Adventures

The Tour Divide Days 5, Holland Lake Surprise

Columbia Falls, MT (18 June 2019)The smooth road and the cool air filled me with joy as I rolled away from Columbia Falls at 7:30 AM. The night before I made plans for the day and purchased supplies for the 105 mile ride to Holland Lake. There was a campground, restaurant and lodge at Holland Lake which made it a worthy destination for the day. My evening research also revealed there was a restaurant only a couple of hours up the road from Columbia Falls. It seems probable that I had a large calorie deficit from the previous days of riding which caused me to consider lingering in Columbia Falls that morning to partake in a second breakfast, completely forgetting about the restaurant just two hours away. So as I rolled away from Columbia Falls on smooth paved roads, I no longer expected an opportunity to resupply along the hundred mile journey to Holland Lake.

Very happy to have caught up to Larry and Mikki for second breakfast.

I vividly recall the feeling of dread when a car heading toward me pulled over and the driver's door swung open. Not 15 minutes earlier, I was shaken by a speeding sedan which came toward me partly in my lane. Earlier that morning a speeding pickup truck blew past me much too closely for my comfort, despite the long view of an empty road ahead. Consequently, I did not slow my pace as I approached the stopped motorist, not knowing whether his intentions would be consistent with the hostile impression Montana motorists had thus far imparted. When he started waving his arms I could see he was smiling so I stopped. He immediately asked, "will you be stopping at the restaurant at the corner ahead?" Wow, I thought, a restaurant? Oh yea I forgot, how awesome, I thought. I smiled broadly and gave him my best Wisconsin, "you betcha," in reply.

Larry and Mikki were sitting at an outdoor table at the Echo Lake Cafe and I walked immediately over to them. Without hesitation, Larry smiled and said, "we've been watching your dot bearing down on us." The website Trackleaders provides a live update of all the Tour Divide racer locations on a map. One can use the website to determine how far apart racers are but there's a catch. There can be minutes between website updates and the trackers that racers carry only report to the website every 5 to 30 minutes depending on how the tracker is configured. I used trackleaders the night before to determine that Mikki and Larry stopped in Whitefish yesterday. As was typical of the next few days, they got early start while I lingered in the morning. On this day I started ten miles ahead which they more than wiped out with an earlier start.

The route slices through a campground next to a river which provided this nice spot for my daily picnic. An avocado and a banana made for a pretty good lunch but I also had tortilla chips from Echo Lake Cafe.

I was very happy to have met up with Mikki and Larry and hoped to get my second breakfast in time to depart with them. Meanwhile the motorist who stopped me, Chris I think, joined us to talk about bikepacking. Chris was very interested in our gear and what we carry because he was planning his own bicycle trip. He also seemed happy to know that Larry was 62 and I was 63 years old. He was a similar age so he found this encouraging. We did not of course put him off by going on about our ailments such as my bum and Mikki's lip which was cracked and open, making it hard for him to eat the salty foods that endurance cyclists crave.

The riding was good from second breakfast with Larry and Mikki to Holland Lake. It wasn't long before the road turned to gravel, crossed a valley and turned upward. This was a long climb and it felt good. I thought I was nearing the top but then I noticed a rock face high above me which was clearly cut to make way for the road. Being from Wisconsin it's easy to forget just how long the climbs are in the west. After the sinking feeling passed, my groove returned and I was surprised how soon I found myself at that rock cut seen from far below. From the rock cut I could see the winding road below and the vast valley beyond. While enjoying a snack and the breeze rising from the valley below, I hoped to see Larry and Mikki heading up the climb. With no riders in sight, I rolled on over the top of the day's only big climb.

I was still on my own when I passed Jason. Over the last few days I came up upon him in the afternoon and each time he would be startled by my approach. Perhaps because of the music playing in his ears or an heightened fear of bears. He hailed from London and steadily and consistently pedaled for long hours each day. He would eventually finish a day ahead of me. On the way to Holland Lake I came upon him and another touring cyclist stopped to have lunch where the route made a left turn onto gravel. We chatted and I considered having my lunch there but I could see they had just about finished theirs. There was some question regarding what was ahead because this gravel road was new to the route this year. It was introduced to bypass some heavy logging activity which was an awesome move. Never once was I run off the road by a logging truck. Last time I toured by bicycle in Montana, I was run off the road several times by speeding logging trucks bearing down on me while blasting their horn.

The idea of lunch stayed with me as I rolled through the gorgeous forest on a rocky and sandy forest road. Keeping an eye on my GPS device for guidance, I noticed the road in front of me was about to make a semicircle. What actually happened is the route swung through a small campground with a fire ring and picnic table next to a river. Ah yes, lunch time has arrived. I had chips from the restaurant, an avocado and a banana. It was a lovely spot with rushing water loud enough to mask the sound of any bear that might want to creep up for a closer view. Alas, no bears just Jason and the other cyclist appeared as I was finishing up. After filtering water, Mikki and Larry soon appeared. I guess the bear would have been the next to arrive had I waited around a bit longer.

The last ten miles or so to Holland Lake are, well, interesting. I was often reminded that on the Tour Divide, miles mean nothing. It's bad to think you'll arrive somewhere soon because it's just ten miles. Sometimes it's just ten miles where the terrain is so difficult it's slow and sometimes it's impossible to ride. It can be difficult because of the incline, the rocks, the mud, the obstacles or sometimes the route is just hard to follow. The route holds other surprises too such as the overgrown double track in bear county which connects the road we are on to the road to Holland Lake. When I saw my GPS was taking me past a gate into tall grass enclosed by tall trees I thought it might be best to wait for Mikki and Larry. Those thoughts were cut short, however, by a swarm of mosquitoes. I pressed on and soon discovered a few downed trees along the way effectively created mosquito feeding stations along the route. I let out a few loud calls of "hey" to let the bears know I'm was coming but honestly, my thoughts were preoccupied with moving fast enough to keep from getting eaten by mosquitoes not bears.

I was headed toward a bonk when I finally made the turn onto the road leading to Holland Lake where a campground, lodge and restaurant awaited. As I rolled past the campground and headed toward the lodge and restaurant I saw another Tour Divide racer, John Schilling. He made his stop to eat and was headed out to camp rough along the route. I was feeling very much ready to be off the bike and was planning to return to the campground after eating. Before sitting down on my sore bottom to eat, I stopped at the office thinking I'd secure a campsite. This confused the person behind the desk and she snapped at me for not knowing the campground and lodge are not under one management. Okay my mistake, I hoped dinner would go more smoothly.

The view from Holland Lake Lodge

The restaurant at Holland Lake Lodge is for fine dining but despite me being a smelly dirty mess, I was greeted warmly. Still I was worried about getting food in a timely fashion and was also concerned there was no obvious store to buy food for the next day. As it turned out the choices for dinner were few but wonderful and I got started with refueling instantly with water, milk and a coke. With daylight persisting, my thoughts turned to camping and resupply.

A bowl of pea soup arrived as did the other riders. Nathan, Joe, Bill, Mikki and Larry dribbled into the lodge restaurant looking for food. Mikki and Larry joined me and instantly began talking about staying at the lodge. They too were put off by the steep prices listed on the limited menu but soon learned of an all inclusive deal for Tour Divide racers. We would end up enjoying fine dining in the form of a three course meal, lodging, breakfast and sandwiches to take with us for one price. While more than I would have liked to spend, it presented another opportunity to shower and take care of my bottom. I really enjoyed sharing a meal with Mikki and Larry. We talked about the day completed and the day ahead. Larry shared his stories of his past rides on the route and I realized how lucky I was to have crossed paths with these two.

Day 5 profile

On to Day 6