Billings to Custer – 100k – 62 miles
Average speed – 11.8

Perplexed cows ceased chewing their cud, turning their heads to ponder what brought us to their territory. Maybe it was my yellow jacket that caught their attention because several cows simultaneously looked our way. I, too, was perplexed by the inordinate amount of hills that we encountered today. We had heard about the Hysham Hill, which starts just a few miles outside of Custer, but really hadn’t considered that there might be more hills beyond Billings.

We dawdled again this morning as the temp was in the 30’s. Fortunately, our map of Billings indicated a bike path that wasn’t too far away from our motel.
We followed frontage roads to the start of this very nice path, which first took us through industrial areas and then into quieter parts of Billings. By the time we got to the end of the path, we had already ridden 12 miles. The other option was to take I-90 to I-94, but we didn’t want to deal with having to make a left exit to I-94 and the bridge across the river was long enough and we were concerned about the shoulder situation. When we passed by the Interstate bridge as it crossed the Yellowstone, we knew that we had made the right choice as the bridge also climbed.

Once we left the urban sprawl, the roads became quiet. We hit the 1000 mile mark at Worden. That may have been the high point of the day. No, there were several high points, mostly hills. We traveled the flat back roads until we came directly into I-94 at Pompeys Pillar.

Pompeys Pillar
We didn’t visit the monument as it would have required riding on a dirt road and a significant amount of time. We’ll save that for a day when we have a car.

A typical climb today

Almost immediately after we entered the highway, the road became extremely rolling. The landscape has changed considerably from yesterday and looks like what I consider a typical western cowboy and Indian movie set.
My Idea of the West
Expansive vistas, with rock outcroppings and occasional clusters of foliage dominate the landscape. The variety of scenery that we have enjoyed so far on this journey makes me think about those people who only travel abroad because they claim that there is nothing to see in the US. How they can make such a statement without having ever been anywhere but abroad baffles me.

Welcome

We knew that our accommodations tonight would be a trailer motel. We first experienced this type of lodging back in Dayton, but prior to then, I had never seen or heard of such a place. Hysham, just up the road, also has a trailer motel. It isn’t the Ritz or even the Motel 6, but after a day like today, we are happy to have a place to rest

The Motel

We have heard throughout the trip that there were cyclists a day or two ahead of us. Obviously, we could never catch them. Today, the owner of the motel told us that a cyclist had stopped in a few hours before our arrival. He complained of the headwinds that he was facing, but had planned on reaching Forsyth, our destination tomorrow; a century ride from Billings. No thanks. Before the headwind really blew in our faces, we had planned on riding long distances thanks to great tailwinds. Those tailwinds have yet to materialize, but we are still hoping for one for the 80 mile ride from Miles City to Baker.

Typical Warning throughout the West

George Custer was born in Monroe, Michigan. It seems that the last time that we were in that town, any mention of George Custer’s name was removed from the welcome signs. It just isn’t pc to be associated with George. Monroe would rather be known as the home of La-Z-Boy.

A thousand miles into the trip, here are some tips on training. Thanks to Linda Melone.

Podcast produced by Robert and Theresa Russell
Edited by Erik Russell
Intro music Cluck Ole Hen arranged by Bandjoe
Outro Tall Fiddler arranged by Deyo
Logo designed by Laura Ross
Copyright 2007

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 27th, 2007 at 3:13 pm and is filed under General, routes, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.