Day Eighteen-Wish I Was There

Day 18 (121 Miles), Thursday, July 5, 2007- Riverton, WY to Casper, WY (5,224')

Today's blog will be short and rather blunt. The ride today, and this is no reflection on America By Bicycle- Lord knows they were not even incorporated when this part of the planet was installed, was the most boring time I've ever had on a bike. Problem is, if you're going from over there to over here, you come this-a-way. The ride started at 5:30AM, before the sun had risen, and lasted until nearly 4:00PM for me and my group. The ride was basically flat, trending up for the first sixty miles and then down for the last sixty. I think we climbed all of 2,000 feet in 120 miles, so I guess that qualifies as flat- certainly no climbs in relation to what we saw a few days ago. The weather was clear in the morning with cumulus clouds building towards afternoon, temps warmed to the low 90's, and we had a headwind most of the way. I was converted into jello by the ride end, though having finally taken a shower and rested for an hour or so- I actually feel pretty human. Mind you, this ride was our ninth straight day of riding and brings this leg's total mileage to over 700. I'm in new territory as far as stressing my body and though I really am tired, nothing feels broken- legs, hands, butt and feet all seem in working order. However, I am starting to notice a really deep tired feeling settling in- it must be the cumulative effect of all of the miles ridden, staying in 18 different hotels, rushing around every day getting stuff done and getting shortchanged on my sleep by just a little bit every night. Twelve hours sleep sounds about right to me.

The scenery never changed today (one exception was Hell's Half Acre- I'll show you a picture in a minute), it was open range with rolling hills the entire way. The foliage (that I could recognize- I'm sure a botanist would fill pages) was sage brush, a few small cactus and some occassional grass. Lean pickings for the few cattle, sheep and antelope that graze it. I did read and hear that wolves are doing well for themselves here, having expanded from their original stocking location in Yellowstone Park (200+ miles to the northwest). The ranchers want more freedom to kill wolves they deem to be predators (one local said they kill for sport- I'm not so sure about that one) and the tree huggers want them to have less ability to act. I'm with the ranchers- I suspect that most ranchers are too busy to go wolf hunting unless its having an economic impact on them and I think ranchers are more important than wolves.

The ride was the longest I've ever done, by far the most boring scenery and most of the group I rode with agreed. I just hope that this isn't a portend of things to come- though I suspect that South Dakota (next on our agenda) will have a lot in common with today. Our route today was Hwy 26, a two lane road, with a fairly decent shoulder (though at times the cracks were awful) that we tried to stay on. The traffic seemed pretty heavy to me and there were a bunch of big, fast moving trucks rolling by. No time to be riding double and a double pace line was out of the question- just too dangerous. A couple times today we had to correct careless riders for not calling out when passing (seems many have gotten lazy about this). One riding buddy thought pulling up beside me and riding with no hands was OK- I quickly disabused him of that- but we're still friends, I hope.

The one interesting spot- a place called Hell's Half Acre- is a geological wonder- I can't explain what it is, but it is a rock canyon that just appears in this 360 acre section in the area we were riding in today. Got a few good shots for my loyal readers.

We had three sags today- all of them were in simple pullouts along the road since there was really nothing in the way of facilities along this route. The one place I saw today which had any facilities at all was a small store where I had a cold Diet Coke and a Nestles Crunch. Found an interesting posting in the Men's room which I took to heart. At our first sag stop, Will (he's the heroic one that drives the triple) was heading out behind the van to take a leak and as he crossed the cattle guard he heard something rattling, looked down and saw that he was about to step on a rattlesnake. Yikes!! Actually, we saw any number of dead rattlers on the road- some of them were pretty healthy looking (I thought you said they were dead).

Anyway, it's 4:30 now, I'm waiting in my room for the hotel to move me to a room that has a functioning air conditioner (temps headed to high 90's tomorrow) and I'm figuring on vegetating for the next 36 hours or so (tomorrow is a well earned rest day). I believe that our ride stats through the second leg (Astoria, OR to Casper, WY) are:

Total Miles: 1318
Feet Climbed: 46,715
Days Ridden: 17 out of last 18 Days
Average Miles per ride: 78

Special Edition- I Get $1,000,000 Award

On Wednesday, July 4, 2007 I recorded my 10,000th mile on a bicycle since I started riding again last June. I commemoration of the event Joe Elam, owner of Habersham Bicycle sent me a One Million Dollar bill and said I can either spend it in his shop or at Dairy Queen- my call. Joe- thanks a million!!

