A Pause in Boulder (August 13 - 27)

As I looked up at the sun setting, as the last fires of the day glow across the first (or is the second) Flatiron, I couldn't help but think that my stop in Boulder was a nice vacation from my bike tour vacation. Actually, my tour is not a vacation; it is travel, which is a completely different beast from "vacation."

So what I have done during the vacation in Boulder? There was the catching up with old friends from U.C. Berkeley and the Team-In-Training days in San Francisco. This was the best part of the stop in Boulder. There was the good cooking - the good cooking of newly-made friends. Spending the night in a spacious and completely empty (except for me and the dog) house in the mountains above Boulder was exciting, though not in a horror film sort of way. I think I saw Tyler Hamilton sipping tea at his house when I awoke that morning.

Boulder was an escape. An escape from reality. Boulder is a place where the rest of the world seems to fade away. It is an escape from the hectic hustle and bustle of the U.S. Boulder is in an outdoor mecca. It is a liberal-minded college town. It is a place that composts the plastic spoon that you just ate off of (of couse the plastic spoon is made out of a compostable-plastic). But everyone needs an escape from the escape sometimes.

During one of my days in Boulder, my host, Stephen, and Stephen's friend, Keith, planned a "day off" from Boulder. We tried to relive National Lampoon's Vacation - sort of. We escaed from the bubble by making a pilgrimage to Water World where we slid on the waterslides all day long. My personal favorite was the standing wave pool which was populated by wave pool grommets. I, by the way, had no skill at the wave pool. After Water World, we had a game of kickball followed by a screening of "Vacation, The Movie.

Another great thing about Boulder are the bike paths. Even in a place like Boulder, which is populated by professional bicyclists, it is still nice to get away from the cars. Boulder's bike path system allows cyclists to keep far away from the cars - a good thing as far as I am concerned. So I spent a large part of the two weeks in Boulder traveling to friends houses and to downtown via the bike paths.

This pause in Boulder also gave me a chance to catch up on some reading - The Nation, Catfish and Mandela, and The Road. All good reading material when traveling by bike. And I had the chance to see a movie at the Red Rocks ampitheatre - how about Wedding Crashers preceeded by an actual wedding ceremony and a U2 cover band?

The pause also gave me a chance to reflect on my trip and to remember the good times (for example bag pipers near the Beartooth Mountains) and bad times (reinflating my back tire 15 times while riding in Rawlins, WY). Mostly, I reflected on the bikers. Such beautiful music...

Day 37 - Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park to Boulder (August 12)

Bringing it home?

This will be my last post for at least 2 weeks (until September 5 or September 6), because I will pause here in Boulder for a couple of weeks to recover and to plan for the next stage of my trip.

On this day, an early start got me out of Estes Park before the traffic got too thick. Five miles of climbing and the rest was downhill, except for Pinewood Springs.

I stopped in Lyons to rest. There I met a bike messenger who was riding a one-gear (not fixed) mountain bike with a trailer. He rides as a bike messenger in Chicago, but he started his bike tour in Santa Ana, California. Touring is a way for him to stay active and outdoors.

Along the way, he had run into a rock n' roll drummer who was bike touring in the Mojave desert who had to be airlifted out because of a heart attack. This guy didn't have a dime to his name, yet he kept riding.

My destination today was my friend Stephen's house in Boulder. But I stopped at a triathlon he was working at first. On my way from the triathlon, I ran into a professional triathlete, Cameron Widoff, who finished third in the tritahlon. I first heard of Cameron when I did the Wildflower Triathlon in 1999. I think he came in first for that triathlon.

This is typical of Boulder. You can run into professional cyclists, kayakers, adventure racers, triathletes, etc. and just have a normal (well "normal") conversation with them. Cameron and I talked about how to minimize the amount of stuff I was carrying. As you can imagine, to go faster and get better performance, professional triathletes and cyclists try to minimize the weight of their bikes as much as possible. A touring bicycle is antithetical to a racing bike. A touring bike has a ton of extra weight. In my case, extra weight that I really didn't need. So Cameron gave me some suggestions about how to lighten the load.

Wilderness and Too Many People

When talking with Cameron, I found really one topic of conversation to be really interesting. How to find an uncrowded place to hike, camp, play. Here in Boulder and especially Estes Park, there are a ton of people. The outdoors is right nearby, but there are a lot of people out on the trails. We talked about how north of here in some of the areas I had just come through, there was uncrowded hiking to be found. Some of those very same places that I found boring and dreary have mountain ranges nearby where the crowds are much less than here in the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

Even though I saw those areas as being full of motorhomes and motorcycles, if one were to drive off the beaten path, one could find good uncrowded places to hike, camp, and play.

Day 37 - Aspenglen to Boulder - 53 Miles

Day 36 (August 11) - Timber Creek Campground to Aspenglen Campground

Where's there's population, there's tourists. Where's there's tourists, there's kitsch. Welcome to Estes Park, CO. More about the mass of humanity later...

For now, the ride:

The ride concerned me. Even though I had ridden to the campground as far up the climb as possible without actually climbing over the mountain, I was still concerned about today's ascent.

The Timber Creek Campground is locatead at the headwaters of the Colorado. So far, I have ridden by the headwaters of many important rivers: The Columbia (near Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada), The Snake (Grand Teton National Park), The Yellowstone (Yellowstone National Park, the Yellowstone leads to the Missouri), The Platte (connects with the Missouri south of Omaha, Nebraska), and now the Colorado. Some rivers flow from the parting of the waters to the Pacific, while others flow to the Atlantic.

