Short Ride, Short Update Lovell, WY to Powell, WY
Last night’s home
My goal for the day was Powell, WY where Jan and Lucinda from Warm Showers had offered to host me. And they didn’t mind if I arrived early. I was definitely in for a short day.
I didn’t want to arrive TOO early so I took the opportunity to get the drone out for a short flight along the ride. To say this was not my most successful flight of the trip would be a gross understatement. Nothing bad happened but I just wasn’t happy with the results. Plus, I had a bit of a brain cramp with the tracking mode which rendered those shots useless. Next time press “GO!”. Sigh.
Anyway, I made it to Powell successfully and found my way to Jan and Lucinda’s place. Jan was working outside when I arrived and he was quick to welcome me. We chatted for a bit before he had to run out to do some errands for a bit while I settled in front of my computer to do some work.
The evening was filled with a fantastic dinner with Scott, one of their friends and fellow cycle tourist. Jan and Scott have done a LOT of cycle touring and have some fantastic stories. Plus, they’re very knowledgeable of the area and have provided a LOT of helpful information regarding my upcoming route. Admittedly, that route still remains a bit vague but I learned that my original thought of cycling through Yellowstone may have to change. It turns out grizzly bears really like Yellowstone and are very active there. As such, they don’t allow tent camping. Since I’m not planning on hauling a hard sided trailer with me across the park, I may be in need of a new plan.
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- Great campground.
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- After so much time in the midwest, finally some tall corn
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- I originally thought these were alpaca because, well … I’ve seen a couple of alpaca farms recently. However, I think these are llamas.
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- Welcome to Powell, WY
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- On the road to Powell, WY.
Stay tuned.
Today’s totals:
Distance: 40.51 km
Ride time: 1:58:39
Average speed: 20.48 km/h
Maximum speed: 33.31 km/h
What Goes Up … Prune Creek Campground, WY to Lovell, WY
The sun that greeted me to start the day yesterday was nowhere to be seen this morning. In fact, there were a lot of ominous looking clouds looking back at me when I peered out of my tent. In the grand scheme, rain isn’t the worst thing to deal with while on tour. However, I knew I had a big descent ahead of me and I was going to need all the braking power I could muster – which is typically pretty minimal but even more so in wet conditions.
I also knew I had another two hours of climbing before I would get to that descent so the weather at that moment really didn’t matter too much. I’d just have to hope for the best. In the meantime, I could think about what I’d heard from multiple sources that the grade of today’s descent was significantly steeper than those that I ascended yesterday. Did I mention the roads would definitely be crooked?This was shaping up to be a potentially interesting day.
Speaking of interesting, as I made my along Highway 14 I got to witness some cattle herding. There were two people on horses, one dog (not on a horse) and a big herd of cattle – it was like a scene out of City Slickers (yes, I know I’m dating myself by continuing to reference “old” movies but I think my ongoing midlife crisis dates me anyway). Anyway, as luck would have it the cattle were being herded in the same direction as my route so I got to ride along with them for a bit. At one point there was one rogue cow that bolted from the herd and escaped into the trees … I can’t help but think that the pursuing horse and rider were less than impressed.
As the next two hours of riding passed, the road continued to climb but the skies started to clear – or become less dark anyway. My concerns about wet brakes were dissipating. One less thing to worry about. I continued pedalling and was able to match yesterday’s progress of a little more than 1,000′ per hour and by shortly after 11:00 AM my climb over the Big Horn Mountains was officially over. It was all (or mostly) downhill from here.
The summit draws near
Side note: If there was ever any question as to why I was willingly spending six hours pedalling up a mountain, when I finally reached the summit the views provided the answer. They were simply stunning. As a wise woman once said, “They’re real and they’re spectacular!” Not surprisingly, my camera didn’t even begin to do those views justice. But they truly were awesome.
As I admired the view from the top, a tour bus coming from the opposite direction also pulled in to admire the view. The bus was filled with German tourists but a few spoke English and took an interest in my loaded bike. We chatted for a bit – the people I spoke with were from Hamburg and were on a rather long tour which started in Vancouver. We discussed our trips, my bike and gear, and other such things before it was time for us to go our separate ways. My big descent was moments away.
