Day 48 - Lander, WY

The second hardest day of the trip came not with huge climbs or blistering heat, but rather with mostly downhills. The challenge was pedalling into a 20-25 mph headwind for 85 miles. The wind was so strong it would actually stop me on a downhill less than 3 percent grade. I struggled with my speedometer in single digits for large parts of the day. The noise of the wind against my ears gave me a headache by the afternoon. After almost 9 hours in the saddle, way too long to be enjoyable, I finally made it to Lander heading straight into McDonalds, the first opportunity for food in 60 miles.





I kept my head down for most of the day, ignoring the scenery except for one glorious stretch beginning at the continnental divide called beaver rim. The snow capped Wind peaks extendending to 13,000 feet visible off in the distance as the local summits exposed ancient red and beige rock. I began a 12 or so mile decsent, flying into the valleys bellow trying at one point to video my ride in the strong crosswind blowing me around the road. I hit 30 mph and finally felt alive again.

Lander is a hard drink town. Whiskey and cokes, a shot of jack, martinis, all ordered in the breeze of a Saturday afternoon. There is a younger crowd attracted by prodigious nearby mountain climbing and the NAOL school headquarters . In the span of an hour I had talked to two different people who had hiked the whole of the Appalachian Trail.

Mixed in the fray at Gannet grill were Eric and claudia sitting at the edge of the bar having a warm up drink before returning to the Eric's 54 year highschool reunion. They both grew up in lander and were curteous in their account of how the town had changed since they were kids as they were served drinks from a 20 year old in short shorts with a tattoo running from her armpit down to her ankle. "Some towns don't make it out here." Eric explained.

Location:Caring Way,Lander,United States

Day 47 - Muddy Gap, WY

Wyoming just keeps getting better. The terrain is extra green and lush due to record precipitation and run off from the mountains. We headed out late in the morning to ride rte 130 to the interstate for 10 or so miles to Rawlins where we could pick up 287, the road which will take us into Yellow stone. Bikers are allowed on the interstate in Wyoming due to the scarcity of roads.

I decided to due the first 40 miles of our day in one clip. Route 130 was an enjoyable flat road with large tracts of ranch land. The interstate was a tough ride due to the 20 mile headwind. I plodded along at 12 mph waiting for my exit to appear.




287 is where the magic happend. We turned back north putting thenwind at our side and watched the most spectacular rock formations unfold along the horizon. Sand and red stone buttes, cliffs of boulders and gentle sloping hills. A thin band of white clouds stretched across the sky.




Just as we hit the continental divide a particularly beautiful stretch of mountains appeared. The road dropped steeply and I sailed between two ridges down into a vast arid basin, the road stretchin for miles into the distance. I let out a yell on the way down, holding my handle bars tight as strong gusts of wind moved me around the shoulder of the road.

I pulled into Grandmas cafe in Lamont, a roadside oasis. The restaurant was empty. Ryan was sitting in a booth, 2 mountain dew cans in front of him. I helped myself to a drink from the cooler and took a load off. We sat ther for 30 minutes without seeing a soul, leaving a few bucks on the counter before heading down the road.

10 miles of more I tensely beautiful terrain and we were in Muddy Gap, which is just an intersection witha gas station. I decided to pitch my tent there for the night, while Ryan pushed on.

Day 46 - Saratoga, WY

I had one of my best days of the tour. We woke up to watch USA beat Algeria in the world cup at the 90+ mark and then headed out to breakfast with Evan our host at a local grease pit, the Prarie Rose. Evan gave us a quick tour of the University of Wyoming, pointing out a 12 story building on campus, the tallest in all of Wyoming.

From Laramie we followed Snowy Range Road through the Medicine Bow national forest which took us up 4000 feet in elevation to a summit of 10800 ft. We were riding 75 miles in total to Saratoga, WY.

The snow capped peaks of the mountain were visible 30 miles out from the flats leading up to their base. Lush green pastures with roaming horses and cattle surrounded the hills. Along one stretch a pack of antelope raced along side us before turning back off the roadside and into the open plain.

We stopped in Centenial, a tiny town at the base of the mountain, for lunch. I was feeling a bit tired, perhaps from not being adjusted to the altitude. I knocked back two cokes, popped a couple asprin got on my bike and began to climb.


The road maintained a reasonable grade keeping in my lowest gears as it snaked up the mountian side. Fast creeks ran by the road side and slender green trees up the ridges. Snow drifts left over from winter stretched across open spans.




I saw the peaks getting closer as I rode, carefull not to burn through all of my energy to quickly. I imagined I would take a couple of rest stops on the climb but continued straight to the top, halting only occasionally to take a photo of the spectacular view.




I began what would total a 20 mile decent from the top, needing to wear my windbreaker to keep warm. The downhill was beautiful reward for the climb, cruising up to 40 mph as I watched the snow patches disappear, yielding again to lush greenery and roaring rivers again.