Headwaters of the Colorado

From my campsite along the headwaters of the Columbia, I would climb to an elevation of 12,183 which was 2,000 higher than any other pass I had ridden to date.

It was suggested that I get an early start and I was on the road by 6:30 a.m. Overall the climb wasn't that bad and I kept with my planned pace - I got over the last peak by a little before 10:00 a.m. My body held up for the most part. Overall during this ride, the aches and pains have not been to bad. Maybe a few sore muscles, an IT band, and a sore derriere. I've had a low grade cold, but it didn't really stop my riding. This climb was the first time I experienced a really bad cramp - my left calf started to act up. I was able though to keep it under control for the ride.

The climb consisted of two summits. So when I went over the first summit at 12,183 feet, I then had to lose 300 feet of elevation and climb back up another steep hill to get to the second summit. Some of the road was gravel because construction was occuring. Why are construction contractors allowed to poorly maintain their construction BMPs? In a National Park?

View From the Top

Because I started my ride early, I was able to miss the bulk of the traffic and crowds. This gave me the opportunity to walk around the tundra. Above an elevation of 11,000 feet to 11,500 feet, the warmest average monthly temperature is 49 degrees. This is where the trees end and the alpine tundra begins. The alpine tundra is only a 1 foot to 3 foot layer of dirt where a fragile ecosystem of plants and mammals exists. Tundra that has been trampled by the tourist foot can take up to 1,000 years to recover.

Interesting Rock Formations at 12,000 Feet

After getting to the top, it was downhill all the way to Estes Park. My original plan was to ride onto Boulder. But, I decided to stay in the Rocky Mountain National Park instead. I stayed at the Aspenglen Campground. I got there right in time. I was actually given a "RV only" campsite because there were no other campsites.

The Rocks at Aspenglen

After I began setting in the the "RV only" campsite, Gary from Placerville, CA asked me if he could swap campsites. His kids had the adjacent campsite, but Gary's campsite was in a different part of the campground. This swap benefitted us both. Gary was able to camp next to his kids and I was able to get a better campsite that was nearer to a bear box.

View from My Campsite

After setting up the campsite, I headed to Estes Park to forage. I had emptied my bags of food as much as possible in preparation for my climb, so I needed to restock. Estes Park was a typical mass of summertime touristy humanity. There were the kids running around; the typical american tourists, a few locals, lots of traffic, people cheering as the noisy motorcylces went by. It's everything to look forward to in a mountain resort town in the month of August.

The Urban Camper

I noticed something different about the campers in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though I had heard from people who moved to Colorado that people were friendlier than say, California, I noticed something else. I attribute it to being near a large urban area and the type of guarded behavoir that causes in people.

When I was out in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming and Montana, and Canada, people seemed friendlier and more open to start conversations with strangers.

Now being near Denver, Colorado, a large urban area, I noticed a different way of behaving. I noticed that campers were less likely to approach me and ask me about my trip. People tended to stick to themselves similar to how people act in large urban areas. They didn't want to start a conversation with a stranger. Even though I would be able to connect with friends in the Denver area in another day when I got to my final destination, in the meantime, I couldn't connect with the strangers that were near me in the campground.

Day 36 - Timber Cr. to Aspenglen - 49 Miles

Day 35 (August 10) - Walden, CO to Timber Creek Campground, Rocky Mountain National Park

Riding the Red Forest.

The forest for this entire ride was infected by bark beetles. Some stands of trees had a few red trees (an indication of bark beetle infestation) while other stands were entirely red. Then there were other stands of trees that were mixed - some trees were aspens while others were pines. These mixed forests had red pine trees and green aspen trees.

Bark beetles typically live in these trees, but a combination of drought conditions and mild winters have created conditions that are perfect for bark beetle infestation. If there is enough rain, the pine trees are healthier and are more able to defend against beetles. Also, if it gets cold enough during a winter, the cold kills the beetles and their eggs. But lately, it has been dry and mild. It could be a possible effect of global warming or just part of the weather cycle.

As for the ride, the wind at my back, the climbing was easy…what more is there to say?

I rode of Willow Creek Pass at 9,600 something feet. It was described as a lightly traveled route. In the 50 miles it took to get to Granby, I saw only 60 or so cars. Of course, the drivers sucked and there was no shoulder, but that’s all to be expected. The ride over and down Willow Creek Pass was relatively easy, which didn’t wear me out too much for the next day’s climb.

I started early, leaving Walden at 6 p.m. It was barely light outside. There were clouds over the mountains that I would climb this morning. Some rain streamers dropped from the clouds. In some places the rain was very heavy, but I mostly stayed dry. Over the mountains, there were a few stray bolts of lightning. This concerned me some, because I didn’t really want to play lightning rod with my body and bike. When I did finally begin my ascent, the clouds had dispersed. I was hopeful that there would not be any clouds over the mountains for the next day's ride.

I arrived very early in Granby. So this gave me a little time to rest and get a bite to eat. I was only planning on riding a few more miles, maybe to a private campground within the next 14 miles. In the back of my mind, I was considering riding another 25 miles to a National Park Service campground inside Rocky Mountain National Park. I was concerned about doing this. Although, it would get me much closer to tomorrow’s climb, it would probably wear me out. And the campsites were first-come first-serve. What if I had ridden those miles and had done that climbing and there was no campsite?

