Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Early start for the big riding day, with 365 miles ahead of us to Gardiner, Montana, just next to the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Glad to see Jim's feeling better, although he's been told to start the day in the van (but I suspect that's because it's raining and if his Suzuki gets wet, it's likely to rust away...). But the time I'd updated the blog, well before the scheduled 8am departure, most of the group had already left. So I rode out alone into the p*ssing rain, but as the road followed the course of the river, twisting this way and that in open sweeping bends, I didn't mind. I was quickly in the groove, hammering along at a steady 70 ish, enjoying the riding if not the rain, which was like needles being stuck in my arms as it continued to pour down.

Before long I was also getting a bit cold, as I'd only a thin tee-shirt on under my jacket and over-jacket, so I stopped and put on my thermal layer before resuming the race, sorry, ride. I caught and passed several of the group, including Chris and Danielle who had stopped to remove rain gear as soon as the rain let up. I didn't, though, as it wasn't clear whether we were heading for the band of blue sky in one direction, or the band of dark grey in the other...

Soon it became clear it would be the former, as I turned on to Highway 279 from Lincoln, marked on the route-notes as “a good riding road”. Not bloody half it wasn't! It wound its way up and across a mountain, in a series of challenging bends, some open and very fast, others full-on first-gear hairpins. I'd set my on-bike video going at the start and left it running the whole time, but unfortunately I can't seem to upload it to the website for you to see. Suffice to say, if you get sea-sick, you'd be better off not watching, as the horizon switched from level to steeply-inclined one way, then the other. It's a great way to critique my riding too, as it's easy to spot the one or two bends I turned in slightly early, missing the perfect line (and the one or two I got it just right). Roads like this, devoid of traffic, are perfect reasons to ride a motorcycle, and I was certainly in the groove. But not without caution, as I proved when I came out of one bend to be confronted by 3 deer crossing the road. Well, one was to the right, one slap in the middle and the 3rd about to cross. I stopped in plenty of time (“in control and on my side of the road” as RoSPA would have it), and got some lovely footage of the deer running off. By the time I got down into the valley the other side, and back on straighter roads, I was laughing like a madman. Nick was parked up by the roadside, contemplating removing his panniers and riding the road again, but things like that lead to disaster, so we hooked up and rode together the rest of the way.

After stopping to remove waterproofs and layers of clothing, we rode some more fantastic roads before I had to knock the pace right off for fear of running out of fuel (again). This time I was lucky, and as my bike clocked up 300 miles on the tank, we found a station and I filled up (and looking at how much I put in, I was almost empty, with just the 2l bottle to go). The rest of the journey was slightly more sedate, as Montana started to live up to its name as “big sky country” the rolling hills flattening out into scorched bushland and the roads straightening out as they led off into the horizon. We stopped briefly half an hour from Gardiner, to look at the river and guzzle fluids. As it was a “riding day”, I also took my first photo of the day at that spot, having not stopped earlier as the riding was too good to interrupt...





By 2.30pm we were checked in to the hotel and showered and enjoying the sun from the balcony. I bought a phone card so I could call Tracy from a normal phone in case there was no Internet, but there was, and this time I managed to get through to her on Skype (but without video, as her PC is bust). It was great to finally get chance to talk, and clear up those little misunderstandings that arise when email is the only form of communication. I hope hearing me made her day as much as hearing her made mine.

With my blogging chores also done, we headed across the bridge to the “Two Bit Saloon” for a beer before the team briefing at 6.30pm. The bar was a really old, Western-style wooden bar, so naturally I had to try and capture it as part of a “Beer Shot” - despite what it says on the glass, we were drinking “Fat Tire”, a local brew and very nice too... (and served in pitchers, of course...)





After a couple of pitchers we headed back to hear Kevin run through the plans for tomorrow (including the ritual humiliation of the birthday boy... me...) and the day after, and then we wandered back to the Two Bit Saloon for dinner, a 12oz Ribeye steak cooked on charcoal and served with ranch-style beans, corn on the cob and garlic bread (and for some strange reason, a strawberry). My steak wasn't brilliant, but it was ok, the others had much better luck., their steaks being almost fat-free (compared to mine, which was almost half fat). After dinner we went into the bar proper, where Richard played the jukebox and we all played pool (badly, in most cases, although Nigel and Jim have clearly played before...).

Then it was time to stroll back across the bridge and into bed, to get a good night's sleep ahead of my birthday tomorrow...