Continental Divide

Yesterday, I rode over the Continental Divide from Lincoln to Augusta, Montana. Today, I pushed on from Augusta to Great Falls, Montana.

The ride over the Divide was one of my most enjoyable days of the entire trip. The climb, while daunting on paper, actually was merely a paper tiger, as the grade was forgiving enough to permit me to drop my bike into a modest gear and just grind it up to Rogers Pass. The thrill was in the high-speed descent, with outstanding vistas of the mountains behind me and the big sky country ahead of me. I grinned like a fool the entire way down and it took me a few hours to wipe the silly look from my face.

Augusta is a true cowboy town and at the general store, I overheard conversations about the damage imposed by a notable bull at the recent rodeo. Great Falls, in contrast, is a well established city with all the amenities. My bike was emitting a noise from the bottom bracket, so I found a bike shop in Great Falls, and it fortunately turned out to be a very simple fix and I'm ready to hit the road tomorrow morning.