The sun Illuminated the stunning mountains and canyons and I stopped frequently to marvel at their splendor. I'm not religous, but being in the peaks of Wyoming may be as close as you can get to god without dying.


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Location:Arrowhead Dr,Saratoga,United States

Day 45 - Laramie, WY

We started the day in high spirits. Tom served us some tea and scones in the morning and took us out to his back yard to show us the hens they keep as fresh egg laying pets. We said thank you and good bye and headed into town to Full Cycle, a local bike shop where Duane a mechanic did a really solid once over on our bikes for free, including installing new brake pads and truing up our wheels. The guys in the shop were really excited for us and gave us contact info to use down the road. Kudos!

We rode north west along 287 heading to Laramie, WY and into our 12th state of he trip. Our mapping session with Tom revealed we would be climbing 3000 feet over the day and the prospects were exciting being at the base of the Rockies over the weekend and having a fresh pair of legs.




Once we connected to 287 the road took up into some climbs. The road was spectaular with sweeping through the high plains. Stone buttes rose out of the prarie grass exposing beautiful red ridge lines.




We enjoyed a few decsents in the beginning and then the road turned to a steady series of climbs over over 30 miles leading us up to a peak elevation of 8100. Despite the work I was excited to see the terrain of Wyoming. At the summit we were paralelntomthe clouds of the eastern horizon.

We stopped at the P.O./general store in Tie Siding where i came across the first pay toilette I've seen in the US. Once at rest we quickly realized we were wiped. The new altitude made it harder to ride and we took a nice long break in the sun watching the wind blow the clouds across the sky.

We had 17 miles to go of flats and downhills which turned into a grueling ride with a 25 mph head wind. Gusts would kick up and I would struggle to keep a 7 mph pace. Observation of the day: Head winds blow.

Once in town we connected with Evan O'toole a warm showers host who kindly let us stay in his home for the night.

Location:E Ivinson Ave,Laramie,United States

Day 44 - Fort Collins, CO

After our long rest we were ready to get back on the road, but not before having a killer breakfast at Lucilles, a Cajun restaurant in Boulder. We planned a short day of 44 miles up to Fort Collins, CO, which we rode uniterrupted save for one quick 7-11 stop for a soda.

We gradually gained some altitude over the day but it was barely noticable. It was another dry hot day and my legs felt as strong has they've been since the start of the trip. My saddle feels so damn comfortable when I've been out of it for a few days.

We reached town by early afternoon and took advantage of their city park pool for a couple of hours. Fort Collins is a college town packed with brew pubs and bars. We stopped at Coopersmiths for dinner and attmepted to watch a free show at the Aggie Theater but it was just too trippy.


We had contacted Tom and Rita through warmshowers.org and they were kind enough to host us in Ft. Collins. Both work in forrestry and had just come back from a Ride the Rockies week long tour themselves. Tom helped us plan out our next couple days at the dinning room table and made us a hand drawn map for us to follow out of Fort Collins. Thanks guys for the great hospitality.

Days 41,42,43 - Lost weekend in Boulder, CO

Reaching roughly the halfway point of our trip we knew we would want to take some additional time off to thoroughly rest up and a weekend in Boulder sounded like just the ticket. Boulder is ridiculously beautiful with creeks running through town, the mountains an ever present back drop and what seams like an endless supply of dry sunny days. The people have a monied hippy vibe, with a few geniune eccentrics mixed in. It's the only place I've felt comfortable zipping off and reconnecting the legs of my tourist pants in public.




During our stay I ate some tasty food, saw a concert and hiked up to the flatirons, the large reddish brown shear faces of the mountains. The view was spactacular letting me see boulder canyon below and neighboring rocky peeks beyond. I wasn't accostumed muscles required for hiking and was spent out by the time I ascended the 2000 feet.

I was also able to meet up with my cousin Patrick and his family for dinner on Sunday, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Seeing friends and family while on the road really bolster you morale.

Day 40 - Rest day in Denver

We knew we were going to rest up in Colorado and Russ without batting an eye let us spend another night at his place. In a gesture of the highest hospitality we've recieved on the trip he offered up his car for the day to go sight seeing and we took off for what has to the most epic drive in America. An important story detail: the car is a porche convertible able to go 0 to 60 in the time it took to read this sentence.




We took i70 into the mountains up to winter park, then headed north continuing on to Grand Lake, where we stopped for a bite to eat. We contined up through Rocky Mountain National Park, on to Estes park then back to down to Boulder, finally returning to Denver after 6 hours of driving.




The one lane roads, often without a guard rail, switched back up the mountians, summitting snow capped peaks with vast canyons below. We saw Elk roaming the open fields, unperturped by the small stream of traffic. We summitted peaks reaching up past 12,000 feet, the highest altitude I've achieved while not airborne. About 3 hours into our trip I realized it would have taken us 3 days to cover the same ground by bicycle. As we came down the mountains into boulder canyon the rocks turned into a beautiful redish brown.



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