Rose Pedals . . .: The 80% Rule

Thursday, September 4, 2014
Butte, Montana to Ennis, Montana
87 miles
4,600 ft. of climbing

After two consecutive long riding days of 148 and 135 miles each, you would think that an 87-mile day would seem short or perhaps even easy. But it doesn't necessarily work that way. This is where the 80% rule comes into play. The theory is, no matter what mileage you're riding on any given day, you're going to start to get tired after about 80% of the miles. It's funny how often that turns out to be true. Nevertheless, tired legs or not, it was an absolutely fantastic day on the bike. It was a sunny, cool day, with tons of magnificent scenery. When we left Butte this morning, the temperature was a chilly 39 degrees. Thus, I started the day wearing practically all of my gear - arm warmers, leg warmers, long sleeve jersey, vest, wind jacket, long-fingered gloves, and toe covers on my shoes. Personally, I don't like being all bundled up like that when I'm riding, but it certainly was necessary this morning. Our 87-mile route today basically consisted of a gradual climb, book-ended with two steeper climbs - one at the beginning and one at the end. We started the day with a 3 1/2-mile climb up Pipestone Pass, at which point we crossed the Continental Divide. Then we were rewarded with a fast 9-mile descent, which brought us to a stretch of rolling terrain, and then a gentle 20-mile climb to our lunch stop in Virginia City. After an delicious lunch of pesto pasta, Caesar salad and all kinds of other choices, we started the final climb of the day - a beautiful but steepish 3 1/2-mile climb smack between Virginia City and Ennis. There was a spectacular lookout area on the descent, where we stopped to take some pictures. From there, we continued our speedy 10-mile descent right into Ennis. The temperature never got much over 60 degrees today, but the climbing kept me warm, and the brilliant sunshine helped keep me warm on the descents.

We finished today's ride nice and early - before 2:30 - which should provide ample time for the legs to recover and be ready for tomorrow's ride . . . I hope. : ) Otherwise, I will be repeating the mantra made famous by the great cyclist, Jens Voight - "Shut up, legs!"

Tomorrow we head to West Yellowstone! Another "short" day to which the 80% rule with likely apply!