Day 25: Bozeman, MT to Big Timber, MT

July 1, 2023

76 miles

1,114 miles so far

Bozeman, MT to Big Timber, MT

In order to make it to Big Timber today, our ride should have been about 71 miles. Unfortunately, I missed a turn and took us 2.4 miles out of our way..uphill. The good news of course is the 2.4 miles back was downhill! As a result, we logged about 76 miles, our longest ride so far. We had our standard quick breakfast in our room and started out at 6:45 knowing we had a long day of riding ahead.

Our day was comprised of sunshine, tailwinds, crosswinds, headwinds and thunderstorms - welcome to summer in the mountains of Montana!

The first half of the ride was very nice with rolling hills and beautiful scenery along the Yellowstone River. The portion of the ride on Jackson Creek Road was especially nice bordered by ranches and horse farms. It’s worth noting that at one point I heard Sharon having a very comfortable conversation on her phone with our son, Christopher, while climbing a 7% grade!

We stopped in at the Grizzly Encounter Center which is a refuge for rescued grizzly bears where we got a close up look at Max, an Alaskan grizzly weighing in at 1,100 pounds - and still growing. We had debated stopping not wanting to take the time but concluded it was worth the stop, and we were happy to have supported the cause.

Weather conditions changed quickly, as the winds picked up and the skies darkened. We decided to ride down a country side road in order to seek shelter and took refuge on a rancher’s covered patio. I did knock on the front door, but it appeared that no one was home. When the storm seemed to have passed, we resumed. We then noticed a new line of dark clouds forming behind us and coming our way. Fortunately, just as we were pulling off Highway 90 onto a frontage road we were able to take shelter under the overpass where we met two Canadian motorcyclists who were doing the same. We watched the radar on our phones, and when we felt the risk of lightning had passed and most of the rain had stopped, we got back on our bikes for the remaining 14 miles into Big Timber.

Most of today’s ride was on country roads or highway frontage roads; however, there were two stretches where we were forced to ride on the HW90 shoulder which was not much fun. The shoulder was very wide - almost a full lane’s width, but it was still uncomfortable with the fairly heavy traffic and windy conditions.

We arrived at our Super8 exhausted physically and mentally. A hot shower and a dinner cobbled together from the gas station grocery store was all we could muster. The allure of a juicy hamburger was not enough to get us back on the bikes to ride another mile to the Big Timber Bar and Grill.

Beautiful sunny morning