Remember the four key elements? Today was about ‘rest’. Today’s 36-mile ride was a nice recovery ride mostly downhill. It was a chilly 55 degrees when we started at 9 am – yes, 9 am! Normally our starts are between 6:45 and 7:30, but we had a little rest after yesterday’s big ride and there wasn’t any rush to get into Missoula today given that we would arrive in the morning and likely not have hotel rooms ready.

The name of the game for today’s 115 mile-ride was about maintaining a cool and even pace throughout the first 102 miles to ensure you had something left in the tank for the 5-mile climb to the top of Lolo Pass. It’s also about ensuring that you keep your mind focused on your ability to manage and complete the climb.

As I rode today, I thought about the key elements to manage on this ride – or any ride. Of course, given that we are spending hours on a bike, we have nothing but time to think about these things.

I realized that there are four key elements to manage. There are several other uncontrollable elements like the weather, road conditions, etc… But, if you can focus on those within your control and establish a system of managing them, it makes the ride manageable and comfortable in spite of its challenges.