Jiggleless is back in action today, and the three of us set off on an old cattle trail which runs parallel to the I15, and makes for easy riding. We pass yet another old mine which has been destroyed in a fire. We then pass under the I15 and onto a road which is initially very steep and has sugar sand which causes the back wheel to spin. There is a barbed wire fence running down the side of the road and fear of falling onto that somehow helps concentrate one’s efforts on keeping upright and to the top!
Once we are up this, we are high above the interstate and wave down to all the traffic. Jiggleless finds a new radon mine! We think the road we are on is an old railroad track as it runs through clearings blasted through the stone and there is also a short tunnel to go through. This road eventually joins the paved frontage road to the I15 and we face a headwind for 10 miles. Along this road, we come across a dreadful stink, which Numb Stuff initially blamed on Dirtbaby but turns out to be new road booty for Deb but we don’t have room to bring it along so just take a photo for her.
As we know bears are attracted to carcasses (they love the maggots), we don’t hang around, and after the photo stop, head for the interstate junction where we switch onto the I15 for 6 miles downhill into Butte.
First, however, we have our fourth continental divide crossing photo stop, a bit of a change from the previous 3, having traffic drive by at 70 mph just inches away. There is a 6% grade descent into Butte which is awesome. 
But when the view of “the richest hill on earth” or rather, what is left of it, comes into sight, we have to stop and marvel at it, as it is just spectacular huge crater. Not only do we have this view, but the people of Butte have also built a statute of Our Lady of the Rockies on the top of the mountain overlooking Butte as a tribute to women everywhere regardless of religion. This was built in the 1980s, purely by volunteers and is pretty impressive.
By now, our bikes are pretty dirty and the chain and gears sound like a coffee grinder. We just happen to come off the interstate onto Harrison, right next to a bike store, the Outdoorsman, so we decide to pay a visit (actually, we just love the smell of bike shops, all that rubber!). We are just parking our bikes, when the owner, Rob Leipheimer comes out and immediately invites us to bring our bikes in and hands us a free water bottle with goodies inside. Rob’s brother is Levi Leipheimer, who is currently riding the Tour de France. Rob checks our bikes over, fixes Jiggleless’s brakes, and best of all, cleans our drivetrains and the mud off our bikes. We are all amazed how well Sherman scrubs up! Rob tells us lots of stories about the divide ride including showing us a clip of a video taken by his son of when they met up with Matthew Lee (the 2010 Divide Ride winner) in Basin which is just hilarious http://www.vimeo.com/12975631 Despite working for around 3 hours on our bike, Rob won’t take any money from us, saying he does this for all through divide riders, as his is the last bike shop before Steamboat Springs Colorado. Things like this are what makes the trip so great, people being so generous in spirit and nature. Rob – you are THE Greatest – thank you thank you thank you!
Once we are showered and changed, it’s PARTY time and we pop round the corner to watch the Folk Festival and eat festival food. It was simple luck for us that the festival was in town. It’s a great place to people watch and have our photos taken with some of the locals!
Here we are holding wine sold in, get this, CANS!
Here is some Folk Festival video....everyone was having a great time!
PS: At the bike store we discover a scale and all decide to weigh in…. Jiggleless remains at her same weight, Dirtbaby has lost a pound and Numb Stuff has lost 7 pounds.
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