On the other side of the pass

On the map, it’s simply called “Pass”. The locals call it “The Virginia City Hill”. It’s 2,000 feet of climbing within eight miles. It’s hell. It’s eight miles that took us over an hour and a half to climb up. We’d stop intermittently, gasping for air, lungs bursting, only to stare up at the climb remaining in front of us. I’m pretty sure there was a great view of the Madison River Valley behind us, but I was too tired to even look back at it. It seemed as though the Pass would never end.

But 37 miles after the crest of the hill was the pay-off. It’s a sleepy little town that proclaims itself as ‘Appalachia with a View’. Immediately upon enter the town of 400, we were greeted with bike lanes -- something completely unheard of during the bike tour thus far.

We followed the magical bike lane to the town park, where we saw a small building with a sign proudly draped across it, reading “Twin Bridges Bike Camp”. Melissa and I wheeled our bikes up to the building and for the next fifteen minutes shouted back and forth to each other, “Look at this!” “I can’t believe this!” and “Have you seen this?!” It was like Christmas morning.

Twin Bridges Bike Camp was built by the citizens of Twin Bridge, Montana. The facility is solely for the use of touring cyclists and the amenities have been designed and paid for by cyclists. It has a bathroom, a shower, a bike washing stand, as sink, books, band-aids, bug spray . . . everything we could possibly want.

The best part of the bike camp are the towns people that stop by for a visit. There is nothing else like this on the Trans-American bike route and they know it. They’re proud. And they should be.

Brooke

At the top of "Pass"

Welcome to Twin Bridges.