Big day today. We left our camp at Avon at around 7am and had a chance to warm-up our leg muscles on a very gradual climb for the first 7 miles. At mile 7, we began the climb to McDonald Pass--the Continental Divide--at an elevation of 6325'. The last four miles up to the Pass were very steep. This is where all those training miles since January passed through my mind as I slogged up the grade--Baker Hill on Bainbridge, Young's Grade in Yakima, and Winery Hill in Woodinville--ah, gravity...you gotta love it. Once again, I called upon my trusty Granny Gear, and slowly spun up the hill to the crest.
We made it! Once at the top, we took a water & food break and many photos. The lower photo includes two incredible and wonderful people standing next to me --Maryland Bob in the center (age 76) and Minnesota Vern (age 66) at the far left. Seeing what Bob is doing now, I figured that I want to drink what Bob is drinking--until he told me has has an occasional martini. I never cared much for martinis before, but it may be worth a try. Vern is an ironman, and a fountain of information about lots of things, including agriculture (he used to be a farmer). Even this city clicker has learned a few agri-facts.
After resting on our tired laurels for 20 minutes or so, we began the trek downward--a steep ten mile descent at an 8% grade. What a ride! Definitely not for the faint of heart.
At the bottom, we cruised into Helena, and encountered the High Country Coffee espresso stand. A small group of us stopped for refreshments. I had my usual quad grande (split decaf) mocha on ice and poured it into my water bottle. It was gone in 4 minutes. Tracy (an expatriate from Kent, WA), James, and Steve, run a mean operation in the right location. From the espresso stand we continued into downtown Helena.
I took a little three block side trip off route to photograph the State Capitol. One story goes that many years ago, Helena and Butte were locked in a bitter battle over which town would become the capital of Montana. Butte thought they had it in the bag, but most Montanans, while outwardly humoring the Butte-boosters, knew that no self-respecting state could have a capital named "Butte." So, as sometimes happens in politics, a compromise was brokered. The state capital was placed in Helena, and Butte got the largest open-pit copper mine in the world. Everyone was happy--a true win-win solution! This is on the internet so it must be true.
Coming out of Helena, we were halfway done with our "short" ride of the day (63 miles)--easy sailing for the rest of the day, right? The last 30 miles were blazingly hot, hitting 100 degrees, dusty, and desolate. And the headwind was not helpful. We rolled across the Missouri River (our first "eastern" river!) into Townsend, MT to complete the day's metric century ride (63 miles).
More to come,
Marty
1 comment:
I think Helena got the better of that deal. Remember my geology professor in college, a grizzled old veteran of the Butte mining operation. He used to say (repeatedly) "We put the hill through the mill, haw haw"
Anyway, keep it rolling and thanks for blogging.
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