Day 9 - Helena, MT to Butte, MT

Following yesterday's ideal conditions, today was incredibly challenging.  We started the day with a fabulous breakfast made by our super-hostess Dawn in Helena. Things kind of went down hill from there ;-) We left pretty early at 7:30 under light showers, and decided to avoid a probable mudfest on Lava Mtn. And rode the I-15 frontage road south instead.
  Pretty much from the outset the grade tilted upward; first gradual, at about 1% for 8-10 miles, and then up to as much as 6% as we approached the small town of Boulder. This was about the time the sun broke through the clouds, but with it a stiff southwest wind.  We all rolled into Boulder for lunch at the truck stop about 11:30, and all three of us (Ingrid was riding along as well again) were already showing signs of fatigue after yesterday's climbing... And we had 35 more miles and 2000+ feet of climbing yet to go to get to Butte!
We then got onto a great gravel frontage road that took us all the way to Basin (a further 17 miles) where we ran out of frontage road options and had to ride the shoulder on the interstate.  
While that may sound dangerous, it's both legal in Montana, and with a 10' wide smooth tarmac should, a fair bit safer than many roads!  Unfortunately, it too went into the 10-20 mph headwind as it wound southward up and over the continental divide at 6368'
By the time we reached the divide, however, we'd needed to stop several times to layer up with rain gear, as a series of cold rain squalls blew through, compounding our misery;-). Fortunately, there was a 5 mile, 1000' descent into Butte that was heavenly!  

Fortunately, the day ended really well- First, Mike snagged another "warm showers" accomodation just a mile or so off route. Then, as we were finishing cleaning up after a dinner of quesadillas, my son Niall and his girlfriend Christina arrived to surprise me for father's day! They certainly succeeded in the surprise, and it was wonderful to see him again after nearly a year away in the Coast Guard.  Tomorrow we'll meet up for father's day breakfast before heading out to Wise River :-)
Cheers again from the GDMBR!

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