90 miles
Today we had to cover a lot of miles. We woke up at 4:30 a.m. and had breakfast at the church. We all got out on the road by 5:30 a.m. We headed east on Highway 12.
I was out front and had a great tail wind for 47 miles. The road followed the Musselshell River on right. It seemed as if the road was slightly going downhill following the river.
Church in Harolton, home for last night
Goofing off in the church- Reverend Chuck giving a sermon
Great riding conditions for morning with no cars on the road
Our first snack stop at Ryegate. Tim was waiting and as usual, he was gracious in making the riders comfortable. I will miss him when he goes back to Vermont when we get to Rapid City. After a brief snack I took off east toward Lavina. Made it there quickly because of the tail winds. Then I turned south on Hwy 3 toward our lunch stop in Broadview. Now I had a cross wind. There was a 12 mile stretch of road construction that had an rough road surface. It was "vibration time" and my hands felt numb several times from the bumps in the road. Leaving Broadview the ride became a little challenging because there was a long portion that was dry and bleak. It seemed like it was 20 miles without services.
Tim, number 1 rated support driver
Finally I crested the plateau in Billings and took the Zimmerman Trail to the western portion of Billings.
It was fairly hot when we arrived in Billings. Tom and I walked up the street to a market to get something cold to drink. We are staying at a church in Billings and a gracious women made dinner for us.
Little town of Lavia. Flag denotes cross wide
Lots of hay rolls and the best bike to ride
20 mile stetch that went on for a long time
Billings after a long day
Chuck, you comment on Tim. I agree completely; he did so much to ease us along the way. Always good for a chuckle too.
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