Last stop before descent
Is this map to scale?
As I neared the end of the descent there was one last potential challenge. Cows. Yes, cows. Patrolling the shoulder on both sides of the road. My initial thought was, “Are you @#$%^ kidding me?” … which was then replaced with pleas to the cows to stay where they were as I coasted by. They complied.
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- The clouds were MUCH darker than this photo shows
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- Bear proof
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- The road to Lovell is a MUCH steeper road. But shorter.
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- What could possibly go wrong?
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- Snow!
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- The summit!
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- Last lunch?
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- Using a lower gear won’t help me. At all.
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- Looking back after the descent
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- One more short (cow filled) descent
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- I’d rather not say what I was cooking
When all was said and done, I spent about six hours (spread over two days) climbing the mountain and less than 45 minutes descending it. The descent didn’t end up being as intense as I had expected but it certainly had my attention the entire way. The lack of traffic was definitely fortuitous as not a single car passed me during the steep descents – considering my experience at the end of yesterday’s ride, I didn’t take that for granted.
My final destination for the day was the town of Lovell and the remaining ride to said town went without incident – although, after my 45 minute rapid descent, it felt like I was moving incredibly slowly.
Flavour: “Moose Tracks”
Home for the night ended up being at a local campground courtesy of the town of Lovell. There was no electricity but there were washrooms, showers, and about 10 sites, each having a picnic table and a grill. Not that I needed the latter but it’s nice that it was available. Admittedly, it did work as an excellent windscreen for my alcohol stove. Oh, and speaking of which, I finally finished off my first bottle of methyl hydrate so that’s one less thing to carry tomorrow.
Oh, and perhaps best of all … there was ice cream to end the day.
Today’s totals:
Distance: 97.92 km
Ride time: 4:38:41
Average speed: 21.08 km/h
Maximum speed: 67.30 km/h
Moving Up In The World Sheridan, WY to Prune Creek, WY
As much as I dislike backtracking, I’m going to do a bit of that to start this update. I didn’t mention this in last night’s post because, well, I didn’t realize it at the time but yesterday’s long ride officially took me past my 2016 European tour and became my third longest ever at just under 3,600 km (2236 miles) … and counting. As a matter of perspective, that’s still about 10,000 km behind my 2015 tour. End of backtracking segment.
Nice motel. Nice breakfast.
My morning was also everything I needed from the establishment. And maybe more. Yes, it was a small, budget motel and the continental breakfasts at such places can be a bit hit or miss but in this case it was a definite hit. There was a tray of muffins, cereal, a waffle maker, fruit, yogurt, juice, and even hard boiled eggs. The eggs were an extra bonus as I was able to take a few with me for the road. I had a big day of climbing ahead of me so I figured a little extra mobile sustenance couldn’t hurt.
Unfortunately, my day on the road didn’t get off to such a great start. The weather was fine. The bike was fine. But the navigation was sorely lacking. In fact, navigation was a mess to start. My goal for the day was to head towards and then up the Bighorn mountains. Once again, Google and I had drastically different thoughts as to how I should get to said mountains. Sadly, it took about 6 km and one “Pavement Ends” sign to come to that realization. Since I had no idea how long Google’s road would be gravel, I opted to backtrack all the way to the motel at which point I forged my own route. A route which worked out rather well. Yes, I was on the Interstate for a little bit (one exit) but I’m pretty sure that’s legal here. And once I got to that point the routing became much simpler. There was just one road up the mountain.
Sigh
Unlike yesterday’s ride, I had no intention of pedalling any further than my target today. Of course, with my target being a campground there was a chance it would be full in which case moving on would be necessary. But not my idea!
The aforementioned campground was Prune Creek Campground. A mere 63 km away. Why such a short ride? Getting lazy in my old age? Well, the shortness of the ride applied only to distance. The elevation was another story. After all those straight flat roads of Indiana and Illinois … oh, and Iowa … and North Dakota … and South Dakota … and yes, Wyoming too … well, those would all be a distant (or perhaps fond) memory during today’s ride. Today was mostly a climbing day. The first 30 km was flattish to get me warmed up but the subsequent 30 km was a hill. And no, that’s not an exaggeration. It was a 30 km hill with multiple switchbacks. It was a hill that would have me climb about 5,000′ on the day.
