Drummond, MT to Ramsay, MT - Ambition under pressure

June 18 - 60 miles 5 hours seat time.

Eventually this trip will involve Ragbrai, which was a bucket list item in and of itself. But this means that I need to be in Onawa, IA on, or preferably before July 18, 2026.

At the end of today, I will have 28 days to get to Onawa. I have about 1250 miles to get there. If I ride every day, I must average 44 miles. to get rest days I must average 55-60 miles.

Or I could just ride my ride and whatever happens....happens. Weather has been great so far. That probably won't be the case over the longer term. So...we'll see what happens, but it's good to have goals and I always wanted to average 55 miles (or better) on this trip.

SQUID...CAN...RIDE....FIFTY FIVE!!!!(IYKYK)

I forgot to mention in the last post that we met a trio of riders out of Moscow, ID. Matt, Jen, Nick, and Tiko the black labradoodle. Nick had just scratched the Tour Divide race

after breaking his cranks at mile 700. They were traveling in a white van, with bicycles and a dog. Of course we had to hang out. We shared dinner, a campfire, and talked about wide ranging subjects beyond bicycle adventures. It was lovely.

The next morning I left at 8am. It was mildly chilly, but I wore a jacket and warmed up quickly. Not many pictures today. Actually a fair amount video, but I haven't started that part of the website build out or taught myself Davinci....so....patience please.

The skies were amazing until just after lunch.

I rode pretty much straight from Drummond to Deer Lodge which has a combination auto museum and historical prison. Adjacent to the prison was the Cell Block Tavern which looked like a hoot...but would have to wait. Bunny and Poodle met me at Arrow Stone State Park and we stopped for lunch and a recovery nap. I wanted to try and bag close to 70 miles today.

The view towards Anaconda, MT just after lunch. The clouds would disappear shortly.

Unfortunately, I would fall short. After lunch the dramatic cloud cover evaporated and with the rise in temperature, small hills became big hills. At 60 miles I found myself at an I90 interchange, where I made a call. Bunny and Poodle were only 15 minutes away as we were both converging on the night's accommodations. I loaded up the bike and got a 8 mile ride into camp. Still 60 miles is more than 55.