Before I entered the National Park, I stopped at a private campground. The campground host said that people had made reservations months ago. It was a Friday night after all. I was a little peeved. What if a tired bicyclist needed a site. No luck!

In Granby at 11:30 a.m., I had called the park ranger and asked about the Timber Creek Campground. The ranger said if I got going, I should be able to get a campsite. I was not so certain. Based on the distance and the climbing, I thought I wouldn’t get there until 4 p.m. and surely, by 4 p.m. on a Friday night, all of the campsites would be taken.

Nevertheless, I continued on to the Timber Creek Campground, determined to try my luck at finding a campsite. And if I didn’t, well, I’d just climb over the pass. It's only 12,000 feet high.

A quick stop at the information kiosk gave me some hope. The ranger said that at 11:30 a.m., there were 39 spaces available. It was now 1:30 p.m., so I wasn’t very confident. But I continued on. Basically, I sprinted the best I could the 10 miles to the campground. It was a slight uphill and instead of arriving at 4 p.m., as I had originally planned, I actually got here shortly after 2 p.m.

I was really happy to stay at the Timber Creek Campground. The Forest Service and National Park Service campgrounds are so much nicer than the private campgrounds. Sure there are less services - no wireless internet, no cell service, no showers, no laundry, but there are nice campsites surrounded by pine trees. From time to time, a moose or a bear saunters through your campsite. A very enjoyable experience!

Day 35 - Walden to Timber Creek - 83 Miles

Day 34 - Riverside, WY to Walden, CO (August 9)

Welcome to North Park…leave your Beef Behind.

I didn’t know how much work the ride would be, so I wanted to get started early. This ride rises out of Wyoming and into what is called North Park. Before the North Park is a large valley that never seemed to end. In this valley, I entered the Red Forest (see more about it on Day 35).

As I was climbing out of Wyoming, I saw another touring cyclist going the other way. Because he was going the other way, I told him about Sheryl (Day 33). But he was only doing a 7-day tour starting in Steamboat Springs and traveling around a mountain range north of Steamboat.

So back to North Park. North Park is a large high altitude Park. It is like a “Hole”, like the Big Hole that had cycled in Montana. I don’t know what the difference is between a Park and a Hole, but I think they are both high valleys that are surrounded on all sides by mountains. The Big Hole River flows out of the Big Hole in Montana and the North Platte River flows out or through North Park.

North Park was significantly wetter than the country I had been riding in Wyoming. I know this because it was wet enough to be fly habitat. Where there are flies, there are flies that follow me as I ride.

North Park, you might ask yourself, “is that the inspiration for the show called “South Park.” Well, not exactly. There are a few parks in Colorado. From north to south: North Park (Walden, CO), Central Park (Granby, CO), and…South Park. Don’t forget Estes Park.

In Walden, I rode to my first lodging choice that night - the city park. I met the caterer for a group of college-aged cyclists from Missoula, Montana. They were doing physiological testing for the Center for Work Physiology and Excercise Metabolism at the University of Montana. They were riding long and hard and each day to see how their bodies held up. Their blood was drawn, tissue samples were taken. They were basically guinea pigs, but the if they completed the program - 2,000 miles in 22 days of riding - they would get a nice $7,000 bicycle - The Orbea Opal. Sounds like a good bargain. Where do I sign up? - oops, I’m too old or too slow or carrying too much weight.

But instead of the campsite, I decided to get a hotel room. I did this so I could rest. The next two days would consist of riding over the continental divide once each day. The first day, I would ride over the third highest pass to date and on the second date, I would ride over the highest elevation for the entire ride at more than 12,000 feet. So I wanted to be well rested for the next two days.

Day 34 - Riverside to Walden - 55 Miles

Day 33 - Rawlins, WY to Riverside, WY (August 8)

Sinclair, Sheryl, Saratoga…

I got a late start because I had only intended to ride for an easy 40 miles. It didn’t turn out as easy as I thought.

The first 20 miles were a breeze - it was at my back. I think I covered the 20 miles in a little more than an hour. At mile ten, I passed through Sinclair, WY. Have you ever seen the gas company that uses a green dinosaur as its logo? Well the Sinclair Oil Refinery is located of all places in Sinclair, WY. It is an interesting town. It has that used up company town feel to it. I wonder what happens when a toxic cloud gas has to be released in an emergency. Fortunately, the town is located up wind.

Sinclair does have interesting architecture though. Downtown there is a Spanish-style hotel. Seems really out of place, but what do I know?

The first 20 miles ended in Wolcott, a nothing little place with a Shell gas station. I was hoping for a Subway Sandwich, but no luck. There was a nice surprise, though, her name was Sheryl. She was a touring cyclist riding the TransAmerica Route (at least since Kentucky) and headed West.

When I pulled up to the gas station, I noticed a touring bike with a load of gear - surely this was a touring cyclist on a long journey, one of my people! And shortly after I set my bike down, a woman jumps out of the gas station. This was Sheryl. She had been touring for a while along the TransAmerica Route. She took a break in Denver to see friends and family. The problem was that the bulk of touring cyclists cross the Country in June and July. So, in August, there are few touring cyclists. The campground host at the campground that I stayed at this day said that he had not seen any touring cyclists for a month.

