Friday, June 16, 2000

We traveled 63 miles from St Mary’s MT to Cut Bank MT. We followed highway 89 up 2000 feet until we came to the Cut Bank Creek (On the map it is called a river). We then left highway 89, and the road was fairly level so we were able to travel between 15 and 23 miles per hour. The route took us through Browning MT where we stopped for lunch where we met a couple from Virginia. They were in Montana so the husband could go for a mountain bicycle ride. After a long conservation, Mary Kay mentioned that she had a problem with her bicycle shoe, as she was missing one screw to hold on the clipless bracket. He had the same type of clipless pedal and gave Mary Kay one of the screws from his shoe. This solved the clipless pedal problem. Strangers sure are wonderful.

From Browning to Cut Bank we traveled on highway 2, the highway we will be on until we reach Minnesota. The highway is very level and we had a tail wind for most of the distance. Therefore, we made very good time. When we left highway 89, our average speed was 4.5 miles per hour after traveling 10 miles. After traveling 63 miles our average speed was 13 miles per hour. We got to the motel, took our showers and then I noticed that the front tire of the bicycle was flat. Mary Kay must put a hex on that front tire. I took the tire off the bicycle and looked it over. I found a small, very sharp stone stuck in the tire. I took the tire off the rim and found that the stone had punched the tube. I repaired the tube and we went to supper while the patch had time to cure. When we returned from supper, I finished fixing the flat tire. Today we traveled in the rain for only about 6 miles.