I got up and headed on through slight rain. The forecast I found last night from the local radio station as well as the previous ones from the internet said warmer morning followed by occasional rain in the afternoon. I decided to head on. The sky slowly became foggy and was starting to concern me about visibility. I rode on to the rest area and took shelter inside to warm up and let the fog clear. I had many comments about how it wasn't a great day to ride a bike.
Eventually the fog cleared and I continued on. Soon after starting, however, cold rain and cool temperatures moved in. I began getting extremely cold and concerned about how to handle that and the traffic. I eventually made it to Powder River. Many of the towns on this 100 mile stretch of road west of Casper are not there anymore and others are just holding on. Powder River is holding on. They had a post office that I went into to get warm. The lady clerk was very friendly and cranked the heat up to help me dry out. We talked for a bit and shared some stories and she opened up a room to let me put on a dry pair of pants. It took a long time to put these on and after an hour in the heat I was still shaking pretty good. I decided to call a friend and see if they could pick me up somewhere outside of town. After some discussing we decided I would ride towards town and after he finished up some things he would head my way.
While in the post office it had hailed and snowed and the wind shifted to a tail wind. This helped me ride almost 20 miles before he picked me up. The temperature had also dropped about 5 degrees, to 31. After piling in we drove back to town through more snow and rain. I warmed up at there house and also fell asleep for a bit, drained from the cold and exercise.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Moving Thru
I woke up fairly early for an unknown reason and decided to use it to my advantage today to get to Worland before the headwinds started. It was a relaxing ride of 40 miles and relatively easy. I beat the winds to town and ended up getting a room to have a bit of a break. I ran some errands and then just took it easy.
The next day I wanted to get about halfway to Casper, about 85 miles. I headed out halfway early and made it to Thermopolis quite easily. Thermopolis is the home to the world's largest natural mineral springs, and you can smell when you are getting close. I continued through here, as I have been here before and wanted to cover ground today. There is a beautiful canyon just south of town and it was a gorgeous day to ride through it. The highway wound along the river and overlooked the train tracks on the other side. As one goes along this road you slowly descend through time as the various ages of rock are exposed. Towards the bottom one is surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides and has a small view of the sky. It played with my senses as I felt I was descending, yet the river flowed as if I was ascending. The climb out of the canyon was also not as challenging as it should have been.
I stopped in Shoshoni at a park next to the school for lunch. Graduation was going on and I had a couple of conversations with locals about my ride and the lack of anything between here and Casper. I decided to cook food here because I would most likely be roadside camping and didn't want to have a stove to deal with out there. I headed on and the wind greatly increased. A storm was moving from the east and pushing the air out in front of it. Eventually the rain hit, but the wind stopped. It was quite a mild ride with the rain, yet not too draining. I started watching for places to stay but this is high desert prairie. There isn't much there.
I eventually made it through the storm, but was becoming more exhausted and needed to camp. After miles of searching I was wore out and just headed to a fence about 50 feet from the highway and set up. Soon after another rainstorm hit. I fell asleep only to be awakened less than an hour later.
Bright flashes and loud crashes brought me out of my sleep. A great rainstorm had moved in and was directly overhead. I started to count time between flashes and thunder and made one-thou... before the crash came. It was this close for about 15 minutes and I was one of the tallest things out there. I got into lightning position for about 20 minutes until the lightning moved far enough away. I eventually fell asleep and had quite a restful night.
The next day I wanted to get about halfway to Casper, about 85 miles. I headed out halfway early and made it to Thermopolis quite easily. Thermopolis is the home to the world's largest natural mineral springs, and you can smell when you are getting close. I continued through here, as I have been here before and wanted to cover ground today. There is a beautiful canyon just south of town and it was a gorgeous day to ride through it. The highway wound along the river and overlooked the train tracks on the other side. As one goes along this road you slowly descend through time as the various ages of rock are exposed. Towards the bottom one is surrounded by steep cliffs on all sides and has a small view of the sky. It played with my senses as I felt I was descending, yet the river flowed as if I was ascending. The climb out of the canyon was also not as challenging as it should have been.
I stopped in Shoshoni at a park next to the school for lunch. Graduation was going on and I had a couple of conversations with locals about my ride and the lack of anything between here and Casper. I decided to cook food here because I would most likely be roadside camping and didn't want to have a stove to deal with out there. I headed on and the wind greatly increased. A storm was moving from the east and pushing the air out in front of it. Eventually the rain hit, but the wind stopped. It was quite a mild ride with the rain, yet not too draining. I started watching for places to stay but this is high desert prairie. There isn't much there.