As a touring cyclist, it is nice to see (and talk to) other touring cyclists once in a while. It is nice to compare notes and experiences. Often the experiences are similar - roads, dogs, cars, camping, scenery. So, Sheryl was excited to have another touring cyclist to talk to. Of course we were going in different directions, but at least it was nice to sit, chat, and eat a 7-Eleven-style bean & cheese burrito.

I said farewell to Sheryl and went on my way to my original destination for the evening - Saratoga. The ride to Saratoga was supposed to be an easier day after my long day of riding from Lander to Rawlins (Day 31). From Rawlins to Wolcott, I was traveling east. I was actually riding on the shoulder of Interstate 80. If I kept going, I’d been in Omaha in 7 days, but I turned south. The wind was from the west, which made the first 20 miles from Rawlins to Wolcott easy, but turning south, I now had a side wind. The riding was harder. I didn’t really care because I thought that I only had a short ride.

Saratoga didn’t turn out to be the stopping place I was hoping for. I really wanted to use the high temperature hot spring - the Hobo Pool. But a visit to the only campground in town - Saratoga Lake - convinced me that I needed to keep looking. A gentlemen at the Lake said that sometime people camp at the High School. This sounded suspicious, so I stopped by City Hall and they said “no way.” You sometimes can’t rely the advice of strangers - especially those who don’t know what they are talking about!

Not finding a hotel room that I could afford, I reluctantly did the only thing there was to do - continue riding to Riverside. The problem was that I had spent so much time running around Saratoga that it was getting later in the day. In fact, it was after dinner, but I pushed on to the next town, 20 miles away - Riverside.

I’m glad that I did. The ride to Riverside was different than the rest of the day. It wasn’t just rolling sage brush. Yes the ride to Riverside still looked like riding in the Mojave Desert (with cooler temperatures), but I started to approach the mountains and the scenery became nicer.  I entered Riverside as the sun was setting.

The campground in Riverside was very nice - Lazy Acres - I almost wanted to stay for a while.

At Lazy Acres, I met a motorcycle rider who had just ridden 26 mountain passes (mostly in Colorado, I think) in 26 days. He said it was exhausting. I can imagine!

Day 33 - Rawlins to Riverside - 72 Miles

Day 32 - West, Rawlins, and Rexalation (August 7)

News flash: Rawlins is too small. So small, that I can't find a one-hour photo shop. Thus, there will be no pictures for another 5 days (until I arrive in Boulder).

I took my bike to get fixed at Murray's. Trued some wheels, changed a tire that was showing tread. The bike should be good to ride for a few more miles. This new tire would also be used for the last part of my trip in Vietnam after I blew the treaded tire that I originally put on the bike for that part of the trip.

In Rawlins, I actually got a little rest.

Day 32 - Rawlins, Wyoming

Day 31 - Lander, WY to Rawlins, Wy (August 6)

What a long strange trip its been...

It's been 13 years since I last passed through (via I-80) these parts and I won't mind if it is another 13 or more years before I pass through again.

There is a lot of wide-open space between Lander and Rawlins. So much so that horses here are wild and run free. Yesterday, I noticed a horse running towards me. Fortunately, it was on the other side of the fence. I thought this was weird behavior. Most horses I had seen were grazing, not running around. This must have been the first wild horse I noticed. Later on today's ride, I passed by 6 more wild horses grazing in a field far away from any farm house or dwelling.  In 2012, Tom Davis would disappear many of those horses (ProPublica).

The ride today passed through an interesting area - a great basin. There is a point in the continental divide (I prefer the French phrase, which roughly translates as "the parting of the waters") where the divide actually splits and in the middle is formed a basin. From this basin, no water escapes. Rain that falls over this basin does not flow to the Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean (or from certain peaks in the Canadian Rockies, to Hudson Bay).

Three Experiences.

The first experience involved my back tire. Yesterday, I had struggled with my back tire. Today, as I finished the last climb, I noticed that riding my bike was more like riding a pogo stick. There is a mushy feeling in the back tire when it goes flat. And when I checked, it was becoming flat. So I had a choice - either change the tire with my last spare and potentially ruin that spare - the only tire I had left - or continue to re-inflate the tire for the rest of the trip. I chose the later.

This choice seemed to be working until I stopped at the point 1/3 of the way through the trip. I was hoping to stock up at a store at this point. Not finding a store, I was at least able to find water at a rest stop. But stopping at the rest stop, I noticed something important about my tire.

A week or so ago, when I was in Cody, someone pointed out that my back tire tread was gone. I just shrugged because, I knew I would change my tire soon in Boulder, Colorado. I didn't, however, bother to look at my tire. If I had, I might have noticed, like I noticed today at the rest stop, that some of the iron-reinforcement for my tire was showing through the tire. So I had a flat tube, a deteriorating tire, and 80 more miles of riding ahead of me! I spent the remainder of the day re-inflating my tire every hour or so. And in the last 16 miles coming in Rawlins, I re-inflated my tire at least 8 times.

The second experience was my lunch (if you could call it that) of a grilled cheese sandwich, chips, and a green apple in the little (!) town of Jeffrey City. The menu said that family, friends, or children may be my server, my waitperson, my cook, or take my check. The youngster who helped me must have been early teens or almost a pre-teen. She was very professional though, but without personality. At that age, it is hard for a youngster to show their personality to a stranger. The mother seated me, but the youngster served me and took my order. I saw her brother (?) in the kitchen. Did he make the grilled cheese sandwich? I think his father or mother was yelling at this kid.