Addendum-Day 16- Amazing Touring Rig

WARNING TO NON-CYCLIST: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO READ THIS- you will not be able to finish reading it and you will attempt to kill yourself. I am not liable. For anything. Ever. OK?

Yesterday (I think?), after we'd climbed Togwotee Pass (Continental Divide), a pair of self-supported cyclists (they carry EVERYTHING they need-tent, sleeping bags, food, water, ginzu knives, People Magazines, etc- on the bike) pulled into our sag stop. You'd have thought Bono had strolled in the way we glommed onto them. We played a hundred questions with them, kind of like what people do with us. Turns out they'd already logged 75 days (started in Virginia) and planned to return home (Germany) in December. The bikes they had were amazing, German made touring bikes. First, they were incredibly heavy- I had to try three times before I could lift the bike up. Second, the gearing was an engineering marvel (I did say they're made in Germany right?) in that all fourteen gears were contained in a sealed rear hub that was operated with a twist grip on the right handlebar. Wheel did not have to be moving to shift- just twist and go. Hey, cool song title- Twist and Go, yeah baby.

Anyway, thought it was very cool as I have a lingering death wish involving an extended, self supported tour. These machines have to be the ultimate touring bike- maybe tough to buy one or to get it serviced. But still way cool.

NON-CYCLISTS: We now return you to our regular scheduled blog. Over and Out. Roger Wilco. It's safe to start reading again. Suicide warning no longer in effect.

Day Seventeen- Bore Ring

Day 17- (79 Miles) Wednesday, July 4, 2007- Dubois, WY to Riverton, WY

I am writing this in my room in Riverton, WY in the middle of a horrendous thunderstorm, Internet is down, so I’ll write it in Word and try to paste it later.

On the anniversary of our great country’s statement of independence, we stuck to the plan and rolled down the road (literally) through first a scenic canyon section and the through a hideously boring stretch of high, scrub desert and arrived in Riverton. Riverton is a dreadful burg. The town was shut downc ompletely(except for fast food and Wal Mart) in observance of the Fourth. Ever heard of that before? Me neither.

Following a festive group takeover of a local breakfast joint (Cowboy Café?) we ambled on outta town (that’s cowboy talk, boys and girls). The route was a good day for the directionally challenged- turn right out of motel, go east on Hwy 26 for 80 miles, turn left into motel. I get it- I really get it.

First 25 miles or so were huge scenically speaking. Like scenes from a western movie. Then, it all turned to dry, rolling, scrubby high desert. Every mile looked exactly like the last mile. The temperature rose steadily, til we were looking at low 90’s, zero humidity and a slight headwind. The Millers, Gary, Lenny and I kept a solid 18 MPH pace going, taking advantage of the generally downhill topo of today’s route.



Thought I'd throw in a couple pics of Will, Kelly and Jennifer pushing that big ole' triple rig down the road. God bless you guys, that looks like work to me.


We hit town in time for lunch and then good, relaxed pace around the hotel as I tended to the details of cleaning up and preparing for what could be a tough day tomorrow (120 miles- maybe into a headwind)

I’d just love to continue trying to amuse you people, but I’m going to go to bed- wake up’s at 4:00AM tomorrow.

Day Sixteen- Oh My Gawd (Part Deux)

Day 16 (91 Miles)- Tuesday, July 3, 2007- Jackson, WY to Dubois, WY (6,917')

First off, my apologies for not staying current with the blog. One of the things I'm dealing with on this tour, something I'm not at all happy about, is the pace of things. On our long days, and there have been a bunch, I seem to be in non-stop motion until my head hits the pillow. After spending all day riding, I must shlub my luggage to the room, unpack, take a shower, get dressed, eat dinner, go to rap, wash clothes, charge my electrical thingees, etc. There is very little pure down time. So finding the time to do the blog can be an issue unless we get in early, which sure didn't happen on day 16. Surprisingly, decent, free internet connections have been the rule- so I can't hide behind that rock.

Our ride today had everything you might want and a few things you'd just as soon avoid. We had breathtaking scenery, pretty decent roads, sags where they were supposed to be and good folks to ride with. However, we also had headwinds, a twenty mile climb, dirt roads to ride on, pickup truck shuttles and a very long day.

The route today took us from touristy Jackson Hole, WY north along Hwy 89N/26E/191N which skirted along beside the Snake River and the Grand Tetons. The views along the route, which also flowed past a large Elk winter range (saw no Elk- probably up in the high country now, but we did get close to some buffalo), were just so beautiful that you could spend all day being a goofy tourist. We stop and drank it in numerous times, but crossing the Continental Divide was on our list of things to do today, so we kept the pressure on the cranks. Our group today was The Miller Train, Gary and me and we kept a decent pace going through the first 30-35 miles in spite of a bitchy headwind that none of us were enjoying.

