No inter net access yesterday. Here is what I would have said last night.
The conditions of ride today scared the heck out of both of us. If I may quote the day's cue sheet, "Today is a very remote ride across the high plains....We gain plenty of altitude today as we approach the continental divide." Distance 98.6 miles. Weather forecast: 50's early, high in the upper 70's, partly cloudy in the AM, PM 60% chance of thunder showers with possible golf ball sized hail. NW winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to 35. No services after mile 38.8.
Here is our route. http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/39475298
The ride was great! The climbs were long, but once we bonded with the idea of going only 10 or 12 mph, the beauty of the scenery took over. Once out of Missoula, we rode up canyon after canyon each with its own rushing river or stream. Each canyon eventually deposited us into a high valley which we would leave via the next canyon. The storms mostly missed us, and were a relief from the heat when we did get a sprinkle. Finally we had a wonderful, 4 mile descent, with speeds up to 40.5 mph as we entered Avon. The Avon Cafe is renowned for their pies. We stopped for rhubarb pie and coffee before pedaling the last 3 miles into camp.
Starting elevation 3,222. Total climbing 3,471. Final elevation at camp about 4,700.
Tomorrow we cross the continental divide.
2 comments:
Holy crap! What a climb! Great job, you two!
Great job. Following your blog with hope of doing a cross country some day. Keep up the blog and pictures.
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