Diary

Mileage:  148 miles

Elevation Change:  4166 feet

Weather:  cool in am, sunny and warm

Morale:  proud of going a long way!

Incidents:  3 flat tires

Daily Summary:

Neither Raymond nor I had ever ridden 148 miles in a day, so we are happy to report that we made it.  Up early for a 6am breakfast, and we were on the road by 6:40.  It was pretty chilly for the first few hours so we were in long sleeves at first.  Beautiful Montana scenery all day.  We got in some good groups for easier cycling, but three flat tires during the day means we had to drop out to change tires and were thus on our own a lot.  We saw lots of beautiful mountains, lakes and streams.  An airplane landed on a grass strip right next to us as we were passing, a cowboy was leading a pack horse down the road, a guy felled a tree right next to the road as we were passing, and lots of logging trucks were barreling down the road.  The trip is extremely well supported so we were able to really optimize our hydration and nutrition which is very important for such a long day.  The last few hours were tortuous as we were cycling due west into a vicious headwind.  We were in to the hotel before 5pm, and are certainly going to bed early tonight! 

 

Below you see Raymond (with the R on his jersey) in a paceline by a long lake, and then some of our typical scenery of the day.