Setting: In Montana somewhere on Hwy 12 between Townsend and Harlowton. Landscape changes from Mountains to High Plains.
Character: a girl named Deidre
Plot: Deidre is pursuing her dream of biking across the United States while supporting the American Lung Association.
Once upon a time, (well actually on July 2, 2010) there was a cyclist named Deidre who woke up before 5am to the sound of multiple alarms going off in the Townsend high school gymnasium. Jumping up from her sleeping bag, she turned on the lights and packed her belongings. She joined her fellow BIG RIDERS for breakfast at 530 - her breakfast of choice was luxurious SKIM milk and the highly consumed creamy JIF peanut butter on a bagel. (Yes, Choosy moms choose JIF!)
Then on her bike she went a pedalling.
Fast forward thru the morning which consisted of a 11 mile climb with a rest stop at 23 miles, a nice descent and increased pace of 20mph into White Sulpher Springs for lunch at 11am after cycling 42 miles.
At mile 50, Deidre and her fellow cyclists batteled the mosquitoes while cycling a mere 10mph. They were miserable and very distracted by the constant swatting of those pesky little buggers.
The mosquitoes were no match for the tailwind that began a few miles later. Deidre took off on her Trek Madone, cruising along at 20-28 mph (36mph on downhills) for the next 35 miles. She was loving the speed and thought "Oh how I enjoy the Montana countryside while cycling at speeds greater than 20mph. Glorious!" Simultaneously, Deidre was well aware of the need to appreciate her current riding conditions, because it could change at any moment.
Indeed, it did as she noted the temperature had dropped over 20 degrees over the past 45 minutes and Deidre was now trying to our race the omnious cloud cover.
Talk about a premonition because the wind shifted around mile 85 and suddenly Deidre found herself battling against a stiff left side wind. Cycling alone, she found herself cycling less than 10 mph and needing to take standing rest breaks every 2-3 miles. She needed to lean significantly to the left to counteract the heavy winds.
Suddenly, at mile 98, the wind was so strong it pushed Deidre along with her bike off the road! Deidre quickly unclipped from her pedals to avoid a disasterous fall.
Photo caption: This is where Deidre's bike landed!
Photo caption: Deidre herself sitting on the side of the road after battling the winds and losing.
The winds remained furious and Deidre thinking "Safety First!" decided to walk the remaining 2 miles into town.
Upon arriving in Harlowton, she feasted upon a scoop of Montana's famous Huckleberry Ice Cream. As the weather was threatening, the BIG RIDERS headed to the football field the site of tonight's camp. Deidre was assisted by two fellow riders Mark and Brad while setting up her tent due to - you guessed it - STRONG WINDS!
Suddenly, she ran for cover as hail was thrown fiercely from the sky.
Deidre and Evonne took shelter under the bleachers!
Alan, the BIG RIDE mechanic, took shelter in the port-a-pottie!
Ahh, check out the size of these hail stones!
After the hail storm passed, along with her fellow Big Riders, all the hail stones were gathered from their campsite and they feasted upon Sno-Cones! Huckleberry flavor, of course!
(Not really, but it makes a good ending to this adventure of a day in the life of Deidre!)
