Day 8: Butts Bumping All the Way to Butte
Saturday, June 26
Helena to Butte, Montana
Mileage: 77.1, Feet climbed: 8,064, Cumulative mileage: 466.1
Today was our most physically challenging day yet. We knew that it would be difficult so we got an early start in Helena and were rolling by 7:30 AM. Sarah bandaged but her butt and was anxious to try out a new saddle — a risk for sure. The climb out of Helena was 30 miles split into two sections. The first section was washboard so it was slow going but paled in comparison to the second section which boasted several miles of very steep washed out dirt bike roads filled with large rocks and tree detritus. We hoisted our bikes up and over obstacles, frequently lost footing, and may or may not have uttered a fair amount of profanity. And it was hot. And mosquito jerks were following us so you couldn’t rest for too long.
We finally made it to the top and descended down into the town of Basin where we enjoyed the most delicious beverage a couple of overheated, thirsty, and tired girls could ask for: a cold Coke. We bumped into fellow bikepacker Peter who is racing the northbound Tour Divide and we think might be the only one left who didn’t drop out due to the extreme temperatures in New Mexico several weeks ago. He looked tired. Go figure!
From Basin to Butte, we endured headwinds, heat, and more washboard. Oh and a guy shooting a rifle toward a ravine from the hood of his car parked on the side of the road we were riding on. It was a steady climb toward Butte with our fourth (we think) crossing of the Continental Divide. We still didn’t get a sign to take a picture with but there were two big posts that we theorized may have held signage at one point so we posed our bikes with them for a shot. We continued on to the steeper climbs closer to the city of Butte and pulled into the KOA. We arrived at our tent spot only to discover that the guy in the next spot over is a bikepacker we met last week on our ride out of Holland Lake. Such a small world.
The jury is still out on the saddle but fingers crossed. Now we sleep.
Published June 27, 2021