Days 15/16 Missoula, Montan

Sorry in advance for the extremely long blog post....

At the kick off dinner back in Seattle, Chad Coltrain, the CEO of Push America, gave an inspiring speech that I knew one day I would write about, but I was not sure what day it would be until yesterday.  He explained that this would truly be a life-changing experience and that we will remember it for the rest of our lives.  Another part of his speech that I am sure we will also never forget is when he explained the “best worst day of our life.”  He went on to talk about that no matter how bad the worst day of our summer will be, it will always be better than sitting behind a desk, working in the yard, or just sitting around the house.  Being outside seeing this beautiful country, seeing the mountains, being with 26 other brothers, and meeting amazing people along the way will always be better than any other day we could be having.  During the ride yesterday, there were many challenges.  When we woke up, it was pouring down rain and below forty degrees that would be with us the 105 miles.  We had breakfast underneath the doors to the trunk of the vans and stood close together shivering.  Once the cyclists hit the road when the crew vans were set up, they immediately faced something greater than they could ever imagine.  Riding in the poring rain is very dangerous, especially when there are puddles on the road.  To start the day, we had three cyclists not ride due to bike problems or injuries, so only eighteen cyclists set out for Missoula.  When they got to my first crew stop, they were absolutely miserable.  Some could barely feel their fingers and toes because of how wet they had gotten and the cold temperatures were not helping.

  

As I have said before, I attempt to increase morale and play music to pump them up.  I knew I had a big challenge today because of how down they were.  Hopefully I succeeded by putting on a dance party on the side of the road to some pretty awesome music.  Once they were off and I was on my way up to my next crew stop, I passed all the other crew vans and noticed that other cyclists were racking themselves due to lack of feeling in the extremities, broken parts on bikes, and other reasons.  When the first pace line got to my crew stop for the second time, I had learned that one of our cyclists had been taken off the road because of strong signs of hypothermia.  He was shaking uncontrollably and could barely move his mouth to talk to us.  We immediately put blankets all around him and got him in the van with the heat on high.  All crew members are CPR and first-aid certified, so thankfully we knew exactly what to do.  Not only did they cyclists have to battle the cold and rain, but also once the rain was done, they had a brutal headwind to fight through that made it extremely hard to keep going.  Thankfully, no one was injured, and the cyclist who had signs of hypothermia was able to take a steaming hot shower and warm up and be alright.  In the end, eleven cyclists finished the day on the bike rolling into lodging.

Last night we went to this amazing hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner, and a couple of us went out for drinks afterwards.  Missoula is where the University of Montana is located, so it was cool to see another college town.  I am attempting to see how many schools I can visit along this trip and so far I am at four: University of Washington, Washington State, Gonzaga, and now Montana.  Missoula reminds me of cities like Dayton or Bloomington or West Lafayette.  Pretty much the hot spots are around the campus and there is not much else to do around the town.  Missoula, in my opinion, is so much cooler than the three cities I just listed.  The city is nestled in the middle of five mountain ranges coming together, so everywhere you look you see mountains. 

Today, we had two sponsored events – one with the Adventure Cycling Association and one with the local YMCA.  It was cool to go to the ACA because the person who created the Journey of Hope used the maps created by this organization.  Learning the history and seeing everyone who had come through on their stops was also pretty cool.  During our break, a couple of us walked around the campus of Montana.  It did not seem like that big of a school, but the campus was really pretty.  The school is all about their football program, and it really showed through their Hall of Champions, the stadium, and the pictures in the bookstore.

The friendship visit we had with the YMCA was awesome.  We played bocce ball, tennis, and just soaked up the sun because it was only the third day on the trip we have not seen rain.  The coordinator grew up in Columbus, Indiana, so it was fun talking to her about the good ol’ Hoosier state and what brought her out here to Montana.  It was easy to see why she loved it here through the amazing outdoor area they had set up and just the scenery that surrounded.  After the friendship visit, about fifteen of us decided to climb one of the mountains that overlooked the city and was right next to campus.  I must say there are very few times in my life where I have been more proud of myself.  At the bottom of the mountain, the elevation was around 3150 feet above sea level.  An hour later and a steep climb later, we stood next to a rock that read “Glacial Lake Missoula, Ice Age National Park, Elevation 4200 Feet.”  The climb was pretty much straight uphill, so it was not a around the mountain type of climb.  It was so satisfying when I reached the top and looked out over the city.  The view we had is probably the most memorable part of the trip thus far.  It is truly amazing what is out there in the world, some thing I never thought I would ever see.