Gone with the (head) wind

[Butte to Bozeman, MT; 108 miles cycled]

En route to Bozeman (still not sure if its pronounced “Bows-man,” “Bozz-man,” or “Booze-man” to be honest) was among the more picturesque rides of the trip so far. Sample image: picture a mountain backdrop beside a cascading stream and an old time railroad line. Actually, you don’t have to picture it as I’ve included a photo! Everything was going so well, until headwind unleashed its fury on the team. I’ve had incidents with wind before (such as on day three when a brief dust storm essentially blew my pace line off the road), but this was different.

Headwind occurs when strong wind comes at a rider from either side, causing that rider to work substantially harder to move substantially slower. In the words of my teammate Isaac Polanco, headwind is “demoralizing.” That about sums up its effect on me. Being the lightest guy on the team (whyyyy?!), I was completely at the mercy of this effect for a significant portion of the ride and it got to me – quick. I was at my lowest of mental lows, but kept pressing on. In the “FML” moment of the trip thus far, I later found out that my front break had been preventing my tire from moving at its normal capacity, so essentially I was working twice as hard in an already twice-as-hard scenario. Lessons learned!

Once we capped off our longest ride to date (108 miles as noted above), we were all more or less in a daze. I recall sitting in a chair for who knows how long, staring blankly and finishing Andrew Moffett’s generous gift of Fun Dip candy (which was a reoccurring player in the “Things I Love” listing game we played on the road days earlier). Ah, the healing power of Cherry Yum Diddly.

That night we stayed at a center which provided recreational activities for people with disabilities. We started things off by observing a group of three young children take a horse riding lesson. We heard from their mother about how they were adopted from a “meth house” and the ongoing struggles and successes in their daily lives. At dinner we learned about the other recreational activities the center offers, including swimming, skiing and (ta-da) cycling. We met a married couple who were confined to a wheelchair after a motorcycle accident several years ago. Following the incident, they made a commitment to remain active through hand cycling. Hand cycling involves operating a three-wheeled bicycle by using one’s forearms to create motion. We each had the chance to test one out! Not only was it fun, but it made for quite the mini-workout and a positive capstone for the day.