Day 20: Another Flat? Guess Who!

Hey y’all, Dustin here - this morning was the first time we tried to get up REALLY early (5am) in an attempt to beat the heat and the wind. We did this with moderate success, no one was up by 5 but we did leave shortly after 7 which was the goal! Today was another day of plains (but like not the flat kind that we would want) and we also have two new riding buddies! 

Leo and Pat are two college students from the east coast who are also biking across the country, and after hearing about each other for weeks we finally got to meet last night. So we decided to ride together but Julia, Brian, and I set off just a bit earlier than them because we knew they would be speedy. You know - these grandpas knees of my definitely can’t keep up with these young whippersnappers (if you missed it, I literally have patella tendinitis in both knees so I’m not even joking).

The leaving a bit ahead proved to be a great choice because they caught us within the first 5 miles. After catching up we road the rest of the day together and we set a new highest average speed! Mostly because these boys are hardened warriors who literally never stop to take breaks and we thought we would try that style out - even if it is only for one day! 

(Photo taken by Leo) 

Don’t let our new highest average top speed fool you - today was ROUGH… we did successfully beat the wind… for about 20 miles… after that in came on in FORCE. We spent the next 30 miles or so biking against a head/cross wind that stopped us in our tracks. We literally had to pedal down hills and don’t even get me started about up hill… despite all that, we were still making some good time because we were barely stopping! 

All good things come to an end though… unfortunately another person got a flat… and for once it actually wasn’t Brian! Pat ended up getting this one so we stopped to help out - we tried to seal his tire up but it just wouldn’t hold air and unfortunately none of us had any tubes that were the right side. Luckily, Julia’s parents happened to show up and took pat to the bike shop to get everything fixed up. That left Leo and the three of us to go the remaining 20 miles to Great Falls. Eventually we turned east again and that head/cross wind turned into a tail/cross wind - so we got into town pretty quick.

Once we got to the campground at the Great Falls Air Force 7 miles out of town we realized it was only for military personnel… so we sent Julia to go talk to the camp host because she’s by far the nicest of the group - and my RBF probably would have gotten us kicked out at best, thrown in jail at worst! So Julia played up the fact that we just biked 70 miles and that we are riding for charity and all that good jazz and he folded like a basic white girl sniffing flowers. He let us stay despite not being military so we went over to the site to set up our tent! 

Unfortunately for us, the same wind that blasted us all day was still up to no good! Pictured here is what my tent looked like about 30 seconds after I set it up:

It was so windy that my tent poles bent and Brian and I had to bend them back, after moving the tent behind a tree to break the wind of course. 

Once we all set up, I… like I always do… asked when the hell we were going to get some beer. And the answer was immediately, but there was only one problem - our new friends aren’t 21 yet, but never fear! Because the fakes are here! And funny enough they were from Connecticut and looked exactly like our not so fake IDs! So we mosied on over the 1.5 miles to the bar expecting some grungy shop with maybe some pretzels for food. But damn we were wrong - we walked into a full ass restaurant with taxidermy of almost all the animals found in Montana - including a little squirrel wearing a construction jacket which they move around the restaurant so people can play a little I spy. 

I got a corona with lime because it’s surprisingly hydrating and then a 20oz prime rib with some mashed taters! A big boy steak for a little boi cyclist but I ate it all and it was DELICIOUS!

After dinner we all piled into Julia’s parents car (5 of us in a not so big back seat) and headed to Walmart to stock up on food before coming back to the campsite to chill - so now here we are - chillin out at the campsite (Julia as playing catch with herself - you can do with that what y’all will) and we are looking forward to another day of riding with our new pals tomorrow! Another 70 miles! Hopefully with a tailwind this time - check in tomorrow for our daily shenanigans 🤗