We started off quite cool this morning, down in the 40's but it quickly warmed. The highlights for today were a beautiful climb through Pipestone Pass, 6,415 feet, and a great lunch alongside the Madison river. The climb started shortly after leaving Butte following Route 2, just south of Butte, and surprisingly little traffic on it. After about a 5 mile climb, with magnificent rock formations on both sides, we started a long gradual descent into the town of Whitehall, which lies along I90. Noticeably drier countryside in on the eastern side of this mountain range, with brown grass covering the hillsides and a few smaller conifers dotting the hilltops. After turning south on hwy 287 the headwinds began again, slowing my progress to a 12-14 mph struggle. I prefer climbing any day over facing this! The route had a ton of hills on it too, making it tougher still. Fortunately we turned east off 287 on to hwy 84 after about 12 miles of battling winds. Lon Haldeman was riding today and his fast moving train of about 8 riders caught me some 3 miles before the lunch stop, so I climbed on the pace line and we sped down the road. For lunch we were treated with grilled chicken strips, pita bread, fresh tomatoes, pickles, baked beans, chips and soft drinks alongside the river.
I ate too much! I still had about 25 miles to go before turning into the hotel in Bozeman and it wasn't much fun riding on a full stomach, but I don't think I was alone with this problem. Everybody was pretty slow on this final leg. My legs are still tired and sore despite the shorter day, but I feel if the wind would ever give us a break it would help a lot.
Here are today's statistics:
101 miles
Around 7 hours overall time
Average speed 17.4 mph
5:49 ride time
Max speed 36 mph
4,200 feet cumulative climbing
No comments:
Post a Comment