At mile 32 we turned right, put the Grand Tetons behind us and started to grind out the next 25 miles as we drew closer to Togwotee Pass and the Continental Divide. For those us us who slept through Earth Science class, I'll remind you that this is the ridge line at which water either trickles toward the left coast or the right coast. In fact, it actually works- the rivers we'd passed prior to this were flowing towards us and afterwards, they flowed away from us riders.

We'd bben warned ahead of time that there was significant roadwork underway and that there was a good chance we'd have to either ride dirt roads (not great on a road bike) or get sagged, or both. Turned out to be both.

The climb up to the Divide was not as steep as yesterday's epic climb, but it was much longer and still 6-8%. I felt maybe at 80% when I left the hotel, and by the time I started this 17 mile climb, my legs were really marginal. Its been days since I've had a solid eight hours sleep, we've riiden now for 15 of the last 16 days (over 1,000 miles) and the climb was very, very tough for me. The group dropped me quickly, then split apart and I climbed, solo and in pain, for what seemed like hours. By now, the day was warming and I was focusing on turning the pedals over and staying upright. At mile 49, we all stopped at a store and got word that the rode was impassable (Hey-they just announced school's closed cause of snow!!!!) and that we'd have to ride just a bit more, then get shuttled over the top. A "bit more" turned out to be about 7 miles (yes Virginia, uphill) and my eyeballs were bulging by the time I got to the stopping point- just two miles from the summit. We waited our turn to load the bikes into the back of the road crew's pilot truck and they took us up to the Togwotee Pass at 9,658'. I had the legs to finish the climb, but did not have the heart to put up a fight- plus there was no choice- the road was closed to us- they'd been dynamiting the night before and as we drove through the remaining two miles, you could see the mess, yea the boulders, that they were trying to get cleaned up. Good call.

The views from the summit were great, but nothing compared to Teton Pass. But everyone was in high spirits as we'd put two of the biggest climbs on our tour in the history books. The next challenge was a few more miles down the road and we were told that we'd again have to be shuttled through- the road was closed to cyclists. Although the heavy lifting was done for the day, we still hadn't eaten lunch and still had 30 miles to finish before we were done. The waiting game began as we waiting our turn to get sagged by the ABB vans. We finally got 9 bikes and rider aboard, took a 6-8 mile ride down part of the mountain and unloaded at about 3:30PM. Ate a quick lunch at the cafe we'd been dumped at and then started the remaining 20-25 miles. Derek and I did a repeat of yesterday, as I found some energy from somewhere, and we broke from the group and started hammering. We pulled into the hotel at about 5:00PM (that's 11 hours on the road, 90 some miles and about 3,500 feet climbed).

I showered, unpacked, ate, went to sag, cleaned my bike, cleaned my water bottles, changed the rear tire, cleaned and lubed my chain and by 10:00PM I was finished for the day. And I mean finished. Only 80 miles tomorrow. Piece of cake.

Dubois (pronounced doo-boys, rhymes with "new toys") is a quaint western town, not really oriented towards tourist, at least not like Jackson- which you can have, along with whomever ruined that place. Granted I spent all of 10 hours there, but it gave me the creeps with the in-a-freaking-hurry type AAA personality I felt. Why anyone who wants a western experience would go there is beyond me.

Day Fifteen- Oh My Gawd

Day 15 (92 Miles)- Idaho Falls, ID to Jackson Hole, WY

I am beat. Tongue hangin' on my lap, wobbly legged, blood shot eyed, stammerin', dog tired. The day was sensory overload in a plus size. Following a 4:30 AM wake up call (in no sense should what I'm doing ever be called a VACATION- no sir), breakfast at 5:30 and load at 6:00, my usual compadres left the hotel and headed out of Idaho Falls along a road familiar to me from my fly fishing and drift boat hauling times here. In fact we rode by the place I bought the boat some five years ago.

What looked to be another treat of a day weather wise, quickly turned on us and a headwind developed. The paceline tried to tighten up, but riding two abreast was impossible because of the traffic. So, even in spite of our attempts to organize, we had our spandex covered asses handed to us for about 25 miles, where we arrived at our fist sag. The entire group was a bit shell shocked, especially given the climbing we knew we had in front of us.

