Missoula: Motel to Bike Shop
Bike adventure officially complete. Here's the last Strava ride.
Last night before bed, I repacked both panniers so that instead of a 50/50 weight split, I had all the bike stuff (kit, tools, parts, etcetera) in one bag, and all the other stuff (street clothes, laptop, toiletries, etcetera) in the other. This morning, I put on street clothes and cleats and knee warmers because it was 45 degrees, then rolled 20 easy minutes from the motel to Hellgate Cyclery. I swapped my cleats for my running shoes, and then I waved goodbye to the bike and one of the panniers. Then I walked half an hour to the Greyhound terminal, and now I'm on a bus headed for Bozeman.
Using a bike for long distance transportation is really eye-opening re: just how effective modern vehicles are. My longest day was just shy of 120 miles, and I was completely spent at the end of it. This bus will make that distance in less than two hours, and I'll probably be stiff from sitting still. The plane ride home will be even worse; in 90 minutes, we'll cover my entire trip and then some. It turns out 500 miles is REALLY FAR if you have to cover it under your own power, and 5,000 miles isn't so bad in an airplane.
There's also a thing about how powerful modern vehicles are; I averaged somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter of a horsepower on the bike for the trip. Our station wagon peaks at over 1,000 times that.
Anyway. Enough ramble-ramble. Thanks for reading; this was quite the experience, and if there's a thing for me to take from it, it's that I should be better about having adventures regularly. The people you get to talk to, the things you get to see--there's no real predicting it, and there's no substitute for just going and trying it.
Last night before bed, I repacked both panniers so that instead of a 50/50 weight split, I had all the bike stuff (kit, tools, parts, etcetera) in one bag, and all the other stuff (street clothes, laptop, toiletries, etcetera) in the other. This morning, I put on street clothes and cleats and knee warmers because it was 45 degrees, then rolled 20 easy minutes from the motel to Hellgate Cyclery. I swapped my cleats for my running shoes, and then I waved goodbye to the bike and one of the panniers. Then I walked half an hour to the Greyhound terminal, and now I'm on a bus headed for Bozeman.
Using a bike for long distance transportation is really eye-opening re: just how effective modern vehicles are. My longest day was just shy of 120 miles, and I was completely spent at the end of it. This bus will make that distance in less than two hours, and I'll probably be stiff from sitting still. The plane ride home will be even worse; in 90 minutes, we'll cover my entire trip and then some. It turns out 500 miles is REALLY FAR if you have to cover it under your own power, and 5,000 miles isn't so bad in an airplane.
There's also a thing about how powerful modern vehicles are; I averaged somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter of a horsepower on the bike for the trip. Our station wagon peaks at over 1,000 times that.
Anyway. Enough ramble-ramble. Thanks for reading; this was quite the experience, and if there's a thing for me to take from it, it's that I should be better about having adventures regularly. The people you get to talk to, the things you get to see--there's no real predicting it, and there's no substitute for just going and trying it.
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