Larry's log:
It was probably the coldest morning yet, about 43 degrees. That's what happens when you're at 7000+ feet elevation. There were also clouds already in the distance, so rain appeared like a possibility sometime during the day. Usually, we eat breakfast in the parking lot on makeshift benches, but this morning it was in the motel's breakfast room! The scenery was pretty much desolate and flat all the way to lunch. There were a number of Oregon Trail historical markers along the way. And forget what I wrote yesterday about seeing more signs of life. Most of today was desolate. Today's roads had rumble strips on the far left side of the shoulder. The tour leaders require that you ride to the right of them, on the far right of the shoulder, although the roads we were on did not appear to be heavily traveled. This is for safety's sake, of course. So, the advice was heeded. The only problem was that shoulder to the right of the strips had a lot of flat-tire provoking debris, since it never gets traveled by car. But, I guess flat tires are better than death or serious injury. Lunch was at "The Parting of the Ways." This is where the Oregon trail broke up into those going to Oregon and those going to Utah and California. Ruts from the wagon tracks were still visible. A few miles further was South Pass Overlook, where you could see more tracks. The sign pointed out South Pass, and noted that although it may not look like much from this vantage point, it was trouble for the pioneers. As we climbed the road to South Pass over the next few miles, it became evident. At this pass we were at the Continental Divide, 7525 feet up. There were actually a few climbs after it, as well, and we topped out at about 8200 feet, which should be the high point of the tour. After that, there was more descending than climbing. We passed an iron ore mine on the side of a hill, near Atlantic City (no gambling here, though). Then we rode through about a mile of construction to the top of another one mile climb. They were only letting one direction of traffic through at a time, and the flagger had one of those signs that tell the cars either "Stop" or "Slow." When he shows "Slow," you can proceed. As I went by, I assured him I would ride the climb slowly (I had no choice!) About 118 miles into the ride, we passed Red Canyon. I was fortunate that there was another car pulling in to the overlook at the same time I did, so I had my picture taken there. It was a beautiful, red rock canyon. Riding around this canyon, I realized why bike touring is so preferable to car touring. I was able to take in the canyon from many different vantage points, and for minutes at a time. In a car, you drive by and in two minutes, it's gone. There were some dark clouds around this area, since we were still near the summit. But at this point, they didn't look organized enough to do anything.It turned out I was right. In fact, no one got rained on today, as far as I know. Lander is one of the better towns we've been in for several days. It only has about 7000 people and is at about 5300 feet. But, it has about a one mile main street through downtown, with many gift shops, restaurants and shops to serve the city's needs. It also has a bike route through town and a bike path along the river through town. There are also a few parks and lots of metal sculptures of moose, rodeo riders, etc. Coming into town there was a tannery, with skins hanging out on the railing. They evidently get a lot of snow and cold in the winter. Our motel has outlets outside to plug in cars' block heaters. And there was a sign in town about a building whose roof collapsed from snow in 1985.
Another cool morning, and there were quite a few clouds in the area. We were a little concerned about rain but it did not happen. Breakfast today was held indoors in the conference room of the motel. Much warmer than the parking lot!! We had a slight tailwind going out and it was a fast 21 miles to the first rest stop. Not much climbing before lunch at 83 miles and the scenery was not very exciting. Lunch was intended to be short since we knew that most of the climbing was still to come. Unfortunately, flat tire #7 occurred in the rear tire as we were getting ready to leave. And it was a bit of a struggle to get the rear brake released. After fixing the flat, we biked about 5 miles down the road to the south pass overlook. You could see the wagon tracks still dug into the ground. We climbed for another 4 miles and reached the continental divide. There we stopped to take photos. But we moved on quickly since we still had another 44 miles of biking to do, with over 2000 feet of climbing. The next 16 miles were more scenic, with rocks and streams along the road. And the snow capped mountains were coming closer and closer. We passed a group of cyclist on mountain bikes who were riding along the continental divide, from Canada to Mexico. One of the girls was from Vancouver. They were carrying all their camping equipment and some riders were even towing their stuff. Talk about hard work!! The rest stop at 108 miles was a welcome site, especially after the last steep climb of 1 mile. And the decent was just awesome! The valleys and rocks were just beautiful. Passed the red rock canyon on the way down. This was an entire mountain side of bright red rock. Just spectacular!! The last 12 miles of the ride into Lander was mostly rolling hills. We arrived to the motel just after 3 pm, with almost 4000 feet of climbing and 136 miles. The hot tub was very relaxing and since we got into town early, we walked around the small town a bit before dinner. Dinner was chinese food and dessert was ice cream creations. Now it is bed time since we have 164 miles of riding to do tomorrow. And breakfast is at 5 am!!
Judith Jolly (and Daniel Schaaf)