I eventually made it through the storm, but was becoming more exhausted and needed to camp. After miles of searching I was wore out and just headed to a fence about 50 feet from the highway and set up. Soon after another rainstorm hit. I fell asleep only to be awakened less than an hour later.
Bright flashes and loud crashes brought me out of my sleep. A great rainstorm had moved in and was directly overhead. I started to count time between flashes and thunder and made one-thou... before the crash came. It was this close for about 15 minutes and I was one of the tallest things out there. I got into lightning position for about 20 minutes until the lightning moved far enough away. I eventually fell asleep and had quite a restful night.
Wyoming: Halfway There
I made it into Wyoming in relative struggle. I had a heavy headwind the whole day, which got worse over the last 25 miles. I climbed my way out of Montana for a bit under 50 miles and had a good headwind that kept me out of my saddle much of the time. I eventually started downhill, which was the trend most of the rest of the day. I took a pic by the welcome sign and then headed on. Much of Montana and Wyoming's back roads had sections just recently refinished, giving me a lot of great blacktop to ride on. This was relatively true in Wyoming. I learned that in Wyoming the roads are hired out to different contractors for small sections. The state apparently doesn't regulate how they need to be done, so there are multiple types of surfaces and rumble strips occasionally thrown into the mix.
Once at Lovell I decided to see how the weather was going to be and if I wanted to call it a night there and push on tomorrow. The report said 5mph headwinds today and 15mph headwinds tomorrow. Also, Greybull is lower in elevation by a bit. It was another 30 miles and I decided to go ahead to Greybull today and do a short ride the next day to Worland and get a motel. I pushed on and it started out uphill out of Lovell. Also, the winds were much greater than 5mph and were closer to 20mph. They also switched from headwinds to crosswinds. The best part was the 15 mile climb out of Lovell. Over the last 30 miles, 20 were uphill! The downhills were not a break since the wind blew so hard I had to pedal and with all my strength I barely stayed above 5mph. It was an exhausting day.
As I crested the hills, I got more and more frustrated. I started to yell at the tops like the world's strongest man competitors do when moving heavy things. It worked well. At the last hill I hollered out, "this has got to be the last one." And I was excited that it was. The last few miles into town, however, were gravel due to construction and I struggled a bit more to make it there.
I wheeled into the campground and got a site and then decided to set up camp, shower, and then eat. I was looking forward to A&W, but at just after 8, when I was done with my shower, it was closed (on a friday!). I headed to a different restaurant that was a little nicer and got some food and then headed back and fell asleep. Of course I forgot to cover my bike seat with a sack and it decided to dump rain that night, so I had a wet seat the next day.
The scenery today made the ride much more bearable. I was surrounded by the Absarokas and Bighorns and a few other ranges throughout the day.
Once at Lovell I decided to see how the weather was going to be and if I wanted to call it a night there and push on tomorrow. The report said 5mph headwinds today and 15mph headwinds tomorrow. Also, Greybull is lower in elevation by a bit. It was another 30 miles and I decided to go ahead to Greybull today and do a short ride the next day to Worland and get a motel. I pushed on and it started out uphill out of Lovell. Also, the winds were much greater than 5mph and were closer to 20mph. They also switched from headwinds to crosswinds. The best part was the 15 mile climb out of Lovell. Over the last 30 miles, 20 were uphill! The downhills were not a break since the wind blew so hard I had to pedal and with all my strength I barely stayed above 5mph. It was an exhausting day.
As I crested the hills, I got more and more frustrated. I started to yell at the tops like the world's strongest man competitors do when moving heavy things. It worked well. At the last hill I hollered out, "this has got to be the last one." And I was excited that it was. The last few miles into town, however, were gravel due to construction and I struggled a bit more to make it there.
I wheeled into the campground and got a site and then decided to set up camp, shower, and then eat. I was looking forward to A&W, but at just after 8, when I was done with my shower, it was closed (on a friday!). I headed to a different restaurant that was a little nicer and got some food and then headed back and fell asleep. Of course I forgot to cover my bike seat with a sack and it decided to dump rain that night, so I had a wet seat the next day.
The scenery today made the ride much more bearable. I was surrounded by the Absarokas and Bighorns and a few other ranges throughout the day.
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