September 10th, 2015
About Lady Long Rider
According to the Long Riders’ Guild, a “long rider” is someone who has ridden more than 1,000 continuous miles. Bernice Ende has covered 27,000 miles.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Wild Camp near Pinnacle, Montana, United States of America
Destination: Snowslip, Montana, United States of America
30.0km trip, 2:10 time, 48.6 km/h maximum speed, 13.8 km/h average speed
What happened…
Andrew writes: It took me awhile to come to grips with the fact that not every blog post needs to be a novella. Trying to find amazing things to entertain readers with every day, when it seems to me that most days look and feel the same nowadays. So with that said, nothing happened today, and there was nothing to see; except for Lady Long Rider Bernice Ende.
There we were, cycling down the road near Essex, Montana, when up ahead in the distance we saw a figure on horseback, coming towards us on the other side of the highway. As they drew nearer, the indistinct shapes came into focus; it was two horses, with a single rider. I immediately cycled over to the other side of the road to start up a conversation with this person. I must admit, I was quite surprised to learn that the lone traveller was a woman.
As she came closer, I put out a hand and the beautiful, wheat-coloured mare she was riding came up to me, hoping for a treat. This majestic creature, a five-year old Norwegian Fjord, was named Montana Spirit, and together with her partner Essie Pearl, they set to work at mowing the nearby grasses while we chatted with their handsome master. Bernice is a kindred spirit, travelling the country for the last ten years in a similar manner as we hope to travel on our bicycles. Bernice was wrapping up a two-and-a-half year journey to Maine and back, and wants to reach the west coast before winter sets in, and then return home to Montana.
Her story is really incredible and you can learn more about it at her website..
The rest of the ride was pretty mellow, although I must admit to not really enjoying some of the big trucks passing so closely on the narrow shouldered highway. We rode up, up, up, all day, aiming for Marias Pass, another continental divide crossing; the lowest in the USA at 1500m. Instead, we reached a small one-horse town called Snowslip, and decided to call it a day early to enjoy some fine American cuisine, and to watch NFL football.
Just hanging out chatting with Kathy, the day-tender, and then Bob, the owner, was really nice. The regulars came in around dinner time, and while they didn’t fill the bar, they made it feel full. We enjoyed our time, and then retired to our tent in the backyard, which Bob had allowed us to erect earlier. All in all, it was a nice day.