Wind farms: an inconvenient truth

I honestly thought I would never be able to say it, but we’re done with Montana.  In all, we spent 16 nights in the giant state, which, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t sound like a whole lot.  But you should consider the fact that we were in our third state on day 16 and by day 33 of the trip we were in our seventh state.  Montana definitely lived up to its reputation, though.  We had long, windy days without a place to stop for water or food.  There were quick, drenching storms, cold mornings and hot days.

I’m for alternative forms of energy just as much as the next person.  Wind farms seem like they’re a good use of large windy and open spaces, which states like Montana have plenty of.  The problem comes in the inconvenience of the wind; anyone who has cycled into a 20 mile per hour headwind will tell you that it would be better to have no chance of wind, than a 50 percent chance of a tailwind.  On our way into Geyser, Montana, I stopped on the side of the road with a few other guys to read about the wind farm we were riding next to.  Think of all the coal it saves and all the energy the wind produces for the surrounding population, the signs said.  What the sign neglected to talk about, and what I couldn’t stop thinking about, was how much energy the wind in my face didn’t create for the purpose of my forward momentum.  How, if it were howling at my back, I’d be riding at least twice as fast.  But, I guess it’s a useless complaint.  We’ve made it through the windiest part of the trip and we’re moving on to the hilliest.

After Billings, we had a six-day bike trip to the town of East Glacier, just outside Glacier National Park.  All that was on our minds was the idea that we’d have three consecutive days off in one of the country’s most beautiful places.  Three days to relax, do almost nothing, and get our bikes into shape for the cascades.  As with any time off, however, we didn’t get done half the things we wanted.  Bike maintenance was put off until the evening before we left and we would get up early every day to get in as much hiking as possible.  Hiking, though tiring and time consuming, did allow our cycling muscles to take a breather.  The second and third day off, I could definitely feel those random muscles in my legs that I never knew I had starting to heal.  We even had a nice basketball court less than a hundred yards from our campsite that we never used.  A few guys shot the ball, but no games were played in the three days we were there, compared to the two hours we would play every day going through the Midwest.

We had a short trip from East Glacier to where we are now taking a day off: Sandpoint, Idaho.  It was five easy, gorgeous days through long river valleys with rolling hills and plenty of places to swim.  I was lucky enough to be biking with David and Brian when we came upon a cliff from their trip in 2007 that towered 45 feet above a deep pond.  Only five of us were there to jump the cliff and it was honestly one of the scarier things I’ve done in my life.  The following day, the whole group stopped at a 12-foot bridge over the Bull River and yesterday boasted the famous Sandpoint bridge, at about 45 feet.

Now we have an eight-day trip in front of us that will dump us into the Pacific Ocean.  In the middle of the last week we’ll have five passes to climb in five days.  It’s unreal to think that in 10 days we’ll be sleeping off our jetlag in a bed.  When the trip started, I needed seven sets of hands to count how many days left there were, now I need just one.

Thank you for all your support and for reading the website.  Make sure to follow my Twitter page and the Cycle20Ten site for daily updates.

See y’all soon.

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~ by Sam Ward on 08.11.11.