Where can we ride in Montana/

[Trix]

My husband and I are planning on driving from Colorado to Montana in June with our road and mtn tandems. Where are the best rides between West Colorado and Missoula? Is there a lot of road traffic, and would we be better off just taking the mtn bike? We would love any and all suggestions. Thanks

[Irulan]

Lots of land out there. You can road ride for miles if you aren't out in the mountains, lots of farm roads and so on. When I lived in NW Wyoming I had a lot of 40-60 mile loops of county roads that are not on highway maps.

Missoula is supposed to have excellent single track. I bet a search at MTBR.COM will bring up lots of goodies. It has a state by state listing that has lots of trail listings. I'm sure any local shop there can help you out, and Falcon Books has a guide book.

Just west of Missoula is Lookout Pass. There is a newly completed 72 mile all downhill rail trail called the Route of the Hiawatha While it's been called a mountain bike ride, it is not, anyone on any bike can do it. The tunnels and trestles are awesome. It goes all the way to Plummer Idaho, you can spend the night at one of the towns along the way. It's all chipped pack gravel or asphalt.

Have fun.

Irulan

[Trix]

Thanks for the info. My husband is familiar with Lookout Pass and wants to ride it for sure. Any idea how much traffic on that road in June? Also, the 72 mile rail road grade sounds awesome. Does anybody do it as a climb instead of a downhill? We like to climb
Thanks again!
Trix

[Irulan]

Thanks for the info. My husband is familiar with Lookout Pass and wants to ride it for sure. Any idea how much traffic on that road in June? Also, the 72 mile rail road grade sounds awesome. Does anybody do it as a climb instead of a downhill? We like to climb

The Hiawatha trail is closed to cars, so I'm not sure what you mean by "traffic". Do you mean touron traffic? I'm not sure about the two lanes and FS roads in that area. There is a good frontage road that goes parralel to the fwy up the St. Regis (?) river to Lookout Pass. There is a marginal MB trail system up there: it's not developed or promoted. Seems like only the locals in Wallace ID know about it. If you PM me I can hook you up with someone there who would know. The ride over Thompson Pass (ID/MT) is supposed to be very techncial and awesome.

The original portion of the Rail trail was 13 miles and lots of folks would go up and down, instead of doing a shuttle. The grade is 1-3% so it's practically flat. I don't see why you can't go both ways!!! June weather is iffy: we call it monsoon season.

Irulan

[Rebhin]

There are many great road and mtn bike rides in Montana. I live in SW Montana near Livingston and am more familiar with road riding. The Beartooth Highway is an amazing road and is usually open by mid June. It is a difficult climb, but in early summer with very little traffic. Send me an email if you want more info about cycling in the Bozeman/Livingston area: rebecca@lunatours.com
Good luck!
Rebecca

[Susan126]

Last July my husband and I went home to Havre, Montana for hubby's high school class reunion. On the way to and from Montana we stopped and rode in Missoula and White Fish. In Missoula contact

http://www.limb.org/

they are the local mountain bike club and they have information on some GREAT trails! Plus they have a Thursday late afternoon ride ... all welcome, that is a lot of fun. Joe and I rode the Rattlesnack National Rec. Area and had a blast! As far as rode riding, anywhere in Montana is great for road riding! Hubby and I took along our mountain and road bikes and we had the best summer. We biked all over in Montana and then we went to Oregon for a week for more biking fun! Summer 2002 was exceptional for us as far as road and mountain biking! We hope to do a repeat this year!

In White Fish we went to Big Mountain Ski Resort and mountain biked. We had a blast. Here's a link to Big Mountain Ski Resorts site. They have a summer activity listing.

http://www.bigmtn.com/html/summer.html

And here are some pictures of Joe and me biking on Big Mountain
last July

http://www.stmcc.org/krezelak/krezelak.htm

And Big Sky Resort near Bozeman also offers the same as Big Mountain in White Fish .... ski lifts or gondolas to the top with your mountain bike .... and bike down the mountain. Of course Joe and I biked up and rode down a few times too.

http://www.bigskyresort.com/bs_at_sa_gm.asp

and here's another good link

http://www.bozemannet.com/summer/bicycling.htm

Hope these links help you!

Sue

PS ... forgot to mention, our son will be going to MSU next fall! So .... we will be in Montana a lot .... visiting our son with our bikes, of course! LOL