Larry's log:
This may have been the coolest morning yet. It was well down into the 40s.I started out with long fingered gloves, leg warmers, arm warmers and a jacket. Leaving town, we passed a few of the local factories and the power plant. In this town of 3111 population, everyone must work at one of these places. We rode through gently rolling hills and open range with some visible mountains. The first rest stop was at 19 miles and the triple bike was already there. The stop was along the side of the road, where they store big piles of rock for paving. The kid must have climbed one of the 20 foot piles in about a minute. It was really funny to watch. He then slid back down. Gotta' keep him entertained, I suppose. Much of the rest of the day was spent riding through two National Forests. The Caribou was the first. We climbed to about 7000 feet. I've also noticed on Colorado trips that the forests always seem to be at the tops of climbs. I guess that's where the trees grow best. It was what I would call a typical, western National Forest, where the road more or less followed a stream, sometimes level with it, sometimes above. On the right side, the mountains had trees, some were covered and some were partially covered. On the left side, the hillsides were mostly just green. That seemed a little odd. The USDA calls the National Forests "Land of Many Uses." Toward the end of this one, I noticed a shed with lots of metal debris scattered about. The debris looked sort of like the top of water towers. It was definitely an eyesore. I think we were still in the National Forest at that time, because about two miles further, there was a sign that we were exiting it. On the other hand, maybe this was just a parcel that was not part of the forest. Anyhow, it seemed kind of strange. After about 55 miles, after descending from the forest, we entered Wyoming. I'm not sure they want us here, there was no welcome sign. The only clue I had was that there was a sign that Idaho Rt 34 was ending, and a mile later we were on a Wyoming numbered route. We hopped onto US 89 and took that for about 15 miles to Alpine Jct. One of the first differences that I noticed about Wyoming was that although it has a low population, you see more civilization. In Idaho we could go for ten or 15 miles and not see anything. Here, there were houses and ranches along the road. Maybe this was just because we were on a more major thoroughfare. It is definitely horse country. The other thing I noticed was that the building styles were more diverse. There was everything from mobile homes, to domes, to logs to wood. The wood buildings tend to be light colored. I even saw one teepee. Alpine was on the Snake River and at the base of the Targee National Forest, so it was a touristy kind of place. Rafting, kayaking, horseback riding and mountain biking seemed pretty popular. A few miles up the road, I saw a caravan of about ten tubes headed downriver. The Targee/Teton National Forest was the more spectacular of the ones we visited today. The surrounding cliffs were higher and the Snake River was wide and more visible. The only negative was that there was seven miles of road construction. The surface was pretty much torn up roadbed, so I had to keep focused on keeping the bike upright, which didn't offer much opportunity to look around. But, after the construction, we were still here for another 40 miles or so. The surrounding mountains were high enough that there was still some snow on them. I think they were up around 9000 to 10,000 feet. We were at about 7000. Probably the most unusual event that will happen during this tour happened today.One of the riders got a bee behind his eyeglasses and in trying to get rid of it, he lost control of the bike and fell in the river! He said the current was swift and he was grabbing at branches trying to get out. He finally was able to grab one and one of the other riders pulled him out. His bike didn't go in, but he did lose his wallet in the process. They drove him in to town and a doctor checked him out.He was a little banged up, but nothing was broken. After lunch, 90 miles into the ride, we turned and rode along the Hoback River. There was another 600 feet of climbing in about ten miles, which is pretty gradual. Either the climb or the Hoback River really meanders (I think it's the river). We must have crossed it at least half a dozen times in that stretch. After lunch, it also looked like we might be in for rain again. In fact, with 70 miles to go on today's 160 miler, it was probably assured. It was strange, because it had been perfectly clear at lunch. But once we turned to follow the Hoback River, you could see many clouds forming around the mountains ahead. The day had been clear up to now. About 115 miles into the ride, we passed through the town of Bondurante, population 100. The newish looking elementary school was the biggest building around. It looked like it was probably large enough to house one room per grade. On the way to the 130 mile stop, we passed about 20 riders headed the other way, pretty strung out. They had a support van up front that said they were with "Christian Adventures." I think they were having one, because there had been some rain up ahead that they had already ridden through. They were riding from Pinedale to Bondurante, about 55 miles; and then 40 more tomorrow. It was probably close to 2 pm when I saw them. They probably got a late start due to today being a Sunday. At the 130 mile rest stop, it looked like rain for sure. In fact, the road climbing to the stop was wet from a rain that had fallen about 15 minutes before I got there.So, I put my leg warmers and jacket back on, just in case. I had taken them off a few hours earlier, when it had warmed up. I headed away from the rest stop and it started spitting. I thought I was going to be in for it. But the road curved away from the rain clouds that had made my climb to the rest stop wet. In fact, off to the right about five miles, I could see many bands of rain. Some of the mountain views were obscured, it was raining so hard over there. But, so far, I was only getting a few drops. I saw more clouds off to the left, and saw that the too were dropping rain. Okay, can I outrun this one? The storms had created a nice tailwind, and we were headed slightly downhill, so I did my best to move along at 25 to 30 mph. And I did get ahead of it! Okay, that one won't get me. And, hey, those hills about ten miles ahead have sun shining on them! Go for it! I continued to motor, and noticed that a grey cloud had formed pretty much right above me. I did my best to try to outrun it before it dropped anything. But, I couldn't seem to get away from it. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that always had a raincloud positioned right above his head. I did manage to make it to the sunny hills, which were no longer sunny. But, I had outrun that cloud. This was now about 18 miles from the reststop, just ten to the motel! Ahead, I saw another band off to the left. Could I make it in time? After 140 miles, I was getting tired, but gave it my best. Fortunately, that band seemed to pretty well stay in place. A few miles from the motel, I realized I would make it in dry. I did. About 20 minutes after I got in, it poured here. The riders that came in during the next hour had gotten pretty good soakings. However, later riders had been behind the storms and stayed dry. That's a typical afternoon in the mountains!
-- Larry Schwartz
What a beautiful ride!! Larry summed up the description of the trip to Pinedale. The scenery was awesome and it definitely made the long day tolerable. We had a good day of riding but found some of the climbs to be quite tough. The rest stop at 130 miles was a very welcome site We did pull off 5 miles prior to the rest stop to put on our raingear since it had started to drizzle a little. But after about 2 miles of climbing, I could not stand wearing it since I was getting way too warm. So we stopped again to take it off. By that time, the threat of serious rain seemed to be passing. After the last rest stop, we did bike through some areas that were still quite wet. We had a quick ride to Pinedale from the last rest stop. Somewhat of a tailwind, and mostly flat. The wind shifted to a slight headwind just about 7 miles out of town. But we pushed hard and made it to the motel just before 6 pm. What a tough day...159 miles and 4800 feet of climbing. That evening, we soaked our aching muscles in the hot tub and I had a massage. That felt good. We hit the local pizza joint for an extra large pizza and stumbled back to the motel for bed.
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)