Cycling Civic Duty, Montana Freedom pt. 2

Other than fruit stands, hazy skies from the Montana fires, and a lot of Starbucks in a can potions from gas stations, the sprint home was pretty uneventful... other than one random occurance.

I passed a cyclist along highway 200 in Montana, walking his bike. I pull over and stop, and ask him if he needs any help. "No, I've just called a friend for a pick up." He seems surprised, and I see that his tire is flat.

"Do you need a tube?"

"Actually my tube is fine, I just can't get my pump to grab onto the valve stem."

I pull out my floor pump, to his awe, and give that a try. It does have a hard time grabbing the stem, but it works. His chain is dry so I offer up a little lube. And as we part ways, I fill up his bottle from my big water jug and give him a scoop of Gatorade in the bottle as well.

I think he was suprised to see that level of roadside service in Montana. That's my cycling civic duty for the day.

As I make my way up highway 83, I set the cruise at 80mph (130km/h). It's a two lane road through the forest, and this is quick, but not over the top for this part of the world. Next thing I know, there's an old boat Plymouth riding my ass. We come up to a point where the road goes to double lanes, and an elderly lady, with those oversized glasses where the frame grabs onto the bottom of the lens in a flourish of pink plastic, motors by like I'm standing still. Not one minute later, I'm passed by a guy on a dirt bike. I'm known to use the word dirt bike liberally, as in referring to my street legal Honda XR650L as a "dirt bike". This was a real dirt bike, ie. it was not street legal. Yamaha blue, but I couldn't tell what displacement. Must have been geared seriously high, since most dirt bikes don't have that kind of top end speed. The guy was probably mid 30's, brush cut, no helmet, no shirt, wearing only shorts and sneakers, and was passing me going over 80mph on the highway... with a huge grin on his face (probably half due to the squint necessary at that speed).

I guess in Montana, driving norms are a little different than home.