Coach Norman Dale: There’s a, um tradition in tournament play- not talk about the next step until you’ve climbed the one in front of you. I’m sure going to the state finals is beyond your wildest dreams, so let’s just keep it right there. -Hoosiers

We lost 1 rider, Bill from New Zealand and we are sorry to see him leave us as he is a strong rider, very funny and an all round nice guy. However, we will welcome 3 new riders to our group. Patrick is a former Google executive who took a sabbatical 2 years ago and has been traveling the world and doing various adventures including climbing Kilimanjaro, climbing to Everest base camo, rock climbing, triathlons and other too numerous to mention. Also, we have a couple from New York City: Kathryn and Bob a retired attorney. All look like strong riders and great additions to our group.

It was so warm last night in Butte that I didn’t use my sleeping bag at all. Getting dressed in the morning in cycling cloths is a lot easier when the temperature is not freezing. Rob announced an alternative route again because the climb and descent after lunch was infamous. I decided to see how it went at that point.

The ride out of Butte is a decent climb and we all warmed up quickly. We were on a paved road for the first 15 miles or so. I was riding with the lead group when I decided to back off the pace and just “ride my ride” as Herm would say. Then we started to climb and it just went on. The climb was followed by a descent on decent dirt roads.

I came into lunch and it looked like the first group (or groups) hadn’t been there that long so I was making good time. Jim asked which route I would take and I said the hard one. I was with a group who rode over some gravel roads and it was difficult to find a decent line because it was wash boarded out and then we started to climb again. I was feeling good and walked a little but came out near the top where Dave was waiting and we waited for the 3 other riders to join us. One rider had a bad cramp so I stayed back to make sure that he was ok.

We had to walk the last climb because of steepness and then I saw that my rear had flatted. I walked to the top and r other riders helped me fix the flat. That was the beginning of a very difficult pass called Fleece Ridge which was a 40% steep descent. Two of our group, Ray and Dave did the quarter mile descent riding. We even saw some riders fall on the approach.

That was the highlight of the day as the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful though with a bit of single-track around water and through a stream bed. I would up ride into town with Pat, Luca and Brad.

It was a on day of 58 miles with the flats, climbs and walking. Tomorrow is a supposedly easy day, low mileage and all on paved roads. However, no showers at the next campground so we might have to avail ourselves of the hot spring along the way.

Thanks for reading

Tailwinds

Chuck – Riding for the Backstoppers.org