Miles

The snowstorm today, May 12, has interfered with my internet access so I'll see if this posting will go through.
This past Saturday, two days ago, I did 150 miles in nine hours. That seems pretty good until I mention the 15 mph tailwind I had at the end. I did 50 miles in just under two hours. It was the most fun I've had in years. I spent an hour and a half moving between 30-35 miles per hour just steady cruising. Also the road was following the Madison river and was trending downhill the whole time. I admit the downhill and the tailwind but it was still a blast. The only reason I didn't continue to 200 miles was that my crew was ready to go home.
It was my fault. I miscalculated the distance and gave a destination as the endpoint, not a distance. My calculations were 40 miles short (how did that happen?). So when we reached the announced end they were ready to quit. I have spent a lot of time getting these guys together and they finished the day feeling good. So we stopped.
The part of the day that didn't have the tailwind was doing a loop west from West Yellowstone, over the continental divide twice and back. I did that 65 miles by myself, then met my crew back in West Yellowstone where I repeated the first half of the morning ride, over the passes again. The fastest speed of the day was just before the end, coming into Norris, MT. There is a considerable hill there. As I came down the descent I hit 45 mph, which was when I started touching my brakes. The former tailwind was rather squirrelly in the canyon and I wanted to remain upright.
The West Yellowstone ride was organized by the local Chamber of Commerce and had bikes of all sorts, and me on a recumbent. This was the first time I have actually ridden the same route at the same time as upright bikes and all the predictiions were true. I was moderately slower going uphill and just smoked them all going down. The last rider I past was a real natural athlete. At over 30 mph he could lean to the right, press a nostril and shoot snot well out into the grass. After I passed him I never saw him again but he has set a standard for personal hygiene I will never equal.
This week is the peak week, then start tapering next week. At least the race dreams have stopped for now. Last night I dreamed I was watching home movies with Pete Townsend and the Who. Did he have braces in real life?