Detours and Tlc of our bikes

Wednesday August 24, 2022. 46.5 miles. We rode from Dickey Lake, South of Eureka to Whitefish Lake State Park. Loud thunderstorms in the night and we woke up to soggy wet tents. We also awoke to an incessant beep, beep, beep, as the logging started before daylight. Craaaack! Thud! Crunch….beep, beep, beep. They must drive logging vehicles that cut trees backwards. It has been quite dry which has been great in the morning packing the tents, especially from a weight perspective. Today we are continuing on a detour due to construction. We went up the Stryker Whitefish Road road about 15 miles to reconnect with the great divide route. 10 miles were a slow steady grind up, and up, and up. We both felt strong and it was the first day it was overcast, so it was much cooler. We took lunch about 3 hours into the ride near a gated side road. The road itself was gravel but all rideable. Then we went down, down, down. I like going down. We intersected the GD trail near Upper Whitefish Lake. In 5-6 hours of riding the gravel roads we saw 3 cars and 3 cyclists. As we came into the town of Whitefish, a summer home and ski resort town, we road the length of the lake, mostly high above the lake with a steep drop down to the lakeside. And no guard rails…..in town we found a great coffee shop before heading to the White first Lake State Park. There we reunited with John and Louis. We also met a Danish couple who arrived late, coming from Alaska and headed to South America……that’s lot of miles! That’s Tara cleaning up a dinner spill as bear prevention.

Bike Care: we have most of what we would need for a bike repair with us. Shifter and Brake Cables, a tire, tubes, brake pads, rags, cleaner, lube. Spare spokes, chain links, and nuts and bolts. We clean the chains daily and may stop mid trip for a tune up somewhere.