sure enough, chocolate milk

after crossing the continental divide 36-odd times in wyoming, we were surprised to run into our old friend the missouri river in northwestern montana. we were on our way to helena, montana, in between rainstorms and wind gusts and truck slipstreams, and got midwestern flashbacks with wide rivers and whipping winds. helena was nice, but the real highlight was the string of inspirational messages painted every 500 feet or so on the bike lane over macdonald pass just outside the city. someone with a can of spray paint and aching in their heart for the days of serialized shaving advertisements had littered the shoulder with sayings like “come on france/give lance/a chance” and “how much higher/you will see/at the sign/getting nigher”. the top of the pass also marked our final crossing of the continental divide, and our entrance into the pacific northwest.

missoula, montana is home to the legendary adventure cycling association. since the official route has cyclists take a thirteen mile spur into town, effectively adding twenty-six unnecessary miles, a lot of folks are of the opinion that the ACA are just a lonely bunch trying to trick people into visiting them. since a) we were off route and were coming through missoula anyway and b) they give you free ice cream and soda for visiting, i didn’t mind the trip. they took our picture standing in front of the sign, and now my “loose” rig is immortalized in polaroid in the presumed world headquarters of adventure cycling. it truly is an international institution–waiting for the computer in the “cyclists’ lounge”, i was the only one who didn’t speak german. the lounge itself was decorated with maps and portraits of cyclists from the 70′s and 80′s, who look more or less exactly the same as cyclists from the 2000′s except that their ancient steel-tubed frames still have derailleurs on them.

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