Eureka to Whitefish (56 miles)

6-27-2010

Today was supposed to be an easier ride, but turned out to be quite a bit more challenging that we were expecting.   I think we're finding out that just because there's no big climbs, doesn't mean the day won't be hard. 

I met Jim, Don, and Bob at a nearby restaraunt for breakfast at 6am.  Mine was excellent, I had 2 eggs, hashbrowns, 3 sasauge links, and some sourdough toast.  Yumm.

Then after quickly loading up our bikes, we all were ready to get back on the road.  The day started off with some monster hills, during which we were passed by some "super" bikers.  The three of them were all college age and raced up the hills I was struggling up.  Finally we got back to route 93, which meant the hills were more gradual.  Unfortuneately it also meant that the trees weren't blocking the wind anymore.  For the next 20 miles we pushed into the wind, at times pedaling hard to get 9 mph on the flats..Yuck!

Rest stop...sometimes that would seem like we were really close.  Today it felt like forever.

To make matters worse, the traffic was very heavy, though we did have a good shoulder.  However as soon as we were able to, we left route 93 to take backroads for the last 15 miles into Whitefish.  Along the way we saw the coolest effect.  Their were some bizzare clouds under the sun.  The clouds had ripples in them, like waves, and were very thin.  As the Sun shown through them, it created a rainbow effect.  It wasn't a solid circle rainbow like you get with sun dogs, but looked more similar to the Arura.

 Unfortunately the colors don't show up, but you can still see the interesting cloud pattern.  Hopefully Don's photos turn out better and I can post one later. 

Finally, after another nasty stretch on route 93 I rolled into our campground in Whitefish.  It's  very nice campground with good facilities and it's right on a lake.  After setting up camp, I road into town to do some shopping and hang out.

Tomorrow we'll head into Glacier national park for 3 days of riding.  I doubt I'll be able to post updates until we get out of the park, but we'll see.