7/28 riding to Chadron, sam and Hassan were the appointed cruise directors and allowed plenty of watching Friday Night Lights and fun contests. Anthony ate almost a pound of spam in one minute. We also stopped at a rest stop expressly so that we could have a dill pickle speed eating contest. It was gross. And later there were rockpaperscissors contests, ninja contests, and others. Fun. But we were all so stir crazy by the ride's end that we had to stop in alliance, Nebraska for a ten minute "run around and have a crazy dance party on a table" break before we could finish the ride. It was getting desperate. Can't remember anything interesting happening in Chadron.
7/29 bus ride from chadron to dubois, Wyoming. We met up back with our route and a maildrop in Dubois. Another long bus ride. The last time I ever take a bus with thirty hyperactive young people who have been deprived of exercise for a week. Ever. Wyoming is so beautiful it was killing me to drive through it. Some day I am going back and riding those 370 miles that we missed. Hopefully next summer.
Anyway, got to Dubois in time for a short shakedown ride so everyone could get used to their bikes again. Definitely feeling the altitude - we never had a chance to slowly adjust. Maildrop yay, also other bnb trips or friends of bnb sent us a lot of care packages and individual letters (each rider got letters from a few other bnb riders, really cool).
On a side note, my camelback is sooo flaired out. It has a bunch of Paige-related ribbons, an American flag sewn on, a plastic bicycle pin, a Wooster fire department patch, a Smokey the Bear with airline wings pin, a pair of turquoise star-shaped sunglasses, a Nebraska sherriffs badge, and a biking campaign button. Oh and it's green camo-patterned to start. Yay.
7/30 oh man I turn nineteen! Still the second-youngest on bnb... Haha so anyway getting ready for the first morning ride in a while took everyone a long time, and I was on cleanup crew, so that took extra long, and the lawn in front of the church had these sprinklers that kept making us move our bikes, and everyone was jumpy for the first ride, and it was cold so I had to go grab armwarmers and tights, etc. Stressful morning, Kaitlin noam Anthony and I were freezing and at least a bit anxious about our first big pass, the Togwotee Pass. The beginning was definitely taxing but not as bad as expected. Also it was such amazing scenery that it was really easy to get distracted. But then, drumroll/yay, we ran into a construction zone that was closed to bikers and were driven the last four miles in a construction pickup truck!
Incidentally, we were also having a picture scavenger hunt and one of the items was pic with construction worker. Check.
At the top, we faked a 'riding on water' pic on a lake in Shoshone Natl forest. Water pic, check.
And of course we took plenty of pics of the "warning: 6% grade, 17 miles" sign. Best sign everrrr and a fun crazy quick descent. The Tetons suddenly appeared over a ridge, WOW. Been there before, but getting to bike all day until you're eventually in their shadow? Yay. Stopped to take some Tetons/bikelift pics, wildflower pics. Kept on descending until lunch. Took more pics, Kaitlin spotted an eagle nesting right off the side of the road! Wildlife pic, check. The Kaitlin-Noam-Maddy trifecta team was rocking!
We learned at the ranger station at lunch that about 4 cyclists are killed every year in Yellowstone natl park, because cars spot wildlife and pull over, incidentally knocking riders into or over guardrails or traffic, without looking. This is why our trip doesn't get to bike through yellowstone, even though we bike around it. Please pay attention when you're driving. Please just cut down on your driving as much as possible. Thanks. This trend of negligently stopping to see wildlife was definitely observed on the post lunch ride when we stopped to take a picture of a very close bison. Wildlife picture, double check.
More construction on roads after lunch. No more getting ferried through it though. But SUCH amazing views all ride that's why I'm writing so much. So we also pulled over at a scenic viewpoint stop and convinced a family on an RV vacation to let us inside their RV. Pic inside an RV, check. Coincidentally there was also a pair of motorcycles at the stop. Pic with a motorcycle, check. Then I prentended to run over Kaitlin on a motorcycle. Crime scene pic, check.
When the van passed us, we pretended to be swimming - musta looked pretty silly. Coordinated van pass, check.
