Day 109 and Day 110 — Flexibility. Waiting for sun in Babb, MT.

If there is one thing the CDT teaches you, it’s flexibility.  The divide decides your pace and whether it makes sense to proceed or not. Sometimes we’ve busted out 70 mile days, others we struggle to hit 20. You can’t be in a hurry or have rigid plans.

It’s funny that of all the things to be anxious about on this trip, getting shut down by snow was probably the least of them. We’re cyclists! We’re fast. We can always put our heads down and hammer it out to Canada. Right?

Turns out we aren’t that fast, even compared to hikers. This trail is hard, and doing this kind of riding for months has taken its toll on us. This isn’t bike touring.  People go bike touring for years. This is trail hiking — with bikes.

For all of us on the CDT it’s been a race against winter. Finish before the snow flies.

We lost.

We woke up from our little cabin to winter. There is no food to be had there, not even candy bars. So we had no choice but to ride the six miles to the town of Babb.

The snow was coming down, and blowing right in our faces. The slush was spraying off our rear tires, soaking our behinds. We were plenty warm, but after catching breakfast at the Glacier’s Edge cafe, we were chilled enough that pedaling was less than appealing. We wanted to see Waterton and the finish, not just simply go there and watch it snow.

So we walked across the street to secure a warm room.  At least we got a few miles closer to Canada.

10 miles to Canada from here.  So close but so far. If we’d been 24 hours earlier we would have had no problem finishing it up.  But even smooth travel on pavement can’t be taken for granted on the CDT(bike)!  You have to be flexible.

The road over the divide on the Going To The Sun road has been closed since we rode over it.  I’m glad we got over while we could, and once again, nothing is straighforward on the divide — not even paved roads.

Today is our first zero day since Butte, meaning 11 straight days of riding.  We’re feeling it for sure.  Though in theory everything left is pretty trivial, it’ll still be nice to have a little more energy.

It’s been an absolute blizzard all day today, with a north wind.  It’s beginning to really pile up here in town.  Here’s hoping the forecasters are correct and the sun will come out tomorrow.  We are dreaming of snow covered peaks glimmering in sunbeams.  And most of all we are still dreaming of reaching the terminus of the CDT, as we have been for months.