I had a nice chat with the only other customer, an indian (native american) BLM agent who was responsible for mining activities. It seems that this area is rich in uranium. I had read somewhere (the Utne Reader, perhaps) that uranium was becoming valuable once again. If true, this may improve Jeffrey City's fortunes, though not the World's. Apparently in the 70's, Jeffery City had a population of 6,000. Now it is 100 or 200, if you count the surrounding area. From what I saw at the Cafe, apparently, it is not easy to make a living in Jeffrey City.  I might have stayed in Jeffery City if Monk King Bird Pottery were open at that time (it opened in 2009).

The third experience involved the ride from Lamont in the Continental Divide Basin to Rawlins. Most of the ride this day was on a wide road with 6-foot shoulders, but past Lamont, the shoulders shrunk to just the width of a cyclist and the far side of the shoulder slighly sloped into the dirt. Fortunately, there was a rumble strip between me and the fast moving vehicles. Other than the width of the shoulder, there were two problems. First, the shoulder was rough and uneven. Second, the vehicles, including the trucks drove by at 90 mph. When a truck passes at this speed, even a fully loaded bicycle gets drawn towards the truck. This can be a problem if I get drawn to close or if I get drawn after a truck and there is a truck or other vehicle behind the first truck.

As I rode this section of highway, I noticed a thunder storm to the west. It was really dark and I could see rain streamers descending from the clouds. I could see lightening and hear thunder. While there was no rain over the road yet, I could see the storm passing over the road a few miles ahead of me.

What choices did I have? To ride in the rain (with a flat tire and a rough shoulder) or ? I realized that I shouldn't ride while the storm passed. The wind might blow me towards the trucks and cars. The rain would obscure the driver's vision. I might get struck my lightning. Shocking!

I wouldn't want to just stand on the side of the road and wait for the storm to pass. I would get too wet and I would feel silly just standing there in the rain. So, I decided that I would pitch my tent, but just not yet. Even though I had just passed a turnout on the road, the rain hadn't started yet even though I could see it approaching.

So I waited - until the rain started. Then there was no turnout. Finally, I saw one - on the other side of the road. I had no choice the rain was beginning and the wind had really begun to blow. I crossed the road, put down my bike, put on my rain slicker, and went to work.

Nice Spot in a Pitch

Pitching a tent in the rain and the wind is not easy. For one, how do you keep the inside of the tent dry? My tent has three parts: a ground cover, the tent, and a rainfly (why do they call it a "fly"?). There wasn't time to use the ground cover.

I began to set up the tent. But rain can just fall right through the tent. That is why there is the rainfly. Chicken or the Egg - which do I do first, place the tent to give structure or cover the tent with the rainfly to prevent the tent from getting wet? Well, I had to put up the tent. This was not easy. I got the two main support poles placed, but when a tent is pitched in the rain, it becomes a sail. So even though the poles were placed in a manner that would give the tent its normal shape, the wind caused the tent to smush (technical term: "smush", def. to push together) together.

After a few minutes of restling with the tent, I placed the third backside tent pole. However, the tent almost took off from me a few times because the wind caused it to sail. I decided that I would place my bike bags inside of the tent to weigh it down. Before I put the bags inside, I placed the rainfly over the tent. Considering the wind and the rain, it was suprising that the inside of the tent was mostly dry.

One more problem existed though. Because I was too close to the road and because of the speed of the trucks (I guess it is too much to ask drivers to slow down in the rain?), the rainfly still shimied when a truck passed. So I went out in the rain one more time and tide one side of the rain fly to my bike and the other side to one of my bike bags. After this, the tent was stable, the rain was falling, the storm was passing, and I was able to take a nap.

All together, this entire pitching-a-tent-at-the-side-of-the-road-while-waiting-for-a-storm-to-pass-ordeal took an hour. As I emerged from the tent, I noticed that to the east (the storm traveled west to east), the mountains had disappeared behind a dark blue wall of rain, but where I was the wind and the rain had stopped. I packed my bags and got on my way.

There should have been mountains visible at the horizon. Instead, only a wall of rain was visible.

Day 31 - Lander to Rawlins - 125 Miles

Day 30 - Dubois, WY to Lander, WY (August 5)

Out of the mountains and into the...

...scrub?

It was fun while it lasted. I got 30 good miles of downhill with the wind at my back. And then 3 flats. What a pain. I had replaced my tire with a long stem tube. Don't ask me why long stem. Next time, I'm going to get short stem tubes. The back tire, originally a short stem tube, got a flat today. I replaced with a long stem tube. Eventually, the stem broke at the tube. This is bascially impossible to repair. So I put in another long stem tube. In my attempts to pump my tube to the right pressure using my hand pump, I broke the stem on this tube as well. So I had to go back and find the original short stem tube, patch it, and put it back in. So far so good.

Not quite in the scrub yet.

Today, I left the Wind River Valley and entered the scrub "desert" of Wyomings. I guess you could call it plains, but there is no prairie grass and we are surrounded by mountains.

The reason that they call it the Wind River is because it is windy! Duh! Yesterday, the wind came up, it rain, and then it stopped. Fortunately, it didn't get too wet. The temperature then cooled off. So today, the cool temperatures remained all day until I arrived in Lander. I had a nice day of riding (except for the tubes) with overcast skies.

Day 30 - Dubois to Lander - 78 Miles

Song - Hotel California, The Eagles

Day 29 - Colter Bay to Dubois, WY (August 4)

Time to ride...

