Day 15 – “I was told there would be no climbing…?”

July 2, 2018

Day 15 – Idaho Falls, ID to Jackson, WY – 91 miles, 6,450 feet vertical

The favorable winds continued to blow and the sun continued to shine on us as we left Idaho Falls at sunrise today.  Good thing too, because we were in for a brutal climbing day with two mountain passes.  As always, the morning scenery was breathtaking and the setting moon was bright in the western sky.  Randy must have read my post yesterday because I think I shamed him into riding at the back.  It wouldn’t last long.  

There were two milestones of note today.  First, very early on, our cumulative mileage passed the 1,000 mile mark.  Frankly, this is still hard to fathom.  [I haven’t been tracking the cumulative miles here, because they are noted on each pin on the Where’s Jeff map.] 

And, we crossed into Wyoming, our third state on the journey.  

Today, we continued to see breathtaking scenery, pine tree covered forests and the inexorably flowing current of the Snake River.  But the road eventually turned up and we climbed to the summit of Pine Creek Pass at 6,784 feet of elevation.  After a thrilling downhill, we then climbed up and over Teton Pass at 8,731 feet.  This one was brutal with a sustained gradient of 10% for over two-and-a-half miles.  I had to stop several times to give the legs a break and I had to do mini u-turns in order to clip back in to my pedals to continue climbing.

The downhill was exciting, but a bit terrifying and I think even steeper.  I had to stop several times to let my brakes and carbon wheels cool off.  Riding or even just feathering brakes for miles at a time builds up a tremendous amount of heat.  At one point, I wondered what would happen if I just rode into the runaway truck ramp! 

We’re overnight in Jackson, WY at the foot of the Snow King ski area and a short ride from Jackson Hole.  The town is very quaint, but a bit touristy and commercial. 

I took about 150 pictures today, trying to capture the sheer beauty of the terrain.  Even after culling out the obvious clunkers and dupes, I still have about 100.  I will try to cut even that down to the best 25 or so.  

Sometimes, less is more.  I hope this one of those times.