Day 21 - Beartooth Pass
Day 21 - Cooke City, MT to Red Lodge, Mt by way of Beartooth Pass - 59 miles - 5,124 ft of elevation gain
This day has been looming over our heads since the beginning of our trip discussions. Beartooth Highway is the highest road in both Wyoming and Montana, and the 7th highest in the US. We were climbing to just under 11,000 ft above sea level on our bicycles, who does that?
In our team meeting the night before we laid out the plan for the day and went over things to be aware of with altitude. For big hill climbing days, we do a rolling start. This way we all can go our preferred speed and still hopefully end up at the top around the same time. The other important discussion point was the descent. I decided we needed to split the boys up into 3 groups. This allowed for speed control and for cars to more easily pass smaller groups.
Mike and I knew we needed (wanted) extra time to go our own pace. We were told that breakfast was at 6:30am, but that wasn’t the case, so about 6:35 we hit the restaurant next door for eggs and hashbrowns (for me). It’s good we both eat fast, because we finished breakfast and were on our bikes by 7:04am.
The climb out of Cooke City was steep and had both of us wondering what we were going to face when the climb got more serious. This first climb took us over 8,000 ft, but that altitude was quickly lost with a beautiful descent of 1,000 ft. It was a cool morning which made the shadows extra chilling. The moon was still out and the sun beaming on the opposite side, and the mountains were cupping us on all sides. So amazing!
The serious climb started around the 10 mile mark, and so did the rough road for the next 10 miles. We all talked later about our strategy for riding the white line or finding spots where they didn’t heavily oil and chip the road. It’s amazing how much a rough road can slow you down, and on a serious climb that is no bueno!
At mile 21, we knew there was road construction and we’d have to navigate a one lane section where they are adding a bridge. Mike was ahead of me and the van had just passed me, when I reached the traffic light for the crossing. They had a pilot vehicle that escorted the cars through the 3/4 mile section. I made my way through the cars to get to where Mike was in line. As we were standing there one of the workers approached us and said it was unsafe for us to ride this section so we needed to pile in the truck and she would take us through the construction. We told her about the rest of the group coming and they said they would handle it. Ken, our van driver, offered to take the next group in the van, as the truck could only hold three. The ladies were so helpful! When I asked about her bear spray can, she said she had seen 2 grizzlies in the area and asked if we had bear spray. When I said no, she gave us a can of spray to take with us (a $50 gift). We had no need for the spray, which is good, but it would have been cool to see a bear (way in the distance of course). The ride across the construction zone was pretty and definitely confirmed that riding was not a good idea. Once on the other side, we had a short climb to the Top of the World Resort.
We stopped at the “resort” and waited for the rest of the team. I think we were there about 1.5hrs waiting for everyone to get across the construction section and bike up. The wait wouldn’t have been so bad had the mosquitoes not been able to live at 9,400 ft. They were out for fresh blood and no amount of bug spray could keep them away. I took refuge in the store, but once the team started to arrive it was too crowded in the small shop.
I knew we still had a good bit of climbing and several boys announced that the climb thus far was nothing. This was extra motivation for me to get moving and get ahead of them. So I told Mike I was out of there. We had 7.7 miles and about 1,400 ft of climbing left to tackle.
The road was now smooth so at least we weren’t fighting bumps too. The ascent wasn’t terrible, but it did wind up the mountain with lots of switchbacks. The views were getting increasingly more spectacular with each foot of climbing. Eventually I did get passed by the 3 fastest riders twice (they stopped for water and I left before them), but I managed stave off the other riders and was the 4th person to the top. Everyone did great getting up this mountain pass, and everyone we passed were amazed that we were biking up.
After pictures and waiting for everyone to get to the top, we had a short descent before another climb (a short one but it had some punch). We gathered for a group picture at the next point and then put our descent plan in place. I was initially told there weren’t guard rails, but there were and that was a relief! The descent was amazing with lots of hairpin turns. Each group was told to keep their speed in check, and we did manage to descend safely and with some fun 😉. There were a few places we stopped for a lookout and pictures. When we got closer to the bottom and were heading north, the headwinds were intense.
Things we learned today:
the unknown is often worse than the actual experience formerly unknown
you have to do lots of other mountains to make summiting at 11,000 feet possible
downhills continue to thrill and amaze
you can do more than you think is possible
prayer works - my lungs behaved and so did Mike’s Achilles