View of the Tetons from near my campsite.

I got an early start today. I wanted to get up over the pass before it got too late or too hot. The Togwotee Pass is the second highest pass I have ridden so far at 9,600 feet.

The peaks surrounding the pass and the little lake at the top are very dramatic.

On the way up the pass, the shopkeeper at the Togwotee Mountain Lodge gave me the rest of his ripe bananas. This food helps to get one over the pass.

On the way down, I met a tourist coming up from the other side. This guy, Peter Spoo, was a bike racer from Belgian. He really looked the part. He was riding the trans-america route. Along the way, he had his bike stolen in Pueblo, Colorado when he ran into the Post Office. Pueblo is not that big of a town, so the word spread quickly that his bike had been stollen - over police radio and he was even featured in the local news rag. He received many offers of cash or other help to get him another bike. He almost bought a new bike, but before he could a local pawn shop owner informed Peter that his bike was just sold. His custom, 15-year old lugged mountain bike was sold to the pawn shop for the paltry sum of $60 and the crook was apprehended before he could get his afternoon high.

I later passed a couple on a tandem on my way to Dubois. What a way to travel!

The descent from the pass is wonderfull - its all downhill and there was a steady wind at my back. it looks like the riding should be similar to this (with less downhill and some uphill) all the way Rawlins, WY.

I'm riding through nice country. Dubois is surrounded by red-colored badlands. The surrounding area is sage-covered hillsides. To the southwest is the Wind River Range (and the continental divide) and to the northeast is the Absaroka Range. Good thing its flat down here in the valley.

The Old Mine in Downtown Dubois

Day 29 - Colter Bay to Dubois - 69 Miles

Day 28 - Colter Bay to Jackson Lake Lodge (August 3)

More or less a rest day...

But there are things to do, blogs to write, fancy lodges to sit in while watching the clouds cover and uncover the peaks of the Tetons.

The Jackson Lake Lodge is a large Lodge near Jackson Lake. In the upstair atrium, there is free wifi access and three story windows looking out over the Grand Tetons. I spent my entire day here resting, eating, people watching, and updating.

Later, I had a nice conversation with Bikers from Oklahoma and saw a nice sunset on the lake over the Tetons.

Day 28 - Colter Bay to Jackson Lake Lodge and back again - 17 Miles

Day 27 - Bridge Bay, YNP to Colter Bay, Teton NP (August 2)

Ugh...

Before I get into the challenges of today's riding. I stopped to look at a small natural bridge near my campsite. Bridge Bay is named for the natural bridge that is located just south.

My bike stands in as my surrogate in my pictures.

Naturally, A Bridge

The roadway was bad, bad, bad today. And the drivers were bad, bad, bad today. The roadway from the West Thumb Junction in Yellowstone south to the entrance of Grand Teton National Park is dedicated to John D. Rockfeller. He should get off of his rump and repave the road with wide shoulders. And straighten the road while he is at it. What's that you say? He's not alive?

This is a picture of West Thumb. Yellowstone Lake is shaped like a hand, a right hand to be specific. West Thumb is located on the west side of the lake. That narrow opening leads to the rest of the "hand" that is Yellowstone Lake.

The road was narrow and had no shoulders. It was also curvy. This made it hard for cars to pass. So very often cars would pass closeby. Obviously, I didn't like this. Fortunately, most cars slowed down while passing.

At least the view was nice. There were three scenic points: the West Thumb Geyser Basin, the Lewis River from Lewis Lake to the Southern YNP boundary, and Jackson Lake.

I stopped at the West Thumb Geyser Basin to do my business and see some more geysers. I had considered just continuing on, but I decided to look at more geysers. I mean don't all the geysers look alike? Not these geysers.

My friends and fellow touring cyclists, Luis and Marta (from Madrid, Spain) were also stopping here for a mid-morning snack. Marta was of the opinion that all geysers were alike. So they were only stopping for a snack. I joined them for a snack and then looked at the Geysers.

I'm glad I did. In fact, I wanted to linger a while. This is hard to do when touring. When touring, I stop and look at things for only a short while, but I have to keep moving because I have to get to my destination.

This geyser basin made me want to stay for a while. Yes, it had all of the typical geyser features - geysers, mud paint pots, vents, steam, rotten egg smell. But it had something more. It was right on the enclosed West Thumb bay of Yellowstone Lake. Yellowstone Lake has water clarity like Lake Tahoe did 30 years ago. The water was a wonderful blue color, there was a nice sandy cobblestone bottom. I wanted to go for a swim or sit on the beach for a while. Of course because of the geysers and the heat and the acid and the sulfur, the beach was closed.

So I enjoyed the lake and returned to the picnic area to pick up my bike. When I did I noticed two other bikes - those of Luis and Marta, but the riders were not there. Where could they have gone? To the geysers I guessed?

Too bad, I wanted to say goodbye. Because Marta and Luis were only going to ride for 40 miles today, I wouldn't see them anymore.

Later I arrived at my campground. I went about my business setting up the tent, organizing, etc., doing the domestic part of the ride. As I was heading out, Luis and Marta arrived. They decided to ride on to a campground with a shower. So it was nice to have company during the afternoon and for dinner - to discuss history, politics, and tell them about California (they were planning on driving to California to ride the Coast in to San Francisco).

