MONTANA

• Billings 
  Pool: Downtown YMCA 
  SGOL Link Rating: B- 
  The Good News: Two pools, one for decent swimming, another for cursing your agent for getting you booked in this craphole. 
  The Bad News: If they rope the lanes in the good pool at all, it's into one large one instead of two normal ones, so you have to swim up on one side and down the other. A fifty turns into a 55 or 60. 
  Details: Well, the lap swim changes from the decent pool to the crap one within a workout. So, you do a warmup with some semblance of normalcy and then the lifeguards pop you over to share the totally unroped pool with aerobics ladies and Austrailian crawlers. Nobody appreciates your Zoomer-enhanced fly set in this situation. 
  
  
• Helena 
  Pool: Downtown YMCA 
  SGOL Link 
  Rating: C- 
  The The Good News: Lane ropes, pace clock, 25 yards, hot water. 
  The Bad News: Four lanes, tragic love (see details) 
  Details: Khee-rist. While I'm trying to forget my misfortunes (headlining in Helena) during a pull set in lane four, over in lane three, two teenagers are sucking face, feeling each other up and generally throwing an odd foot or hand into my lane. Hey, Romeo and Juliet- get a room. On an up note, if you swim at this Y, you are less than one mile from the hotel where my honey, the Unabomber, used to stay the night prior to his infamous postal bus rides to the Bay Area. Ted, darling, why won't you answer my letters? Is it because you are afraid to open unsolicited packages? 
  
  
• Missoula 
  Pool: U of M 
  SGOL Link 
  Rating: A 
  The The Good News: Indoors, 25 yards, paceclocks, kickboards and a Masters team that sells a cool t-shirt. 
  The Bad News: Only an hour to swim at noon. I like to, uh, relax a bit between sets. 
  Details: Fast pool, fast swimmers, cool t-shirts. 
  
  
  
• Pool: Downtown YMCA 
  SGOL Link 
  Rating: B+ 
  The The Good News: 25 yards, six lanes, paceclocks atc. 
  The Bad News: You are probably a looong way from home 
  Details: Well, I don't remember too much. Parking is easier at the Y than at UM, and there's a mini-mart down the street. I won't be coming back here unless the money jumps dramatically, so, dear reader, you'll just have to make due with year-old memories.

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