Livin la vida loca

July 1, 2021

We were dreading this day. The route was to ride to Circle, Mt which was 53 miles away. The route had over 2000 feet of climbing and the forecast was for sunny sky’s and the high near 100 and 10-20 mph winds directly into us. Yesterday’s ride into the wind was soul draining and exhausting. Today we were very concerned with getting heat exhaustion out in the middle of nowhere with no shade or services around. We discussed various options of what to do and decided the best thing to do was to start very early and get off the road by early afternoon.

We started riding at 5:15 am with the sun just up and temps in the mid-60’s. We had an 8 mile ride to the Missouri River then the climbing started with a 300 foot climb out of the Missouri valley. In the cool weather we were riding strong and the first 33 miles of climbs went very well. The hills were not terribly steep or long and there were downhills to coast down. We remarked that yesterday’s ride into the wind was so difficult because we had to earn every mile, no free miles. With downhills you can coast and accumulate many free miles.

The one town on the route was Vida which was after 25 miles of riding. In Vida there is a farm gas station, which was open but did not have anything for us except a bathroom. Vida has the smallest grocery store I have ever seen and it was not open yet. Vida has a bar with dancing which was not open. In Vida we sat in the shade and had a quick sandwich we brought along. Then we were on our way, up and down hills as the sun made the temps hotter and the wind started to pick up. At 33 miles the winds were in full force and were mostly head winds. This really slows us down and with the hot weather we start taking more stops. It took us 3 hours to do the first 25 miles and it took us 5 hours to do the second 28 miles. That is the impact of heat and winds on our energy.

Today was the debut of da brim. Da brim is a wide brim that attaches to a bike helmet. It is useful in the rain and on sunny days it provides its own shade. I have been carrying it for 1300 miles waiting for that special day to debut it. That day was today. Da brim worked fairly well until the winds came up. Then it felt like my helmet was getting ripped from my head. The other downside of da brim is that it is the bikers equivalent to horned rim glasses and a pocket protector. It has this nerdy look. I don’t mind my appearance so da brim will be worn again.

We made it to Circle about 1:30, missing most of the heat and wind. We are staying in a motel so we get AC and a shower. Tomorrow we have a 50 mile day to Glendive. The route is supposed to be hilly the first 18 miles and then not so bad. The forecast is for temps in the 90’s so we are planning another early start so that we can be done before the extreme heat and winds.

Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 1,373 miles (2,210 km)

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