Day 27 - Bridge Bay to Colter Bay - 67 Miles

Day 26 - Cody, WY to Bridge Bay, YNP (August 1)

Doing the Buffalo Bill...

After visiting the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, it was on to the Buffalo Bill Reservoir, past the Buffalo Bill State Park, and past Cody peak. I guess they like Buffalo Bill around here.

This ride really worried me. I didn’t know the lay of the land and I didn’t have a good guide map to lead me into the park. I was worried that I might have to ride 100 miles and I wouldn’t have the strength or energy for the ride.

The "Cathedral" as seen on the Road to the Yellowstone East Entrance.

Also, from my review of the map, there didn't seem to be any services along the way. No water, no food. Actually, there was food and water 50 miles into the ride. So, I decided to do what all good touring cyclists do when faced with no sandwich stop along the ride, I made a whole loaf of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's right, its the return of the PB&J! This was the first PB&J I had since beginning the trip. Why did I wait so long? PB&J is the ultimate touring food - you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and snacks.

As it turns out, the ride was not too bad. It was a gentle ride up the Shosone River. I had to go through 3 tunnels to get up the Buffalo Bill Dam. There were no shoulders. Fortunately, I was only passed by one vehicle as I exited the narrow set of tunnels.

Today, I ran into another highway construction site. This site went from the entrance of the park to the top of the only climb I would do today - a distance of 7 miles. So as I approached the construction site, I saw a line of vehicles. So I road along side the vehicles to the front of the line. The project Foreman flagged me down. He was ready for me. Apparently a lot of cyclists come through the East entrance and most cyclists want their touring experience to be “pure.” In other words, they don’t want ANY assistance whatsoever. From my experience 2 days ago, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be able to ride the construction site because of heavy vehicles. So when the Foreman said that I would have to take his truck, I was glad to wheel my bike over and put the bike in the back. This made today’s ride much easier.

Lodgepole Pine Burned in 1988. Yellowstone Lake in Background.

The Trail to Storm Point

When I go into the Fishing Bridge RV park, I saw some other lightly loaded touring cyclists ahead of me. So I pedaled hard to catch up with these cyclists. It was fun to drop some lightly loaded cyclists while I remained fully loaded. Actually they dropped me. These three gentlemen (actually they were kids - each 20 years old) were riding from Senectedy (sp?), NY to Seattle. It was nice to chat with them and hear about their ride. I didn’t end up sharing a campsite with them because they decided to ride on to the campground at the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Have a safe ride guys!

I met another couple of touring cyclists. Luis and Marta are from Madrid, Spain. They spoke some english and it was very generous of them to let me eat with them. I would like to think through our conversation, their english improved, but we'll see.

Later after dinner, I walked to see Yellowstone Lake. Earlier in the day, the surface was very rough and whitecapped. Now it was calm and blue. I headed back to the campsite passing some elk.

Day 26 - Cody to Bridge Bay - 76 Miles (by bike), 7 Miles(by truck)

Day 25 - Rest Day in Cody (July 31)

Ride the bus...

I finally took a rest. I wouldn’t be on my feet all day today either cycling (actually on my butt) or going for a hike. I went to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Oops, I was on my feet all day long, but I finally felt I was recovering from the effort of Day 23 (Beartooth) and Day 24 (the “Bench”).

Not much to say about this day. I saw some nice exhibits and artwork. It costs $2 to ride the bus all day long in Cody. So I boarded the bus to see the Minatures Museum which told the story of how the West was "won" in minatures. Actually, it was a glorified train set that also happened to tell the story of how gold, wagon trains, and Army incursions lead to the end of the Plains Indians way of life.

After the Museum, I rode the bus to the Bike Shop and Grocery Store. I really didn't want to ride. Then on to the Museum, oops, I mean the Historical Center. But tragedy struck while I was watching the 6 p.m. gunfight at the Irma Hotel. My camera died. So I’m just going to have to make due with disposable cameras. This will mean less pictures and…more words (or less, we will just have to wait and see).

The old Gunfight at the Irma Hotel. Curly and the Barmaid are having an argument.

What follows is a smattering of artwork from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I don't know all the names of the works, so you will have to guess. Some are from the modern art collection, some from the Whitney collection, some from the Buffalo Bill story museum.

Horse made out of found wood.

This canyon isn't located nearby, but at least its located in the West.

Ah yes, social commentary on the use or overuse of the parks...

Rush Hour

Pointilism and Realism all wrapped up into one. See the truck behind the corral?

How many cowboys does it take to fix a carburator?

Remington meets Pop Art

A real poster from the Wild West Show

Somewhere or something. Oh yeah, this is what I rode through the next day. Good place for a dam.

Imagine that this is what it looked like on Day 27 and Day 28.

Custer made some bad decisions in his day. This was one of his worst.

Day 25 - Cody - Rest - Whoa Cowboy!

Day 24 - Red Lodge, MT to Cody, WY (July 30)

This day was dry and boring. Oh, so boring.

The country was similar to that in Nevada. Nothing but sagebrush (good habitat for the sage grouse) as far as the eye could see.

The Wild West

I was told that the first part of the ride was downhill and then it was downhill all the way to Cody. Well it didn’t quite work out that way. There was a steep, but short, climb out of Red Lodge. No big deal and then it was downhill all the way until the intersection with the Highway I would take into Cody - Highway 72 (it actually changes into Highway 120 in Wyoming). This was really nice to have a downhill all the way to Belfry, MT.