The views began to slowly build as we began inching towards the mountains. Today's ride featured a minor climb from mile 25 to 35, then a more significant bump at mile 59 (which took us to about 5,700') and then the big climb at miles 70-77 which gained us about 3,000 vertical feet and took us over Teton Pass at 8,431'. The first two climbs were non-events and following the second climb we coasted into Victor, ID at mile 65- I've read that the people who work in Jackson Hole live in Victor because of the cost of living in Jackson. In spite of that I thought Victor (also the name of the town I grew up in in NY) had a nice, non-touristy western town feel to it. Most of us pulled into a small market in Victor and took on whatever nourishment/refreshment we thought would get us through the big climb. The mood was tense and somewhat nervous among the riders as the climb facing us would be our most stern test since leaving Astoria- without question.

With no more possible excuses for delaying available, the riders began to slowly work out onto the road and headed towards the Wyoming state line. I don't recall what time it was- probably around 11:30 AM, but it seemed as though we climbed for hours. The road pitched up ever so gradually, at first 1-2%, then a little more until we finally arrived at the Wyoming state line at mile 70.8.

From this point, the climbing was difficult beyond anything I've ever done. Mind you the real climbing, the really difficult stuff, started after we'd ridden 70+miles, so I was anything but fresh. The climb from the Wyoming line to the summit (Teoton Pass) was about seven miles (we'd already been climbing for 5 miles) and it was unrelenting. There was never a leveling off or a drop-just up, up, up. First at 3%, then 5%, then 7%. The weather was getting hotter as we climbed and was probably in the mid to high 80's. With two miles to go and the grade now between 10-12%, people began to look for ways out. Some sagged (rode the van), some walked, some took periodic breaks and then pushed on and the real lions rode straight through- no stops. I was in the third camp- not strong enough to ride straight through, but able to pause, then keep on riding. The group I'd started with in Victor was now scattered all over the mountain, leaving each of us to deal with this sumbitch in our own ways. The Miller boys were dancing on their pedals all the way up- what amazing strength they have.

Anyway, I finally got to the top and I was floored by the view- it really was a very emotional thing. What a girly man. It made all of the suffering I'd experienced climbing this mountain worthwhile. The views were just spectacular, though my pictures don't do it justice. I waited around at the summit for the rest of my group to ride in and we did the obligatory photo's.

The rest of the ride was anticlimatic and consisted of a pile driving descent and then a 6-7 mile flat run into Jackson. Derek and I decided to stretch out our legs and dumped the rest, hammering into Jackson and the Day's Inn. This seems to be something of a pattern- I get frisky at the last 10 miles. Guess I'm not worried about bonking and still having a big ride left.

I spent a restless night, first dealing with some horrible hamstring cramping , then hotel lobby noise, then a case of the "too tired to sleeps". Our next leg is another very significant climb. In fact, while I was in a local bike shop in Jackson, the guy waiting on me said he thought tomorrow's ride was harder than what we did today. That didn't help me sleep much.

Day Fourteen- The Day That's All About Tomorrow

Day 14 (38 miles)- Sunday, July 1, 2007- Blackfoot, ID to Idaho Falls, ID (4,722')

In 2002, just after I retired, I drove to Denver, picked up my friend Skip and the two of us drove to Idaho Falls to pick up my new Clackacraft drift boat. From there we spent the next week or so drifting the Snake River, fly fishing for cutthroat and rainbow trout. So arriving in town today was quite familiar, in fact, we are even staying in the same hotel that Skip and I stayed in.

Today we rode our bikes through the little bit of remaining flat farm land we have in Idaho. The ride in was quick and easy and altogether unremarkable, given what we've been doing for the last few days- more of the same, with one exception. As several people remarked today, the mountains are looming. All through the morning, the mountains were visible way off in the distance. But today was all about taking 'er easy and getting ready for tomorrow.
Most of us arrived in Idaho Falls by noon and learned that our rooms wouldn't be ready until 3:00PM. So it was a slow, relaxed lunch, (that's big Ralph Antolino- a hammer from Columbus, OH in the picture below doing a pretty passable pirate immitation) a short tour along the bike path by the falls, and then to rap (where we discuss the next day's route).

Tomorrow we depart Idaho and begin our assault on The Cowboy State, better known as Wyoming.

At rap tonight, Mike Munk (or Chip, as some of us call him), talked in somewhat subdued tones about the ride tomorrow. His greatest caution was not about the climb, but about the descent. It will be a real test of our bike handling skills, with grades around 10% for several miles. Check in tomorrow and I'll report on it.

The picture below is of a very cool tree fort that we passed on the ride into Idaho Falls this morning. The fort must have been thirty feet up in a tree with an immense ladder leading up to it. Check the 6'3" rider in the lower left hand corner to get a perspective.. Somebody's got a really cool dad, for sure.