At some point about fifteen miles out of Jackson (oh yea this was the ride from Dubois to Jackson, Wy), my gatorskin tire partly blew out and I got a flat - our trip is havoc terrible luck with gatorskins. Fixed the flat, which was around where I got really nauseous and stayed like that until the next morning. I was drinking too much to be dehydrated, eating enough not to bonk, and I've had altitude sickness and this felt different, plus I had no headache. I've been getting late/post-ride nausea a lot, not sure why. Weird.
We pulled into a scenic viewpoint and took a pic of a cloud that looked like a tiger. Lifelike cloud pic, check. We also got two guys to help us spell 'Teton' with our bodies, and their friend took the picture. Human spelling pic, check. Also sneakily took a pic of their license plate. Far-away license plate pic, check.
Finally got to Jackson 88 miles later, took a video of me rapping in the parking lot:
That was a hard ride my energy's all spent
My chain's out of whack and I think my spoke bent
Heard there's no showers and we're sleeping in a tent
But it's all good cause 17 miles downhill Six PERCENT!!!
Rap video, check. Scav hunt results are still unannounced but we're pretty confident of a goodresult. Thanks a ton to Noam and especially Kaitlin for a superfun and competitive ride, it was Aweeeeeesomeeeee.
Also a huge congratulations to everyone for getting back on their bikes and riding, I'm so proud of all of us every one, love you all, so glad we're back on the road.
That was really long. On toooo
7/31, Jackson to Ashton, Idaho.
We were all freaking out dead nervous in the morning. We were about to bike OVER the TETONS on our second day back. over the Teton pass. Miles of riding up a 10% grade path. Up a mountain. Into our first new state since getting back. on a cold misty morning in Wyoming, which is not near anyone's hometowns. Yes, we were scared.
Rode about 45 minutes to the start of the 3000-foot or so climb. Started climbing, what else ya gonna do? Rode in my lowest gear completely exhausted and out of breath for over an hour. Initially took a lot of breaks, but realized that starting up that steep of a hill and clipping in to your pedals is so hard that you start already tired. When i needed a break, i instead made my own switchbacks across the path (paved former road, now the width of half a lane and closed to cars, pretty empty) so I didn't need to stop. It was so encouraging hearing other riders shout out as they rode up, because the switchbacks were too steep and tight to see anyone, but it was great to hear people. Also the views were crazy crazy crazy. Finally neared the top and one rider took pictures while gabe ran alongside me with the flag and a few riders already at the top made a tunnel for me to ride through. Welcoming all of the other riders just screaming and jumping and dancing (oh yes, we had speakers and music and a dance party) and highfiving and hugging and bike-lifting and falling down exhausted and singing and doing a special Paige-dance because she has such a distinctive way of dancing, etc. Also Mary gave me a Mohawk. For real. So that is awesome, I'm a fan.
Crazy fast descent, idaho border, riding with Katy, bike path, lunch, tailwind, thennn HAILSTORM!! Wind and hail and lightening got so bad that we had to pull off the side of the road and lay in a ditch in a barley field. Started biking again, the road was covered in hail so you had to be careful not to slip on it. Shortly after it was perfect and sunny again. Another epic day, 73 miles.
8/1 Ashton to West Yellowstone, Montana.
Wooo 6 am wakeup, only 63 miles today! The morning was sooo pretty, we stopped at the lower and upper Mesa falls, ran into my Aunt Mary, who volunteers as a natl forest service ranger! We were planning to meet up tomorrow and go hiking, but it was supercool to see her today as well. She knows a lot about the area too. The falls were really pretty, upper Mesa falls was worth climbing a very steep mile to get back to the main road.
The rest of the day was no fun because my knee had been hurting since the Teton pass, and it got worse through today, so once I got to lunch and wasn't excited about the rest of the ride, and decided that it would be better not to push my knee and possibly mess it up for other, more exciting rides. So I vanned myself, which was frustrating and a bummer but I'm hoping I made the right choice.
Location:West yellowstone, montana
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