Day 13

Rexford,MT - Whitefish,MT (64 miles)

I think it is safe to say that today's ride was the least pleasant ride thus far. All three of us were tired and the road was awful. Route 93 was not bike friendly.

But that being said, we still had a good time laughing and carrying on. By the way it is difficult to giggle and ride a bike at the same time, especially when going up hill.

Now back to Route 93. Before we left today, our host, Richard, wished us the best and told us to ride safe. I have always thought it was kind of  an odd thing to say, because for a cyclist, safety is only partially in out control. We can wear a helmet and bright colors, have lights at night, choose safe routes, and follow all the rules of the road, but that is only part of being safe. The other part is up to everyone else on the road: drivers and other cyclists.

I was thinking about this a lot today. Our maps do a good job of putting us on low traffic routes when available, but there are times when that is not possible. Like today. While on Route 93 we did our best to signal, stay on the white line, and be as visible as possible, however about 25 percent of the drivers around us didn't realize or care that they were putting us in danger. It got to the point that if I saw someone in my mirror who didn't look like they were going to move over I would put my arm out to show them how close they were about to get. It worked for the most part, but I still got buzzed occasionally. I'm not sure where everyone was going in such a hot hurry, but I really appreciated those drivers who took the time to slow down and move over, even if that ment waiting 20 seconds for the car in the other lane to go by before passing us.