There were two small towns between my starting point and the start of my climb. Ranchester and Dayton. I stopped at the former to top up my water and opted to cruise through the latter because stopping would’ve just been procrastination.
Long climb ahead
The next two hours were spent climbing.
I knew that I had about 30 km of such climbing before getting a short 6 km reprieve in the form of a short descent to the campground. I didn’t focus on the distance. Considering my slow rate of travel, that would’ve been mentally draining. Instead I tracked the elevation on my cycling computer. I estimated if I could do 1000′ of elevation per hour I’d be in good shape for a late afternoon arrival. I was perfectly fine with that.
I stopped for lunch around 2:00 PM at a rest area which featured a parking lot and an outhouse. Sadly, there were no picnic tables. Instead, I took refuge from the sun by sitting in the shade of a sign next to the road. Objectively speaking, not particularly ideal but in the moment it was perfect. Or at least perfectly adequate.
Ready for launch
I managed to stay ahead of my 1,000′ per hour goal and reached the summit just before 4:00 PM. Well, actually it was A summit. Not THE summit. It was the highest point before the campground but there would be another two hours of climbing needed tomorrow before I reached the actual summit.
On the upside, it was more than a little nice to have a not-entirely-slight descent from the current summit to the campground. After four hours of pedalling up hill at speeds frequently less than 10 km/h, it was nice to coast for a bit.
As I coasted, there was one less-than-courteous driver that passed me. And, as is often the case, his actions were more than a little puzzling. After spending the better part of four hours on the shoulder while I ascended the mountain, I moved off the shoulder for the 5.9 km of descent that lead to the campground. I did that because, well … gravity and mountain descents tend to have a dramatic effect on my rate of travel. And given the amount of loose stones and other debris on the shoulder, well … I prefer to avoid combining those with high speeds. Bottom line, it’s not like I was in the middle of the road. At all. But as I approached what felt like Mach II, I suddenly heard a horn honking. A quick glance in my mirror revealed a pickup with a trailer barrelling down on me. Rather than slow down (I assumed he had brakes) to let the ONE oncoming car pass he continued to honk his horn as he zoomed by me with a less than ideal amount of space between our respective vehicles. Seriously, there wasn’t a whole lot of room for him to complete this manoeuvre. Fortunately, no harm was done but it does make me wonder how things will go tomorrow. There’s an even bigger descent in my future and I don’t plan on staying on the shoulder for it. Fortunately, all the other drivers have been very generous in giving me space.
I wheeled into the Prune Creek Campground shortly after 4:00 PM. Most of the sites were either taken or reserved but there was a vacancy which I was quick to claim. My 30 km day of climbing was officially over.
Another bag of potatoes would have helped my sculpture
By the way, it would seem I’m in bear country – as per the sign at the entrance to the campground. Fortunately, there’s a (supposedly bear proof) food locker next to my campsite. Of course, if a bear decides to check out said food locker it would put me in VERY close proximity to said bear. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
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- Some very old rocks reside here
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- One of many switchbacks in the background
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- Another byway travelled on
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- Looking back
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- Nice view
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- Nice hang gliding launch ramp
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- Another switchback
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- Steamboat Point
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- Woohoo!
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- Prune Creek Campground
Today’s totals:
Distance: 78.81 km
Ride time: 5:13:29
Average speed: 15.08 km/h (by far my slowest day)
Maximum speed: 60.00 km/h (seriously, 60.00 exactly)
Oops, I Did It Again (Two Things, Actually) Gillette, WY to Sheridan, WY
After my not-entirely successful (yet somewhat gluttonous) work day yesterday, I was back on the road today. Destination: Clearmont, WY. A somewhat reasonable 120 km away. It was pretty much a destination out of necessity as it would be a pretty remote ride to Clearmont and the next town, Sheridan, was close to 180 km away.
