Our rest day in Missoula was so much fun!!!! We started our day off touring the Adventure Cycling facilities. Adventure Cycling is a non for profit organization that leads groups of cyclists all around America throughout the year. We even derived our early Illini 4000 routes from their organization because the routes are very safe and cycling friendly. It was awesome to see some old bicycles around the room and read stories of cross country cyclists that came before us. After that, we split off and some group members went white water rafting, while others decided to take a more restful approach to the rest day and hang out at coffee shops, diners, and other local establishments. At the end of the day we all came together for a free meal at Five on Black (think, a Chipotle style restaurant but for Brazilian food!) and then had some ice cream before calling isna successful day off.
This morning we dedicated our ride to Viraat’s neighbor Tony Spicer. Tony is currently battling cancer, and we kept him and his family in mind throughout our ride today.
Our ride today was an easy 57 miles, except for it wasn’t that easy because we managed to get ourselves into some adventures today! There are times as I’m sure you know where Google maps leads you astray and you end up where maybe you shouldn’t be. Today, we were on a gravel road that eventually ended and lead to someone’s private property. After some impromptu hiking with our bikes, bridge climbing, and a lot of hard pedaling on gravel, we made it into Superior Montana (our website says Riverbend – this is the town just up the road!) with a lot of time to relax.
Our stayover this evening is the amazing air-conditioned Superior Community Church, complete with warm showers and a delicious home cooked meal. We are thankful to be here during our last night in Montana!
A huge shout-out for Marc and his family for sending us food on our rest day! We ate a lot of it today and it kept spirits high
(also shout-out to my own family for the snacks and words of encouragement, I love you!)