Day 16/May 17
The ride today is the one that has taken precedence in all my thoughts about this trip. Physically intimidated by the thought of climbing Lolo Pass, I had planned for the worst. The morning started that way. I was so stiff and lacked energy that I was certain that I would be covering the territory on foot and that is a reason we decided to cover just over 20 miles. I could take all day walking over Lolo.
Well, the climb was a bit more challenging than Alpowa. The road gradually climbed for a few miles, then took a steep turn. I was happy to be on this side of the road and climbing. Descending Lolo toward Powell would looked like quite the treacherous ride. For some reason, I have lost the thrill I once had of fast descents that I had enjoyed so much. I never understood those who used their brakes going downhill. I am now one of those people and totally understand as I now often feel that I will catapult over the handlebars.
Certainly, I didn’t need to worry about great speed on this climb. We both steadily climbed taking rests every now and then. At times, I wished for a lower gear, but it really wouldn’t have made the climb all that much easier. This climb was done a mile at a time and although the miles clicked off very slowly, we were making progress. We stopped at an overlook and Robert had forgotten that he was clipped in. Even after all this time, it is easy enough to forget that our feet are rather permanently affixed to the pedals. It seems the easiest time to forget is when we our distracted by something or in a situation of impending doom.
Some road workers checked to see if Robert were OK and told us that there was hot coffee at the visitor center at the top. Even though we aren’t big coffee drinkers, a warm drink became the next goal. The grade of the climb seemed to be less intense or maybe we were just feeling stronger, spurred on by the promise of a drink at the top. Snow suddenly appeared along the road, followed shortly after by a building - the visitor center.
We chatted with the friendly volunteers and some motorcyclists who informed us how much drivers hate cyclists. Just what we needed to hear. In general, most of the traffic has been courteous. My last brush with death was on the first day of the trip when that logging truck came within millimeters of my arm.
The visitor center is quite pleasant with hot chocolate, which I opted for, and coffee. Since we had a fast downhill ride to Lolo Hot Springs, we were in no great rush. The thrill of conquering Lolo made the stiffness disappear. This must have been one of those endorphin highs. The sign welcoming us to Montana was just on the other side of the parking light and its message was calling to us. It was time
to head down into the next state.
The downhill was a nice one and we realized that climbing up from the other side would have been a long steady incline, unlike the steep and sharp way we arrived. However, this made our descent far more comfortable as we didn’t need to maneuver steep hairpins. We quickly reached Lolo Hot Springs where we enjoyed the water and relaxed for the rest of the day. After all, we didn’t cover that much territory today. It was certainly a good plan on our part and a nice reward for our efforts.