September 6: Miles City to Vananda, Montana
We chose Vananda, Montana as our destination today because it was about the right distance — just under 65 miles. After we arrived in Vananda at just after noon today, I had to wonder why was this town even on the map? It has a couple of houses and a building that looks like a boarded up school house.
Getting to Vananda meant first getting to Forsyth, Montana. The bicycle shop owner in Miles City told me yesterday that the only reasonable way to get to Forsyth by bicycle is on the interstate highway (I-94). So, first thing this morning, I hopped on the shoulder of the interstate. Fortunately, after 20 miles, there was a frontage road that was very nice and took me the rest of the way to Forsyth.
From Forsyth, I picked up highway 12. Highway 12 will take us all the way across Montana, Idaho and into Washington state. We’ll stay on highway 12 nearly all the way there. The only sidetrip off of highway 12 will be to go to and return from Bozeman where we will visit with our friends Larry and Nancy.
I quickly discovered that highway 12 doesn’t have much of a shoulder. But, it doesn’t matter really because there’s not much traffic. And, as I mentioned earlier, at least so far, there aren’t many towns on highway 12. There did seem to be a lot of cattle, however. As I approach, all the cows look up at me and watch me ride by. I’m not sure if it’s because they think I’m going to feed them something or because they’ve never seen a person on a bicycle. Occasionally, a group will decide they need to run away. Once one of them decides to run away, they all get up and run away even if they don’t know why they’re running.
| Total distance: | 64.79 miles |
|---|---|
| Time: | 4:39:19 |
| Average speed: | 13.9 mph |
| Maximum speed: | 32.9 mph |
| Total calories: | 4186 |
| Average heart rate: | 122 bpm |
| Maximum heart rate: | 155 bpm |
| Total ascent: | 2200 feet |
| Total descent: | 1905 feet |
| Ride profile: |  (click on image to view a larger version) |
| Ride comments: Cool and clear in the early morning. Started the ride with arm warmers, leg warmers, and a vest, but by mid-morning, it was warm enough to take off the extra warm layers. A bit of a headwind from the northwest. |
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September 6th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
okokok, so these pictures of Vananda were taken from…? the Vananda Hilton?…the Days Inn?..the Bates Motel? Sorry. That last one was a bit creepy.
Just curious
Dirk
September 7th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
I’m leary of any town that I can’t find with google maps!
September 7th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
Hi Dirk!
Yeah, it looked creepy in person too. Even if there was a Vananda Hilton or Hotel,
the place was creepy enough that we probably wouldn’t have stayed in it.
Forsyth to Roundup was about a hundred miles with nothing in it for the weary traveller. I.e., lodging, food, water. So, we decided to do 20 miles of it (to Vananda) yesterday, drive back to Forsyth to stay the night, and then come back to Vananda this morning to finish the
ride to Roundup today. We’ve probably got a couple other stretches later on where we’ll have to do a similar trick.
I hope that answers your question.
Peter