This succinctly sums up my day’s options
I certainly didn’t get off to my earliest start today but was on the road shortly after 8:30 AM which was reminiscent of my starts at the beginning of this tour. Knowing there wasn’t much in the way of services between Gillette and Clearmont, I stocked up on a few extra pieces of fruit from the continental breakfast. It was a good decision – if for no other reason than to help cleanse my system from yesterday’s high (and not-entirely healthy) caloric intake.
The ride got off to a good start and, as expected, there weren’t any stops along the way – at least, not any stops right along the highway. There was one town that I felt a bit drawn to but I resisted and stayed on course. As such, my first stop didn’t come until the 60 km mark and that was at Spotted Horse. Despite being deemed worthy of inclusion on road signs, Spotted Horse seemed to be a roadside bar in the middle of nowhere. A roadside bar that was WILLING to fill up my water bottles but recommended against it since they don’t actually drink the water themselves. That was reason enough for me to keep the lids on my bottles.
Oops.
With lunch consumed, I packed up my things and was back on the road. “Back on the road” meant a mere 40 km remained between me and Clearmont. Certainly manageable considering it was only noon. Plus it meant I would have a plethora of time to figure where I would be spending the night. Ah, the joys of making things up as you go along.
The biggest highlight from the next 40 km was probably the number of grasshoppers I encountered. There were a LOT. All over the road. And shoulder. And occasional some even hopped onto my panniers to enjoy the ride. I did my best to NOT run them over but I have no doubt that more than a few met their demise by bicycle tire. That said, a whole lot more met their demise from other vehicular tires. I could only save so many.
Look, mountains! And yes, I suspect I’ll be pedalling over them.
I made pretty good time after lunch and arrived in Clearmont around 2:30 PM. Much like the other towns in Wyoming, this one was pretty small. And I still wasn’t sure where I might set up camp for the night. Then I decided I wouldn’t. Instead, I had a couple of pieces of fruit and set a new goal of Sheridan. It would mean a much longer day than originally planned – or desired – but it just seemed like the right thing to do.
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- Goodbye accommodation.
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- Another straight road to start the day.
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- For some reason I felt strongly drawn to this town
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- Spotted Horse. Still not sure if it’s a town or “just” a bar.
I was about 165 km into the final leg of the day’s ride when fatigue really started to hit me. My legs were starting to be less enthusiastic about their task at hand. And mentally, I was just getting tired. On the upside, I only had about 12 km to go. On the downside, I still had 12 km to go.
Late day fatigue notwithstanding, I rolled into Sheridan around 5:00 PM where I was able to track down a reasonably priced motel room for the night. Yes, I had just done close to 180 km and yet in some ways my day was just beginning.
The life of a travelling editor
Oh, unrelated side note: As I drifted off to sleep, I happened to remember that my first Miata was won 25 years ago today. Crazy.
Today’s totals:
Distance: 178.74 km
Ride time: 7:17:42
Average speed: 24.50 km/h
Maximum speed: 50.58 km/h
All Play and No Work Makes Mark a Poor Boy Gillette, WY
My planned day off to do some work didn’t exactly go as planned (shocking, I know) but it was still a reasonably productive day. The project I had anticipated working on got delayed a bit so I was only able to finish a third of it. The remaining two thirds will have to wait until I get the footage. In the grand scheme of things that’s wasn’t all bad.
My office for the day
My unexpected free time gave me a chance to get caught up on my blog (again), scout potential routes for the coming days, book my flight from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia … oh, and eat a whole lot of not-entirely healthy food. Seriously, it was bordering on offensive – except for the “bordering” part. Good thing I’m on a cycling trip because I have some SERIOUS calories to burn off tomorrow. Just to be clear, it wasn’t ALL not-entirely healthy food. But the ratio of healthy to not-entirely healthy was certainly skewed to the latter.
Anyway, that’s it for this update. I’ll say one thing for “Work Days” … they make getting caught up on blog entries a WHOLE lot easier.
Today’s totals:
None.
Ok, I COULD itemize my caloric intake for the day but there’s REALLY nowhere good that would go.