Brian Richardson
It was another cold morning today, with temperatures in the 30s when we rolled out of Lolo Hot Springs. We descended the final 27 miles of HW 12 along the West Fork Lolo Creek out of the Bitterroot Mountains. At the town of Lolo, the creek we were following joins the Bitterroot River, and HW 12 joins the much busier HW 93. Both river and highway run from north to south in the wide, flat Bitterroot Valley.
Elk graze in the Bitterroot Valley near Lolo, MT
From Lolo, a continuous bike trail parallels HW 93 12 miles north to Missoula and 38 miles south to Hamilton. Our route ultimately takes us south past Hamilton, but we took the out-and-back detour to Missoula to visit the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA) headquarters. The ACA is a non-profit dedicated to empowering and connecting people to travel by bicycle. Among many other great things, they maintain a network of cycling routes around the US. We’re using a combination of several ACA routes for this trip, and navigating using their maps.
The ACA headquarters in Missoula, MT
The complete set of ACA maps, among which we’re using 13
Ten years ago, the first Bike Loud! cross-county ride came through Missoula (the 2015 route coincides with ours from Florence to Yellowstone). One of the ACA staff members showed us a logbook from that year, which included entries from myself, the six other Boy Scouts, and the two adult leaders riding with us at the time.
The 2015 ACA headquarters logbook (the first nine entries are from Bike Loud)
I spent much of the rest of today reflecting on that trip a decade ago, on this year’s trip so far, and on the time in between. First, I am incredibly grateful to have been introduced to bike travel at such a young age. To the adult leaders who made that first trip possible (Ed, Steve, Karl, David, John, and Dean): thank you! I can’t imagine shepherding seven teenagers across the country on bikes, and you probably can’t imagine how much that experience shaped me.
Second, I’m struck by how much has changed in the last ten years. Some of the landscape we’ve ridden through is hardly recognizable to me this time around. For example, thousands of acres of forest in the McKenzie River valley burned in a 2020 wild fire, meaning most of the living trees I saw between Vida and McKenzie Bridge were not there in 2015. People have come and gone too. Pat opened the Spoke’n hostel in Mitchell, and Brian opened the Old School hostel in Baker City. Scott (remember Scott from Dayville on day 5; he’s Doug’s cousin) moved to Dayville from Vida because of the 2020 wildfire.
Bike Loud! and Be Loud! have also changed and grown since 2015. Bike Loud! is now on its fifth cross-country ride and fundraiser, and it has started an annual community bike ride with hundreds of local riders in Chapel Hill. In 2015, the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation was just starting their program to support adolescent and young adult cancer patients. Since then, they have helped over 800 patients receive age-appropriate care.
New growth in the McKenzie River valley after the 2020 wildfire
Local bikers support the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation at the first annual community ride in October, 2024
Third, the one feature of bike travel that stands out to me as constant over time is the kindness of other people. Today was a perfect example of this. At some point in the last week, an extended family member of Usher’s realized that we would be passing through Hamilton, MT, where apparently some even further extended family members lived and wanted to host us at their house. At the end of a long day (89 miles if you read above closely), we arrived at Mike and Billie’s house in Hamilton. I’m still not sure how exactly they’re related to Usher, but they made us all feel like family in their home.
We set up camp in their beautiful backyard, had a spaghetti dinner that couldn’t be beat, and shared stories over Tillamook ice cream. A few years ago, Mike retired from being the post master general in Hamilton and rode the “Great Divide” mountain bike trail from Canada to Mexico. He plans to do it again next year for his 70th birthday.
Usher sets up camp in Mike and Billie’s backyard
Tonight we’re going to bed under a starry Montana sky, with dreams of the huckleberry pancakes and peach cobbler Mike plans to make for us tomorrow.
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