I woke up to rain and had rain for most of the day today. Today was the first bad weather day of the trip. I started in Libby with a motel waffle and got on the road at about 9 AM. I’m normally worried about the heat, but not today.

Caroline started the ride with me, but bailed after about a mile and a half. I was surprised she even started… It was not an inspiring day to bike.

After about 14 miles, I hit a section of road construction for 6 miles. This wasn’t a simple repair but a full redo of the road. I rode the muddy, gravel road as fast as I could to get out of the construction zone. It was still raining pretty hard at this time but I actually had a bit of fun with not only the section but the whole ride today. The only bummer I had was a truck in a construction zone that kept “rolling coal”. I’m pretty convinced he was doing it just because I was about 25 yards behind him.

After the construction, the middle section of my 70 miles of riding today went pretty quick and it was relatively flat. I feel like I was going to whiz to the end. Of course, that’s when it kicked up again and I had to start climbing.

The rain with something I just had to deal with today and in some ways it was miserable, but I actually had fun with it. It was a different style of riding today and once I was soaked all the way through, it didn’t matter how much wetter I got.

We are staying in Marion, MT. I had considered riding all the way to Kalispell or Whitefish today, but between the weather and my saddle sores I think I made the right call in having a little bit shorter of a day.

My next two days are pretty short as well before I head up and the plan is to ride the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier. Our accommodations tonight are pretty plush at a nice bed-and-breakfast in the middle of the forest.

Pretty excited to let the body recover a little bit more here and in the next few days before the big climb. After that hopefully the winds will be with me in the plains.