"’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view, and robes the mountain in its azure hue." Thomas Campbell Kalispell, Montana to Missoula, Montana. 148 miles. 3340 feet climbing. I'd forgotten what eating breakfast in a parking lot before the sun comes up was like. I'm still not too enamored of it. And an added complication was that it barely cleared 42 degrees Farenheit this morning. The Cheerios were jumping around in the bowl as it was difficult to stop my hands from shaking. Putting gloves on warmed the fingers but didn't seem to help the dexterity much. A significant difference between this PAC Tour and the two others I've done is the preponderance of PAC veterans among this group. The average age is 40 something, and even though this was the first morning of the tour, all the riders knew the drill and breakfast was eaten and all riders departed within thirty minutes. It was cold out on the road at 7:30, and most had a few layers on. I stuck with my two companions from yesterday. Ann's from South Carolina and is used to riding megamiles. She has some affiliation with the Ultra Marathon (?) Cycling group. Dick is from Arizona, and I've ridden with him before as we met and rode a lot together on the Northern Tier PAC Tour in '96. I figured I might need the physical and mental support as I've got only two centuries under my belt this year, and most of my rides have been in the 50 mile range (Ann's done something like 30 centuries so far this year). So while the air is cool, the sun is warm, and the winds aren't too significant. We head down relatively flat valley bottoms, through pine forests. Lots of open vistas; "big sky" Montana. The roads are pretty good, though trucks leave lots of retread debris in places. The traffic is moderate. There are PAC food/drink stops set up every 25 to 35 miles, and a full lunch set up at 80 miles (sandwich fixings, pasta salads etc.). The three of us move along well, rotating the lead. There are 25 other riders, but we don't see many of them in pacelines or even drafting. The pine forests are green, but the ground and open fields are parched dry. Water levels in the streams are obviously down. The mountains are blue in the distance, and speaking of distance: this is my longest ride of the year, so my legs are glad to see the end. Good dinner and early to bed. Don Friedlander ------ To unsubscribe, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Club Office: [EMAIL PROTECTED], (613) 230-1064 Web/mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb Newsletter: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.cyberus.ca/~obcweb/Newsletter ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?aVxiDo.a2i8p1 Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
