Thompson Falls to
Missoula
June 25 2022
It was cold this morning at only 42F and it made getting out
of the nice warm sleeping bag and into cold riding kit was really tough. In addition the tent was absolutely soaking
wet from condensation. However I knew
that we would be having a good breakfast as the previously nights supper was
this slow smoked pulled pork with Carolina Sweet barbeque sauce, which was super.
Good supper 99.9% of the time means good breakfast.
I managed to get out and on the road at 7:15 am. The sun was starting to warm things up quite
nicely and it was promising to be a good day.
In 2018 it was a horrid day with bitter cold terrible head winds and
lashing rain. The forecast was for 5-12 mph winds out of the SE changing to NE
later in the day. As we were headed SE it
looked like a head wind but first thing in the morning there wasn’t much for
wind.
It was quite a long day at 102 miles and 3500 ft of climb. So the thing was to make time when you could
and not knock yourself out when you couldn’t make time. Stop and take a few photos and as this was
the last day of the week it was not a panic to get in early.
The ride was absolutely beautiful with the river one side
and the mountains in the distance. I stopped several times to take photos getting
off the bike to walk over to get a good shot.
Picnic was at the 57 mile mark in a little town. Rolling in there I saw that they had the
remainders of the previous night’s fruit cocktail so I gobbled that down.
After lunch the wind had picked up considerably and even
though there was only 45 miles to go the head winds really hampered progress. The big climb of the day was at mile 64 for
16 miles of 3-6% and into the head wind made it feel more like 6-8%.
Needless to say I was glad to make it in. It was a long week
with over 610 scheduled miles plus the 30 route creep miles and the 10 lost
miles for a total of 650 miles this week.
In the first week we covered 1/7th of the total distance in
1/9th of the tour duration.
Tomorrow is a rest day.
Terry
5 comments:
Montana is beautiful. Glad you had a clear day to see it! How is Aussie Bob and his bike doing? Enquiring minds want to know. You never mention the other folks on the tour; Texas Ken, Tom, Patrick, Ed. How are they faring? Where are you staying, on campus? Thanks for sharing each day.
The answer to cold riding kit is to put the kit in the sleeping bag with you. Old dog, new trick!!
The first week is always the longest as you have ridden seven days straight. The rest are six ride days/week. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that.
Great pics. Enjoy your Sunday in Missoula.
Calgary Ken C.
Wonderful pics of countryside. Great ending to a tough week. . . It only gets better from here, right?
Cynthia
Hey Terry.. riding around the Netherlands with vicious headwinds and today cold rain so just caught up on your blog. Hope Bob is doing ok.
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