the big ride

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

pictures July 7

view of the hot springs along the route

A train along the Wind River

Chris heading into a tunnel along the Wind River

Traveling along the Wind River

Biking along with beautiful Wind River scenery

pictures July 6

My homemade Gore-tex "lobster" mitten shells - great today!

Chris at the red rocks

Andrew riding thru the red rocks canyon

Layered red rocks scenery

Andrew "dis-respecting" the Lawyers College - with apologies to my lawyer niece Christine

July 6

July 6 Dubois to Riverton, WY 82 miles

Windy – windy – windy

We started with breakfast as “daylight donuts” - food was good but coffee was weak. We stopped at “Kathy's Koffee”and got a double espresso. Dubois is on a trans-continental bike trail so there were several self-supported (carrying own gear) cyclists. We chatted a bit about the pass we came down while we enjoyed a really good coffee. They were headed up what was a dirt road and wanted to know how bad the road was.

The whole day was windy – it varied from 5-15 mph, but was there the whole time. We had on our helmet liners and wind shells over our thermal gloves. My home made goretex shells worked great. The scenery was bizarre – red layered rock canyons along the sides. Had the sun been out, it would have been really spectacular.

We took turns fighting the wind to the 41 mile lunch spot. They had a really good, warm Mexican soup that hit the spot. After lunch Chris latched on to a strong staff members wheel (staff rides one day and works the next). The two of them rode the rest of the day together.

It was nice that the tent was set up when I arrived – that is a treat!

The wind really wore me down. I took a 90 minute nap after showering – that is really unusual for me. However, I needed the rest.

Dinner was a bit light – they ran out of food. Later in the evening Chris and I biked into town and had nacho platter at a Mexican restaurant. That really hit the spot.

Monday, July 5, 2010

pictures July 5

Riding along thru Teton National Park

pictures July 4

Water falls - Jenny lake

Jenny Lake - Teton National park

July 4 & 5

July 4

We had a great day off. Anne and Nancy were visiting with our friend Bonnie. We had coffee and bagels in the camp ground. Then we drove up to Tetons National Park. I had been there years ago as a teenager., It is so gorgeous. We drove tp Jenny Lake and took the ferry across. We hiked up to Hidden Falls and just enjoyed the view. It was a good relaxing day for Chris and I. Not to strenuous, but it did keep us moving. I'll post some photos of the area.

July 5 – 102 miles. Jackson, WY to Dubois,WY

This day looked intimidating from the route sheet as it had a big climb(17 miles with 5000 feet elevation gain). However, we had a bit of a tail wind so that was great. The ride started off along the Tetons – we rode on a bike path at the foot of the range. It was incredible. The sun was coming up and the mountains were in glow. So beautiful.

We exited the park and had lunch at a wild life viewing spot at 55 miles. Then the climb started. It never got too steep, but it was a road under construction, so that made it hard. It was basically dirt and gravel for several miles. The top was over 9900 feet. I am acclimating to the altitude and was nearly out of breath as I was at Teton Pass at 8600 feet. Anne, Bonnie and Nancy came driving along right as I got to the summit. That was a fun quick reunion. They had left Jackson hours after us and toured the Teton park a bit.

The downhill descent was a bit rough as the shoulder was pretty narrow and cars did not give us much room. They were probably frustrated passing all the bikes on the uphill and now wanted to get going. At one point we had a 20 mph tail wind with a downhill. I basically ran out of gears and could not pedal any harder – that felt good.

We got to town and met the ladies one last time – Nancy got me a coffee milk shake and that hit the spot.

Dinner was at a local restaurant- good trout and homemade pie.