Cino Heroica Ride Report -

[David Kirk]

Better late than never….here’s a report from this years Cino Heroica in northwest Montana.

This year I rode Cino with a few local friends (Ben and Nathan) and an old friend who I don’t get to see often enough and that’s Dave Wages of Ellis Cycles who came out from Wisconsin to join us. We made the 5 hour drive from Bozeman to Kalispell on Friday and had dinner at a gritty local BBQ place Friday night. Good food, good beer and wonderful company.

We stayed at a local hotel for the night and the bed was super soft and when I woke up my back was pretty angry. I thought I’d be fine once the ride started but carrying my heavy bag down the stairs caused a low back spasm that I’d have to ride through. Ironically I could ride OK but I couldn’t stand up straight when I got off the bike. We drove to the start of the ride and met the other 70ish riders doing the ride. Lots of cool old bikes and some new beauties too. Delicious pastries for breakfast and a quick rider’s meeting and we were on the road.

This year’s dates were later in the year than the previous times I’ve ridden Cino so it was cooler for sure. Both mornings where in the upper 40’s first thing in the morning but it warmed up to shorts and short sleeves weather pretty quickly. The area had gotten a good bit of rain in the week before Cino and that prevented riders from needing to deal with the dreaded “moon-dust” that one can see after a long dry spell. The gravel and dirt were in very good shape and the worst thing was some puddles that one could for the most part ride around on day one.

Day one starts with a few miles of paved roads which give way to dirt and climb gradually to the high point and then descend to the beautiful waterfall lunch spot. My back loosened some with use but was still not all that happy and I was perfectly happy with some time off the bike to straighten up and have some wonderful food. After lunch it’s a long descent to Alamedas Hot Springs where we would all gather and spend the night. Gourmet food was prepared for us by a local Native American catering company from the Salish tribe. The leader of the group spoke to us in Salish which was so very cool to hear. It’s a beautiful sounding language.

Sunday dawned cold and gray with a threat of rain later in the day so our group decided to leave on the early side and set a firm tempo. We rode to the lunch stop and stocked up on real food (chocolate muffins!) and then tackled 9 Mile Hill. It’s a serious climb any way you cut it but the surface was very good and it was easy to find a smooth and firm line. At the top of 9 Mile there’s a stop with food and drink and that was more than welcome. Just as we left the stop it started sprinkling and we descended to the end of the ride in a very light rain that made the dirt nice and smooth and tacky but never got us fully wet. My back was MUCH better after a night on a good bed and I climbed well and that was a nice way to cap off the weekend.

The photos give a little flavor to what the area looks like. It is remote to say the least and the views are the kind of thing one only finds in Montana. My old bike stayed together and didn’t miss a beat…and it’s the first time I’ve ridden Cino without getting a single flat so I’ll call that a win!

If you’ve ever wanted to ride in Montana the Cino is a great way to do it and helping the local Montessori school raise a few bucks is a nice bonus. The ride is hard but more than doable (one rider was 84 years old and he did day one but opted out of day two) and the organization of the whole thing is nice and tight. It’s quirky and fun and hard and delicious. I’ll be back next year for sure and I hope that my old friend Dave Wages can make the trip again.

See you next year.

dave