Day 29

Mileage: 62
Total mileage: 2518

Nice and short one!

Not a whole ton to say about today. All this climbing at elevation has been making my legs a bit wobbly, especially with the speeds I've been riding to fight the cold. So I decided to take a shorter day to recover and dry out my gear.

Last night it rained hard for several hours, but my stakes held well in the rocky ground and I stayed dry through it all. This morning it was down to a steady drizzle as I carefully packed up my sleeping gear under the tarp and then took down my shelter in the rain. Everything went into my bag wet and heavy and I felt the difference all day. However, it didn't bother me too much. I want to be in Lander on the fourth of July, so I only needed about 60 miles today. That puts me in Walden, which is nice because I'm a big Thoreau fan.

I saw a cyclist named Brienne that I've been playing leapfrog with for a couple days. She rode past the diner as I was leaving after breakfast and by the time I had pumped up my tires she was probably 5 minutes ahead.

The rain picked up to a heavy drizzle as I started out, and it was cold, so I was riding pretty hard just to stay warm. I was flabbergasted that Brienne was staying ahead of me, but I never caught her all day.

I had mentally divided my day into two parts, a 28 mile climb to Willow Creek pass, a little under 10,000 feet, and the descent to Walden at 8,100 feet. The rain didn't let up for several hours, but I was climbing, so it was easy to keep warm. The tricky bit was the little 1 mile descents that I got along the way. Those were cold, but they never lasted long enough to make a real difference.

I crossed the divide again at the pass, so I'm once again in Atlantic watershed territory. Apparently I'm to go back and forth a few more times in Wyoming, so I'm not really counting the crossings that closely yet. The rain gave me a little break at the top and I was able to descend down into Rand pretty painlessly. The turns were wide and sweeping, so I really let loose and fired down the hill without touching my brakes, despite the wet roads. I survived. It was probably safer to go fast than to get passed by all these weekend warriors anyways.

Coming off the pass, I entered North Park. This time I thought I was ready for it, but the view still blew me away. Apparently, around here, 'park' is slang for 'beautiful meadowy mountain valley surrounded by snow capped peaks.' This one must have been 30 miles wide and at least 50 long. I just wanted to stare around me, but the road was full of cracks and potholes, so I didn't have too much attention to spare. When I actually stopped, the mosquitos converged immediately and furiously, so I tried my best to keep moving.

I enjoyed perhaps 15 miles of rain free riding on the park before I ran into a huge thunderhead gathering above me. I got caught in a fierce storm with pea sized hail that lasted a good 4 miles. I was just at the point where I couldn't take the hail anymore and was ready to pull over and lay down by the side of the road under my pack, when it stopped. I had slowed down in the hail and I could most definitely tell, because I was getting cold. I seriously considered going to ground, but decided I had the legs to put on 15 more fast miles into Walden. For those curious about going to ground, it's basically a last resort strategy that I use if I can't stay warm. I pull over and rig my tarp to a fence post, mile marker, highway sign or even my overturned bike. I pitch real low to the ground to keep rain out, unroll my sleeping bag and ground cloth and change into my dry street clothes before getting into the bag and eating skittles until I'm warm. Today was probably the closest I've been to using it and even then it was only a fleeting thought, so I'm probably in a good spot. Regardless, I was very happy to see Walden on the horizon.

Tonight it's 730 bedtime in the city park under a covering. I'm spoiled again! I took a brief nap when I got into town and woke up to see Brienne pulling into the park. Apparently she stopped in Springs to get water and I stayed ahead of her. Of course I never caught her, she was behind me all day. All my stuff is hanging out to dry right now and the rain appears to have stopped for the evening. Hopefully I get a dry day tomorrow, it would sure make a nice change of pace. G'night!