Day 23 – Legs of Rubber

By Mark Heggestad
We had another beautiful day.  Sunshine all day.  We were on a busy highway, but had a shoulder the majority of the time.  We biked 71.9 miles from Ennis, MT to West Yellowstone, MT.

I thought today would be an easy ride.  We had no major climbs, just a gentle ascent over the course of the 71.9 miles.  But between the ascent, and a head wind of anywhere from 5 mph to 15 mph, the day became very challenging.  My body was sore and my legs felt like rubber.  I don’t know how else to explain it, my legs just seemed to have no ambition.  I am blaming it on the ascent being a little more than it appeared or the head wind having a bigger impact than I assumed.  Either way, it felt good to just get this day finished.

Despite my legs slight mutiny, I was able to once again find beautiful distractions.  For a good portion of our ride we traveled alongside the Madison River and Hebgen Lake.   And we continued to view scenic mountains.

Mountain range from beginning of today's ride

Madison River

Hebgen Lake

Tomorrow is completely unpredictable.  We will be traveling through Yellowstone National Park.  The total length of the route through the park is a little over 70 miles.  Between the traffic (which we have been told was bad today) and a forecasted head wind of 20 to 30 mph, we have no idea if we will get half way through or the entire way (or likely somewhere in between).  We will see what tomorrow brings.  Either way it will be beautiful and I am sure full of surprises. 

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