Pactour Day 6 "Uphill into the Headwind"

The scenery in Western Montana is simply gorgeous, all the time.  Note JW and Will (with the Turk tucked in just next to Will) suffering on the wheel of Lon Haldeman and Jon Jahan.  Kinda looks like Lon may be suffering a bit too?

The Turk is known around B-H for her calf definition ie "Hi-Def or Mos Def."  Maybe she'll approach Robbie Robbinette aka "Calfasorous" near the end of the trip?

Near the top of our 3 mile 8% climb at 6300 feet there was a cool heart cut out of the forest.

Today Jim made a mistake of pushing the family too hard.  From mile 0 we were heading back into a headwind and he was worried the expected 9 hour ride time might approach 10 hours so we  started jumping onto the back of groups for the first 60 miles.  For example we sat on Lon and Jon's wheels for around 40 miles.  This totally cooked JW and the Turk.  We rode "easier" to lunch (most of the ride to this point was uphill) so they bailed and sagged in.  Not a bad 80 mile ride.  Tomorrow we'll not make that mistake again and ride easier.

After lunch Jim and Will set off together.  After 10 miles we had a 3 mile 8% climb and Jim continued to push the pace.  Every once in a while Jim would motion Will thru and Will would slow the pace so Jim would come back around to the front.  Near the top Jim asked Will if the pace was hard and Will said, yeah - Jim had been climbing around a heart rate of 175.  Asking Will his heart rate "in the 120's!!"  Looks like Will has a pretty good engine and he could leave dear old dad whenever he wants.

We rode for 10 miles around several lakes at the top (around 6300 feet) kinda cool to see fish in the streams up here.  We then descended for around 15 miles (into a headwind of course) at around 25-30mph the whole way.  Jim doing most of the work, Will would come around occaisionally.  We still had 10 miles to the next rest stop at the bottom and the day was hot so we stopped at a Conoco to refill water.  Will gave Dad a big hug and commented how cool going that fast and hard was.

Tomorrow we start climbing from the start and cross the continental divide.  I hadn't thought of what the continental divide was for a while, basically it is the watershed dividing line for our major oceans.   Water on the west side flows towards the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, Water on the east side flows towards the Pacific.

Speaking of climbing, we climbed about 5680 feet (or 1 mile) today.  Kinda cool when you picture a mile in the distance, then imagine that mile going from the ground up into the air, then think about riding that mile upwards on a bike!

As mentioned our days start at 5:45 and we are on the bikes at 7:00.  We get to our hotel around 5:30.  We clean the bikes, replace any tubes or supplies used then drag our bags and bikes to our hotel rooms.  Then Turk or the boys might do a massage,  after which we do dinner around 7:30 or 8:00.  Bedtime is usually 10pm, I bet it'll be closer to 9pm tonight.

Tomorrow we will ride easier so we can all finish.  Since it is a "short" 100 mile day, we actually get a 1/2 hour extra sleep as we start riding at 7:30.

Terri really appreciates being able to do this "Family Ride of a Lifetime" and has to thank her understanding partner at B-H, Matt and all the staff of B-H - Branton, Rick, Colby, John Rodriguez, (and Jaime.)  Retail business has very slim margins, thanx to the internet, and so those guys all work so hard to keep B-H going.  Their customer service is second to none, and Rick is the best mechanic you will ever have to fortune to have work on your bike.  (By the way Rick, Jim's bike has never worked better.)

Til next time.