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Today was a whopper of a ride – the longest I’ve ever ridden in a day at 116 miles. We had a special climb at about mile 96 that added to the fun. It was roughly 4 miles of climbing at about 4-5% grade. Doesn’t sound terrible on paper, but when you’ve ridden 96 miles and it’s warm out, it takes its toll. I cannot lie; I did have two choice words when I arrived at the rest stop at the top. The first started with ‘m’, the second ‘f’ and each word was two syllables. I was told by the guide that was hosting the stop that I had captured the general sentiment, but that no one had yet expressed it as such. Of course, being Canadian, I apologized for my language… but he knew I wasn’t really sorry – and we were both okay with that.
The theme of the day was ‘wind’. We were faced with wind no matter what direction we rode. The ride itself wasn’t the most beautiful we had as there was much riding along the side roads of the interstate and the interstate itself. It was, however, still beautiful, but more open and impacted by the winds whipping between the mountains. I rode the first 20 miles with my wind breaker on because it was in the 50s. and, well, wind.
We started out a bit aggressive and I feared it would hit us later in the ride. Even after the climb, we still had another 16 miles to the hotel starting with a delightful, if not scary, descent for the first 6 miles. The rides today were also a bit challenging at times with narrow shoulders with rumblers to the left and gravel to the right. It was like riding on a balance beam at times trying to stay centered, so your bike didn’t vibrate along the rumblers or slide out from under you on the gravel. Being Labor Day, it was also a busy day on the highways. There were cars at all times.
Riding into Helena, I chatted with one of the guides who asked how I was doing. With about five miles left to reach the hotel, I shared that on a macro level – I was great. I was riding across the country on a bicycle with an amazing group of people. On a micro level, however, I was ready to be off the bike for the day. We chuckled together and agreed that it was an accurate sentiment.
Exhausted, I was in bed before 8 pm and asleep shortly thereafter. I had a restless night after being in bed so early but was glad to have the dark quiet room to rest in regardless of whether I was actually asleep.
It was a long and challenging day with the wind. It would have been challenging to begin with, but the wind added to it significantly.
Day 14 brings us 88 miles with a smaller climb about 20 miles into the ride. Always prefer the climbs early on to get them out of the way while the legs are still ‘fresh’ – however fresh they can be having ridden 116 miles the day before and countless miles day after day after day.
I may not be the fastest, but I get the job done and enjoy the ride.