Today's ride took us out of Bozeman on I-90, and being a weekday, it was not quite the quiet experience we had leaving Missoula last Sunday morning. Here Jenny and a line of other fellow tourists in front of her tackle the freeway through Bozeman.
All that time riding on the shoulder is rough on the tires, and my back tire suffered another flat. A careful inspection showed that the flat was in the same place as my flat tire in Anaconda, and both occurred while riding on smooth pavement, not after hitting rocks or glass. The culprit was a 3/8 inch cut in my tire that allowed a tiny part of the tube to be exposed to the road. The hack for this is to put a "boot" inside the tire under the cut to protect the tube, where "boot" equals whatever paper money you have handy (the high fiber content gives strength). In my case that was a $20 and a $5 so you can be sure I'll be rewarded when I replace that tire at the hotel tonight. My trail buddies helped me with the tire change:
Now that we have been riding long miles for 10 straight days, I think we have enough data to evaluate the physiological effects and make an better assessment about what to expect in the remaining 20+ days ahead.
In the first days I was worried about the effect of accumulated fatigue. My record before this PACTour for continuous days of riding was the "Road Titans 300" ride which does 300 miles over three days with 10000' of climbing per day. So I was wondering what days 4, 5 and 6 would be like. Maybe "worried" is a better term.
What I found on those days was that my legs had a used, spent feeling from start to finish of the ride, meaning the opposite of feeling "fresh," the term cyclists use for being raring to go. However it wasn't that painful feeling in the legs one gets when one tries to keep up with Kirbo A group on Tuesday nights, and it didn't ever build to the point where cramping was a concern. The prognosis is very good because in the last two days that used feeling has diminished; the leg muscles must be adjusting to the new workload.
On the other hand, a new crop of lesser bodily concerns has come up and will probably continue to develop. The majority of these relate to the skin: sunburn where you haven't burnt before (nose for me, lower lip for Paul), wind burn on the cheeks, and saddle burn on the other cheeks. The latter has been the subject of many a mealtime conversation. Although the topic has lost favor of late because I think everything there is to be said about it has been said.
The remaining concerns arise from repetitive stress, such as having handlebars off from straight forward by an almost imperceptible amount might start to cause ones shoulders to hurt.
Most of these problems can be mitigated, and the PACTour folks have seen it all so can give advice. One step I took is to replace sunscreen with physical material: wearing my headband unfolded so it covers my bald pate and wearing thin arm covers from midday onwards. These can be wetted at the rest stops to help compensate for the warming they cause.
As for the ride today it was great! 70+ miles of downhill through Livingston, with a tailwind, 19.5 MPH average while taking it easy, cloud cover and rolling fast. Lots of scenery and lots of western history artifacts, both roadside and at the Museum of the Beartooth in Columbus.
A truly impressive line of mailboxes:
A Studebaker! I didn't know they started as wagon makers.
A tractor drawn combine:
All original except the canvas:
The oldest wringer washer I've seen yet:
Quite the craftsmanship on this oak wheel:
Veronica B styling at the finish line:
Art shot of the day: Paul caught this one.
All that time riding on the shoulder is rough on the tires, and my back tire suffered another flat. A careful inspection showed that the flat was in the same place as my flat tire in Anaconda, and both occurred while riding on smooth pavement, not after hitting rocks or glass. The culprit was a 3/8 inch cut in my tire that allowed a tiny part of the tube to be exposed to the road. The hack for this is to put a "boot" inside the tire under the cut to protect the tube, where "boot" equals whatever paper money you have handy (the high fiber content gives strength). In my case that was a $20 and a $5 so you can be sure I'll be rewarded when I replace that tire at the hotel tonight. My trail buddies helped me with the tire change:
Now that we have been riding long miles for 10 straight days, I think we have enough data to evaluate the physiological effects and make an better assessment about what to expect in the remaining 20+ days ahead.
In the first days I was worried about the effect of accumulated fatigue. My record before this PACTour for continuous days of riding was the "Road Titans 300" ride which does 300 miles over three days with 10000' of climbing per day. So I was wondering what days 4, 5 and 6 would be like. Maybe "worried" is a better term.
What I found on those days was that my legs had a used, spent feeling from start to finish of the ride, meaning the opposite of feeling "fresh," the term cyclists use for being raring to go. However it wasn't that painful feeling in the legs one gets when one tries to keep up with Kirbo A group on Tuesday nights, and it didn't ever build to the point where cramping was a concern. The prognosis is very good because in the last two days that used feeling has diminished; the leg muscles must be adjusting to the new workload.
On the other hand, a new crop of lesser bodily concerns has come up and will probably continue to develop. The majority of these relate to the skin: sunburn where you haven't burnt before (nose for me, lower lip for Paul), wind burn on the cheeks, and saddle burn on the other cheeks. The latter has been the subject of many a mealtime conversation. Although the topic has lost favor of late because I think everything there is to be said about it has been said.
The remaining concerns arise from repetitive stress, such as having handlebars off from straight forward by an almost imperceptible amount might start to cause ones shoulders to hurt.
Most of these problems can be mitigated, and the PACTour folks have seen it all so can give advice. One step I took is to replace sunscreen with physical material: wearing my headband unfolded so it covers my bald pate and wearing thin arm covers from midday onwards. These can be wetted at the rest stops to help compensate for the warming they cause.
As for the ride today it was great! 70+ miles of downhill through Livingston, with a tailwind, 19.5 MPH average while taking it easy, cloud cover and rolling fast. Lots of scenery and lots of western history artifacts, both roadside and at the Museum of the Beartooth in Columbus.
A truly impressive line of mailboxes:
Rachel, Paul and Mary top off the final climb before reaching Columbus:
Swimming hole in the Yellowstone River for after-ride dip. An eddy at this point keeps you from getting swept downstream.
So Kirbo gets a shout out but what about the Half Burners? 🤨
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