Lone Rider Pedals: Missoula, MT to Lincoln, MT -- 79 miles

Today's ride took us from Missoula, MT through Milltown, Bonner, Potomac, Ovando, and finally Lincoln. We were on one road today, Montana State Route 200. We crossed the Blackfoot River several times and it was a steady climb the whole day. We are following the scenic Blackfoot Option on the Adventure Cycling Lewis & Clark Bicycle Trail, Section 6, panels A,B, and C. The Blackfoot Option is scenic, and runs between Missoula and Great Falls. It follows the route that Captain Lewis used in 1806. It is primarily two-lane highways that parallel the Blackfoot and Sun Rivers.

This morning, all the riders gathered at Adventure Cycling Headquarters @ 8 am, where we received a short briefing about Adventure Cycling and took a tour of the facilities. Afterward we all posed for a group picture with most of us wearing our Cross Country Jerseys. Some riders took advantage of the free ice cream and others got their souvenir water bottles. Some even posed for individual photos taken by the Adventure Cycling photographer.

The weather started out damp and chilly, but by 10:30 the sun was out and it began to warm up quickly.

One of the riders, Josie O had a medical condition that needed to be checked so the support vehicle made a stop at St. Patrick Hospital to get that taken care of. Everything was checked and the support vehicle was on it's way with minimal delay.

We are staying in 2 motels in Lincoln. Sixteen (16) riders are staying at The Three Bears Motel and the rest of us are at The Sportsman Motel. Lodging for such a big group can be tricky in some of these smaller communities that we are traveling through.

Ovando, MT, population 71, is where we stopped for the night in 2008. We are not stopping here this year because the second B&B (located a few miles outside of Ovando) has shut down so lodging for the entire group was not possible. The town is very quaint, with The Stray Bullet Cafe and a wonderful museum.