Glacier Galore

Wow!! After two days of driving my fellow guide and I arrived in Kalispell, MT. We watched the 4th of July fireworks on Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake in MT), over pizza and beer. The next morning we prepped for our week-long cycling tour. I rode the first day into Glacier NP, but because I lost rock-paper-scissors I didn't get to ride over the Going-to-the-Sun Highway this trip. The views from the climb were awesome and the dirt section, currently under repair, gave the climb and Italian Giro mountain experience. The next day we rode over the border into Canada and stayed in the marvelous Prince of Wales Hotel. The view was spectatular. Decided to do some extra riding; and it was EPIC. Went off-road with my cyclo-cross bike in Waterton Lakes NP. Over a thousand feet of climbing and then I went on some single-track. For the next two hours I explored a lake, bounded over rocks and roots, and went up gnarly grades; all the time making noise to avoid suprising any bears. I saw no one else and the ride and accompanying views were awesome. This was most likely the second most epic ride of my life (see earlier blog for the most)!

From Waterton we retraced our treads south back into the U.S. It was the penultimate day of the trip, with 80 miles of headwinds and climbing, but I didn't get to ride it. Arg!! The next day was a rest day the eight of us (6 guests, 3 couples) did a great hike near Two Medicine Lakes. Incredible views from the mountains to the plains. That afternoon I rode back along the route really testing my form. The climbing and descending was incredible!!! My form is coming along nicely. The next day was a relatively easy ride into West Glacier where great hotel room views of Lake McDonald awaited. Great park lodges and pretty good food all around, except for the biscuits and gravey. Today we dropped off the guests back in Kalispell and I'm frantically running errands. Tomorrow my fellow guide and I are heading back into Glacier for a few days of backpacking. That's the short story. I'll post pictures if I ever get a spare moment. To the open road...