Day 13
June 14th, 2007

Today was a great ride! We started the day off with a big climb up to the Lolo pass summit. It was a great climb that lasted about 5 miles. The pass was cold and a little bit foggy because it was 7am. At the top of the pass was the Idaho-Montana border. Going down the other side of the pass was the fun part, it was a good break from the climb. Although the decent was not as steep as the days in the past it was great to spread it out and enjoy the scenery. Montana is such a beautiful state. Todays ride was nearly 60 miles long. It has become a lot easier for me to ride longer and faster without getting as tired or as sore. In Missoula we are staying at Hellgate High school. For lunch we were treated to an extra special event. We had lunch at a place called Adventure Cycling. Adventure Cycling is a non-profit organization that helps touring cyclists with logistics such as maps. They plot out many routes including one similar to the route we follow. I believe they were the maps that Bruce Rodgers, the first man to ride Journey of Hope, used for his trip. They have a great facility where they publish a monthly magazine, generate cycling maps, and conduct guided tours. The idea for the organization was sparked by a cross country trip they made in the mid 70s called TransAm. This is where the name of our route came from. I picked up a sticker that says "I ride, therefore I TransAm." For dinner we went to a facility called Opportunity Resources where we met some really great people and had mexican food. The facility catered to a small group of older people with disabilities. It was great talking with some of them. I talked a lot with a man named Ron who was born in Helena, Montana. After dinner a few of us went to a really cool festival in the park that had live music and food. I am excited to spent one more day here in Missoula, Montana.