Riding through a storm!

Yo M’s, T’s, R’s and K’s it was great reading your Post yesterday, especially after our 86-mile ride. We gotta say it made us a little home sick, with all your talk about ‘The Crouch’ and late nights around an open fire courtesy of Rick & Karen. Anthony would like to make a few Benny Hill references/jokes, but can’t knowing that we now have several school children following the blog. So you’ll have to make do with, “did you guys roast any Chestnuts?”

We’re still on target to reach NYC by October. More importantly our visas run out on October 20^th 2010, so we’ll have to be back well before then. Good news is that we are making good progress and today’s advance closer to Yellowstone Natl’ Forest was testament to that. We left Thompson Falls earlier than usual this morning, it was raining heavily and the wind was of course blowing hard and it wasn’t on our backs. The ride into St. Ignatius was 70 miles and we really wanted to get there before darkness set.

Soaked and cold we stopped for our first break in Plains, MT. As we chatted to a few of the locals whilst drinking coffee and eating power bars and peanuts, we noticed the rain clouds draw back to reveal a blue and sunny sky. This interlude encouraged us to finish up, cut the conversations short, remount and push on hoping that the remaining 50 miles would be under the cover of sunshine. Fortunately, as we cycled the rain clouds 5 miles behind were playing catch up whilst the group of clouds 5 miles ahead tormented us with they potential deluge. We were happy in this ‘pocket of beauty’ and witnessed some truly breathtaking scenery and escaped a vicious attack by a wild animal.

Known for its wild Bears, Moose and Bison, all very big animals, Montana can be a scary and wild place, and we experienced it today. Our attacker made a blood-chilling cry as we passed by, nearly throwing us off our bikes. In fear of being chased down by the blood-thirsty animal, we about turned thinking a full-on sign of aggression would increase our chances of survival. As we approached the scene, there in the grass lying low, muscles tensed ready to pounce was …Bambi …a little baby Deer who had lost its Mum (or she had been mown down by an 18 wheeler). You may laugh but seriously, a little 8inch deer can be very scary when you’re not expecting it. Not staying to look at the little bundle of cuteness, we shooed Bambi off the side of the road and back into the woods before Mummy turned up and put an antler in our arse.

Feeling like good Samaritans, a little shaky but fine, we set off to complete our last 15 miles. It was nice apart from the increased headwind, 550ft hill climb and return of the torrential rains. So we arrived at our Motel soaked and cold …again. We had to do some laundry and order pizza for dinner …yuk.

Us x