Day 13: Into Billings!

90.59 mi. max 36.5 6:26.42 14.0 avg

You get.....last place!
Actually, Paul rode with me at the very end, because we'd had a change in university location. That was good, because the last hill coming up to Billings had not looked as challenging on the elevation profile on the DRG. In real life, though, I didn't like the looks of it...AT ALL. I'm looking forward to lounging tomorrow.

The first fifty miles were a continuation of yesterday...great tailwind on US Rt. 12. Many people stopped at Ryegate, MT. The bar there in town was open, even though it was 8 o'clock in the morning; apparently, there were even people there (aside from us bikers). I can't tell you from personal experience - the people who went to the bar at 8 were on a mission to buy the famous "Testicle Festival" T-shirts. Sorry gang, not my cup of tea!

I rode with Charlie Shuttleworth, the head of the English Dept. at a boarding school in New York City. The best part was averaging about 17 mph for the first few hours - what a way to eat up the miles in a century! I like riding with Charlie. He's got a lot of good stories to tell, because he's been cycling for a long time, and has done lots of touring cross-country and through lots of parts of the US that I'd like to visit, like Bryce & Zion, and Yellowstone. And he knows parts of the country that I adore, like the Kancamangus highway in NH.

The second part of the day didn't go nearly as well. I fell behind on the hills, until everyone had passed me, except for Eric K. Just before he pulled into the last rest stop, I was gearing up to leave when I heard PPPFISSSSSSSSSS...the sound of air rushing out of a tube that had been left in the sun. Fortunately, it happened at the rest stop. Yesterday, I had switched from my Camelbak to the top part of my backpack (which, with the hipbelt, turns it into a waistpack thingie). Of course, I hadn't yet switched my flat-fixing-tools to the new waistpack system...so Spike had the tools onboard his van.

I think the best part of the day was getting into camp. We had a huge cookout in the park behind our dorm, surf & turf with lots of creative and healthy salads...and ice cream for dessert! Afterwards, I moseyed back to the room. My roommate, Carol, was out for the night, and I took the opportunity to stay in and catch up with my friends from back home (yeah for free minutes on nights and weekends!).