100 miles in 7 hours
100 miles in 7 hours
Date : June 18th 2009
Day 13
Miles: 100
Destination: Missoula, MT
After a night of soaking out the soreness in the hot springs, we woke up at 5:00 AM with a challenge before us. We had a sponsored lunch in Missoula at 1 PM. However, Missoula was 100 miles from Paradise (literally, not figuratively). At 6 AM sharp, we were on the road, ready to cycle, and to finish the ride, we had to average 15 mph, not including stops.
We faced another new challenge today: riding on our first interstate highway. Only 3 states allow cyclists on interstates, and Montana is one of them. After a 20 mile leg to I-90, we jumped on the shoulder with cars whizzing by at 75 miles per hour. When we got on the bikes at 6, we knew we had a tough day ahead. But the obstacles continued as the entire team worked to finish this tough day.
About 10 miles into our first interstate ride, we encountered road construction, and it continued on and off for the next 70 miles. The rough roads led to several flat tires (some guys had multiple flats in a row) and mounting frustration. At one point, 4 guys had to push their bikes on the shoulder of the highway as they had run out of spare tubes with which to fix flats. But as our team has shown various times in these first couple of weeks, we are very resilient and very supportive of each other. The “hammerheads” pulled some of us up hills (keeping our pace above 20 mph at times), and the comedians made the best out of frustrating situations.
Despite various obstacles, the entire team rode into Adventure Cycle at 1 PM. Adventure Cycle is a non-profit organization that promotes cycling tours in the United States. They were the original pioneers of the TransAm bike trail, so it was fitting to see the organization that laid the foundation for our route. And after 100 miles, a juicy burger hit the spot. We all walked out with a special souvenir for TransAm cyclists: A sticker we are earning this summer that reads, “I Ride, Therefore I TransAm.”
Cycling 100 miles in a day is a feat. Having 20 men do that in 7 hours is just another day for the TransAm team.
James Fredrick
TranAM
Colorado State University
Colorado Springs, CO
Today's Photos
The Journey So Far
