Team PhotosEven without going out the night before, waking up at 6 am after a day off was tough. We packed out things and shoved off from Hellgate highschool after some crew chief nourishment. At our team meeting yesterday we established a stretching routine at the first crew stop which went off smoothly today for its trial run. We mixed up the guys in the pacelines a bit more which kept the whole team much closer together throughout the day (the past couple days the first group of riders had been beating the last group by over an hour).
Throughout the ride we were treated to some more of what Montana has to offer: flowing golden meadows of flowers and of course cool mountain scene after cool mountain scene. I saw my first cattle-herding as we passed a small group of good ole’ cowboys leading the herd down the street amidst many a “moooo.” Just a little further down we came upon a pair of horses communicating with another horse that must have been a few hundred yards away….the first horse would give a good “neeiiiggghh,” then the other would quicklky respond. It was extremely cool…we tried to break into the convo with some neighs of our own but the horse weren’t fooled in the least (they were probably even making fun of us).
Lunch was a quick one on the road around mile 60….everyone was a bit more sluggish on the bike after gorging on tortillas, bread, meat, and pb&j. Towards the end of the ride we came upon a super-sweet winding stream that followed the road: could have easily been the most ultimate lazy-river ride I have ever seen….we all wanted to badly get in it. Finally we made it to Phililpsburg, a small town tucked nicely in the mountains to the north of the highway.
We lodged at the town high school (at the top of a huge steep hill, per usual) which looked like it must have been built 100 years ago (which we later learned it in fact was…the oldest still-standing school in all of Montana). The school mascot is the menacing “prospector” and the picture of the student body council posted on the door was pretty hilarious. We had a little downtime before dinner which I used to shave up the ole’ legs…tried a razor this time, but not just any razor…the Venus itself, which paired with my skintimate “raspberry rain” (they were out of peaches) made for a smooth and hassle free shave…it pays to have the right tools, hats off to the ladies on that one.
Our sponsor for dinner was the town Rotary club, whose members were also the founders/designers of the “moon saddle,” a “revolutionary” bike seat shaped like a crescent moon that doesn’t put pressure in the unwanted places normal bike seats do…only snag is that most people find the seat impossible to ride on, haha. For a few years now the moon saddle has offered a small stipend promotion for any JOH cyclists willing to try it out (Donde and Snowberger did on our team…neither can get it to work).
Philipsburg just happened to be having its annual BBQ cookoff that evening; we feasted on some of the finest pork roasts, ribs, and shish-kabobs in the state of Montana (the shish-kabob took first place….well deserved!) Despite a little Montana rain we had a great time.
Throughout the ride we were treated to some more of what Montana has to offer: flowing golden meadows of flowers and of course cool mountain scene after cool mountain scene. I saw my first cattle-herding as we passed a small group of good ole’ cowboys leading the herd down the street amidst many a “moooo.” Just a little further down we came upon a pair of horses communicating with another horse that must have been a few hundred yards away….the first horse would give a good “neeiiiggghh,” then the other would quicklky respond. It was extremely cool…we tried to break into the convo with some neighs of our own but the horse weren’t fooled in the least (they were probably even making fun of us).
Lunch was a quick one on the road around mile 60….everyone was a bit more sluggish on the bike after gorging on tortillas, bread, meat, and pb&j. Towards the end of the ride we came upon a super-sweet winding stream that followed the road: could have easily been the most ultimate lazy-river ride I have ever seen….we all wanted to badly get in it. Finally we made it to Phililpsburg, a small town tucked nicely in the mountains to the north of the highway.
We lodged at the town high school (at the top of a huge steep hill, per usual) which looked like it must have been built 100 years ago (which we later learned it in fact was…the oldest still-standing school in all of Montana). The school mascot is the menacing “prospector” and the picture of the student body council posted on the door was pretty hilarious. We had a little downtime before dinner which I used to shave up the ole’ legs…tried a razor this time, but not just any razor…the Venus itself, which paired with my skintimate “raspberry rain” (they were out of peaches) made for a smooth and hassle free shave…it pays to have the right tools, hats off to the ladies on that one.Our sponsor for dinner was the town Rotary club, whose members were also the founders/designers of the “moon saddle,” a “revolutionary” bike seat shaped like a crescent moon that doesn’t put pressure in the unwanted places normal bike seats do…only snag is that most people find the seat impossible to ride on, haha. For a few years now the moon saddle has offered a small stipend promotion for any JOH cyclists willing to try it out (Donde and Snowberger did on our team…neither can get it to work).
Philipsburg just happened to be having its annual BBQ cookoff that evening; we feasted on some of the finest pork roasts, ribs, and shish-kabobs in the state of Montana (the shish-kabob took first place….well deserved!) Despite a little Montana rain we had a great time. After dinner a few guys went out for a little bit and ended up kickin it with the town firemen (one was celebrating his 50th bday). Lovin the small town atmosphere.
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