover
(Of the Stone) Wanna buy five copies for my mother (Yeah!)
(Stone) Wanna see my smilin’ face
On the cover of the Rolling Stone!

Yeah, exactly like that. We’ll see if I actually make it into the mag.

Distance 60 miles, 1,244 total. Time 7 hours with stops. Elevation gain 2,627 feet

©️ 2024 Scott Luria