Day 26: Dubois to Lander Wyoming; the long haul. 72 miles! 1700 ft ascent. 1000 mile mark of the trip was hit today! Woo Hoo!

-

 



So what is sillier than than a bunch of 60-somethings and a couple of 59ers cycling up to the continental divide at 9655 ft?  How about riding 72.5 miles across the Rockies?  Today several people broke their own personal distance records.  We are still smiling!  Still ready to ride again. That seems silly.

Today we were able to experience the ever changing terrain of Wyoming.  We heard coyotes in the distance, deer grazing on the greenest grass, and antelope grazing along the side of the road.  

We started in the dry painted hills, climbed a bit to grassy plains with the Rockies looming in the background, sailed past amber fields with snow capped mountains in the distance, and ended in dry, hot, sage brush terrain.

Lauran flying up the hill while smiling!

Wind River





We entered the Wind River reservation which is home to Shoshone and Arapaho people.  A few small towns were scattered along the way.  The trading posts were a welcome reprieve from a hot sunny day and long stretches without a ready source of water.  


Crowheart Butte


We were all were happy to arrive at the airbnb "Little Landers Inn" and be greeted by host Kathy, who was described by some as "the nicest person ever".  We were greeted with freshly made iced tea, chocolates, fresh farm eggs and snacks.  

Several cyclists were having mechanical difficulties and needed a good bike mechanic.  They were thrilled to be able to get their bikes in at The Bike Mill.  Miguel was able to bring the bikes right in.  

Dinner tonight: Latkes, kielbasa and apple sauce compliments of Sue B....time to give chef Lesli a break.



Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2022 at 11:57 PM

    Nice blog Betsy! Where is the picture of the dog?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 11 Halfway, Oregon (population 303) to Cambridge, Idaho (population 328)

-
Image
Well that was an interesting night for sure! I slept in the shack "out back." On my way to the shack to go to bed,  I saw a large feral cat. That sprang my imagination into high speed. Hmm I wonder why it ran under the shack? Will birds and snakes crawl into my shack? Oh bother! When I finally went to sleep, I slept well. No creatures visited in the night.  Monday morning. Up bright and early! Lauran gave me a gentle reminder to wake up. As she had already perked a pot of coffee, I was eager to get up and get going. We all bustled about the place packing and preparing for today's climb; almost identical to yesterday's trajectory. Today we hoped to get started an hour earlier to avoid the predicted high heat. We might make all 58 miles if we planned it right. Donning some very strange looking duck billed visors, we set off into the rising sun. What a fantastic morning. Flying up over hills and down the other side on Hells Canyon Rd. I got a great view of an Elk standin...
Read more

Day 5: Prineville to Mitchell, Oregon - 42 miles, 2,123 feet of ascent at ~5% grade

-
Image
Early to bed, early to rise is key when trying to beat the extreme heat of the day here, which begins searing down upon us as soon as 8:30 am. With Lesli, our confident sag wagon driver, singer / song writer and chef extraordinaire, at the wheel, we took off promptly at 6:30 am from Barnes Butte Bungalow, a funky cool Airbnb house in Prineville, OR. The group decided the previous evening it would be prudent to drive the 5-ish miles to Ochoco Lake at the eastern base of Ochoco National Forest to avoid riding on the no-shoulder, heavy truck-trafficked road those first few miles. Good decision! A crescent moon nestled against a stunning bluebird sky above made for a dramatic backdrop as we began pedaling at 7 am sharp bundled up against the cool morning air. Today would be a long climbing day, which most of the riding group embraced with a twisted sense of glee. Having trained at sea level for this epic adventure, let’s just say that I’m a wee bit less enthusiastic when it comes to unrele...
Read more

Off Like a Herd of Turtles

-
 A friend of mine; Dale, always says that.  It is appropriate as usually we are on a float and that is departing pretty slowly.  It is not how fast you are off the starting blocks, but the pace you run the race.  Finishing up today at a place called Fern Lake and a nice camp spot for all.  But there is a bit of a climb to get there....a small one, sorta a warmup for the Rockies. 
Read more