Along the way, I passed the location of the worst mining disaster in Montana history. All that is left is some dilapidated log cabins and the mine-shaft elevator building.

As I descended into Belfry, it dawned on me that I would need water. A lot of water to get me to Cody. And I was only thinking of how much water I might need if the temperature were reasonable, say 75 degrees. I decided to stop in Belfry to get some water. There was really nothing to this town. No store to speak of. So I went to the gas station. Most gas stations have a Coke or Pepsi soda display case. This gas station only had a refrigerator. So I purchased 4 of the smallest-sized bottles. The bill: $2 (approximately 32,000 dong, which is quite expensive, because I was able to purchase one of these bottles for 3,000 dong). In America, $2 is quite a deal. The price of the water lead to a conversation between me and the owner of the gas station (“been working that for more than 30 years”). I also found out that the ride to Cody was not all downhill. Only the last part was downhill. I was told that after the “bench” (whatever that is) there is a climb and then it was downhill all the way to Cody.

Now I went on my merry way. But, I was abruptly stopped by road construction. Of course, here in Wyoming, storm water best management practices are not necessary. I guess they like their rivers muddy. Actually, it had been raining recently and all the rivers I had seen for the past 4 days were brown.

I was told that I couldn’t ride the construction site, which was mostly flat ground, because there were too many heavy vehicles. I didn’t argue, it was getting hot, I wasn’t sure if I had enough water, and I could use a break. So the traffic control flagger found a person who would be willing to drive me to through the project site in his pick up truck. The driver and his buddy were driving from Billings, MT to Cody to do some tile work. It was a pleasant ride - it was 7 miles from the beginning of the job site to the Wyoming border where I took my bike out and kept riding.

Getting in the truck threw me off. The next 10 or so miles were really hard. The weather was hot. The landscape looked like Mars, except not red. It was really dry.

Eventually I climbed out of a river drainage and up to a bluff. One good thing about this drive is that there is really no one out here. The construction site caused the traffic to come in waves, so for 30 minutes at a time there would be no traffic. This helped because initially there were no shoulders on the road. Then I went over a rise and there were the widest shoulders I had seen and there were rumble strips to awaken the drivers from their calm sleep. And the drivers would be sleeping because I was now on the bench. The bench is a 10 mile section of highway that is flat. Except for one slight left hand turn, the bench is entirely straight. I rode 45 minutes and the view didn’t change at all.

The Bench - Looking North

The Bench - Looking South

Every good thing must come to an end and so did the bench. I was tired, bored, hot, and dehydrated. When I came to my rest stop point, Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Highway, I observed two 60 year old men just waiting by the bridge over the river. Eventually another man showed up (“Mr. Belly”). Mr. Belly gave the two 60-year old men three heavy bags. Was this a drug transaction? Here in the dessert? Were these guys smuggling Oxycontin? Before the transaction, I had a chance to speak with the distinguished 60 year olds. One of them (I’ll call him “Lou”) told me that there were 4 hills between here and Cody. To me this meant 4 hard and long climbs. I had only 15 miles to go, so I couldn’t see how there could be 4 long climbs between here and Cody. I mean, what about the long downhill? How would that fit into the 4 long climbs?

Onward, I rode up a slight hill and then up another slight hill. Finally I saw it. I long hill with a steep section at the end. I hoped that there would not be three more of these after this long hill. Fortunately, my wish came true. After ascending this long hill, it was all the way down into Cody.

I could now rest, shower, and take in the sights at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. I guess museum isn’t the correct name. The BBHC consists of 5 museums - the Bill Cody Story, the Nature Museum, the Whitney Art Gallery, the Plains Indian Museum, and the museum of 2,700 firearms (bang bang). Admission was good for two days, so that is why I spent two days in Cody.

Reconciliation

At my campground, I met a biker. A biker rides a Harley. A cyclist is what I am. I had seen many bikers lately. I suffered the noise of their engine roar. Like Peter Hack said when referring to motor boats or the sight-seeing touring boat on Lake Tahoe (the “Skumrunner”), the noise sucked. That’s why a sail boat is so much nicer. Same goes with Harleys. These machines sound like high powered speed boats zooming around the country side. These things are so noisy that it is common for their drivers to wearplugs.

So, let’s just say that the motorcycle tended to destroy the peace of the back roads. Vroom vroom blup blup blup blup snort snort vroom vroom. You shouldn’t judge a person based on the sound of their engine, but for #$%$, isn’t it possible to make a motorcycle that isn’t so damn noisy? The exhaust from my machine might smell, but it ain’t noisy!

So you could say that I have a dim view of most bikers. I said “most.” At the Ponderosa, I was surrounded by bikers. The Sturgis rally was only a week away and many bikers were traveling around this part of the country waiting and getting revved up for the rally. Sturgis is only a state away. It is held in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Well one nice biker came up to me and we chatted for a while. I went about my business - showering, walking around town, seeing the museum. Later when I returned. This guy said some nice things. He said that he and his buddies had discussed it and they were really impressed that I was doing all this traveling by bike. In fact they said that their motorcycle riding paled in comparison to the effort I made on my bike each day. That was a cool compliment.

Day 24 - Red Lodge to Cody - 62 Miles (by bike), 7 Miles (by truck)

Today’s theme song. Ramones: I wanna to be sedated. "Twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go...I want to be sedated. Nothin' to do, nowhere to go. I want to be sedated."