Friday was a much needed three quarter day ride. We still were able to get in 40+ miles, but only had one steep climb to get over Huckleberry Pass. We had lunch at the summit, our usual gorp, energy cliff bars and some dry granola. We met a young man on his motorcyle that had also pulled off the dirt road and was eating his sandwich. He was from Helena and showed us the huckleberry bushes near the side of the road, little red berries that are very popular this time of year. He also told us an interesting grizzly with it's cubs encounter his friend had just experienced, he had his pistol pulled but luckily the griz had stopped its charge. We finished around 3pm in Lincoln, getting ready for our next day, which included our first day of visiting a laundrymat even though our rinsing and wringing our riding gear out in water has worked pretty well so far.

Saturday was a long day, 63 miles, we summited our first Continental Divide crossing one of three we would do today. The ride was the hardest of any we have had to date. We left early in the morning and began riding in 48 degrees at 6am. The first Continental Divide crossing was difficult, definitely the steepest climb so far. We ran into a rancher before the climb that pulled over in his pickup truck and told us "I wouldn't do it if I were you", we had to follow the maps, just couldn't miss what was in store for us. We biked up almost all the 4.4 miles of the steep part but for the first time we had to dismount our bikes and push our bikes and trailers up the steep rutted lose gravel trail that was just too steep to ride. Biking through streams crossing the trail and through water pools one to two feet deep, we got wet, sweated profusely, and used muscles we had not used before. John got a flat at the top, he has tubeless tires that have this goo like material added to the inside of his tires that plugs up any holes caused by the sharp rocks that we are riding over. It pretty interesting to watch the goo girgle through the tire and plug up the hole, without us having to do anything other than add a little more air.

We crossed the first Divide about 11:00a.m. and headed down the eastern side past beautiful meadow lands and ranges. Cattle range freely in that area, so you need to watch closely for large cattle crossing the gravel road. At the bottom we had our usual gorp lunch above an isolated ranch and then rode another steep assent, no pushing our bikes this time (pushing the bikes and trailer is actually harder than riding). We crossed the Divide again, descended through logging country, took a final break and then climbed once more for our third Divide crossing. After a long descent along sometimes heavily wash boarded road we biked the last 12 miles on paved road into Helena. We were very tired, but felt a sense of accomplishment on climbing 5,485 in elevation and ascending three summits for the day!!

Today, is Sunday morning and Pete's 53rd birthday!! Happy B-day to Pete! He was off to Walmart this morning looking for an Ipad charger,so we can keep these blogs going (he inadvertantly left his at the cafe two days back). We are restocking on food and fuel for the next two days for our ride into Butte and getting our bikes looked over. We will camp out tonight somewhere short of the Lava Mountain.

Total miles so far about 430. Total route miles approximately 375, (difference being getting lost, only one big one so far and off route trips to towns for some lodging and meals. Elevation gain approximately 23,000. Sore butts and muscles. Mike likes his Specialized Stump Jumper hard tail 29er, but is wishing he had full suspension, like Pete and John for the wash board rutted roads. All three of us our holding up good and are getting along remarkably well.