The good news: the long weekend is here....the bad news: winter has a hold of our spring! Everything withing a 6-8 hour driving radius showed rain for the entire weekend. We decided the safe bet was to stay local, get a few errands done, take some day trips to Helena & Bozeman and make the most of what we could locally.
The forecast showed weather rolling in later in the day on Saturday, so the smart move was to try and get out early a.m. The problem with that was that it was in the low 30's! The wifer wanted to head up to Helena so I decided that I would leave early and ride up there and meet her the Great Divide bike shop where we had a little business to take care of (wifer needed a new saddle and shoes).
The beginning of the ride was chilly! My finger numbed up quickly and I kept reminding myself that it was going to get warmer as the morning progressed. About 2 hrs into my ride, I dug out some Clif Blocks and realized that they had frozen! I had to let them sit in my mouth for a few minutes before they softened up enough to chew. Fortunately, it did warm up a little though!
The ride proper was 70 miles and fast as you generally lose elevation from Butte (5,300 ft) to Helena (4,100 ft). There are a couple of climbs along the way though that added up to about 1,700 ft of total elevation gain for the ride. The first climb out of Butte to Elk Park and then the 2nd climb out of Boulder. Despite the climbs and the winds, I managed to average 20 miles an hr on the roadie. It took me 3 1/2 hrs door to door from our house to the bike shop. I figured that was pretty reasonable given the slowing up in town on either end.
The body and legs felt pretty cooked after the ride as I was pedaling pretty aggressively for the entire time and did not stop during the ride. There was just enough of a head wind that the downhills required some pedaling to maintain speed. I forced myself to do an e-stim Compex session when we got home. I ran a 'resistance' program and then did an active recovery. Today, my legs feel tired and heavy which makes sense as it was my 4th day on yesterday and the Compex session was a doozie as I turned it up as high as I could handle so the legs are on a much deserved break today.
We finished the day off by piling in the truck and heading to the local drive-in to watch Kung Fu Panda...all in all, it was a great way to salvage the day from challenging weather.
The forecast showed weather rolling in later in the day on Saturday, so the smart move was to try and get out early a.m. The problem with that was that it was in the low 30's! The wifer wanted to head up to Helena so I decided that I would leave early and ride up there and meet her the Great Divide bike shop where we had a little business to take care of (wifer needed a new saddle and shoes).
The beginning of the ride was chilly! My finger numbed up quickly and I kept reminding myself that it was going to get warmer as the morning progressed. About 2 hrs into my ride, I dug out some Clif Blocks and realized that they had frozen! I had to let them sit in my mouth for a few minutes before they softened up enough to chew. Fortunately, it did warm up a little though!
The ride proper was 70 miles and fast as you generally lose elevation from Butte (5,300 ft) to Helena (4,100 ft). There are a couple of climbs along the way though that added up to about 1,700 ft of total elevation gain for the ride. The first climb out of Butte to Elk Park and then the 2nd climb out of Boulder. Despite the climbs and the winds, I managed to average 20 miles an hr on the roadie. It took me 3 1/2 hrs door to door from our house to the bike shop. I figured that was pretty reasonable given the slowing up in town on either end.
The body and legs felt pretty cooked after the ride as I was pedaling pretty aggressively for the entire time and did not stop during the ride. There was just enough of a head wind that the downhills required some pedaling to maintain speed. I forced myself to do an e-stim Compex session when we got home. I ran a 'resistance' program and then did an active recovery. Today, my legs feel tired and heavy which makes sense as it was my 4th day on yesterday and the Compex session was a doozie as I turned it up as high as I could handle so the legs are on a much deserved break today.
We finished the day off by piling in the truck and heading to the local drive-in to watch Kung Fu Panda...all in all, it was a great way to salvage the day from challenging weather.
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