Journey with Jeff

July 7, 2018

Day 20 – Casper to Lusk, WY – 107 miles, 3,220 feet vertical

I really, really like rest days!  But, … all good things must come to an end, and it was back in the saddle today for another century-plus ride to kick off the third segment of our journey. 

The morning was sunny and warm, and while it would stay sunny, it would also get freakin’ hot.  I think the temperature may have matched the mileage at one point. (At the very least, it felt like it.) 

We had some logistics to deal with today, since we were scheduled to ride a section of the interstate, I-25 South.  The only problem was that there was some heavy duty construction and a, …uh, …section of the highway missing.  Have you seen the movie Speed, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, where they find out that there’s a 50-foot section of highway missing and they have to jump the gap by flooring it? (…in a bus, no less!) Well, that’s what we had in store, except that a) we’re on bikes, not a bus and more importantly, b) this ain’t Hollywood.  

So at Exit 151 and the 40-mile mark, ABB staff loaded us on to the vans, shuttled us through the construction and dropped us off at a safe spot.  It did cut off some miles, but hey, better than dropping into the ravine.  

I want to thank my hammer team for the speedy 61 miles to the second SAG, but at that point, I needed more recovery time and so, I bid them adieu and rode solo the rest of the way.  The landscape turned desolate (except for relatively lightly traveled trucks and RV’s) and at times I would pull over, stop and get off my bike and just listen to … silence.  Pure unadulterated silence.  Until, … the next coal-laden freight train came through.  The sight of a mile of coal cars being pulled by powerful diesel locomotives and trailed by helper locomotives, still gives me a rush. 

I met Jon Dobbs with about 10 miles to go and we rode together into Lusk.  Our overnight is at the Covered Wagon Motel – a delightfully refreshing pit stop after a long hot day.  A huge salad and a bottomless stack of fancy pizzas awaited us for dinner, and then I walked next door for a heath bar vanilla shake.  After the calorie burn today, I could have ordered the large. (But I didn’t.)

WiFi seems to be as exhausted as I am, so check back some time tomorrow for more photos.  

And finally, a big shoutout to Nicosia, the manager on duty at the Covered Wagon for just being a fantastic upbeat person, and especially for handling any and all customer requests.  She knows what I’m talking about.  Thank you, Nicosia!

Dont forget to check “Where’s Jeff” to track our progress.

July 6, 2018

Casper, WY – Rest Day

After yesterday’s grueling ride, we get a well-earned day off in Casper.

So far, we have ridden our bikes a total of 1,370 miles, with 2,330 miles to go.  And we’ve climbed an aggregate of 57,060 feet.  That’s over ten miles!

As you can imagine, we’re burning a ton of calories every day and it’s vitally important to keep our energy up and to stay well-hydrated.  Our fabulous support team keeps us well fed and provides meals every riding day.  On rest days, like today, we are on our own and free to explore our host city.

The food so far has been pretty good.  We’re all so hungry at dinner time that we’ll eat just about anything.  The hotel breakfasts, though, are not so great but I eat a light one anyway – usually just a bowl of cereal or granola with yogurt and some eggs.  I did draw the line one morning when I saw donuts with icing and bacon.  Seriously: bacon donuts.  Thanks, no thanks.  Occasionally, we go out for a real breakfast. 

Sorry to say, the coffee leaves a lot to be desired and the Europeans must think we’re a country of barbarians given the state of coffee service.  I haven’t seen an espresso machine for 1,000 miles. (Actually, I did stop in at a Starbucks a few hundred miles back, and even that was sub-par.)  With the help of Google Translate, I told Maurizio,   “Soprattutto, voglio scusarmi con te per il nostro pessimo caffè americano. È appena bevibile, non è vero? Per favore, accetta le mie più profonde scuse.”

We’re grazing throughout the day on nuts, granola bars, bananas, peanut butter, watermelon and whatever other fruit treats Deana, Karen, Judy or Pam have for us at the SAG stops.  Many folks drink Gatorade, but I find it to be just all sugar.  So some of us bring our own powders and electrolyte supplements.  And on long days, we often stop at a Dairy Queen in our destination town for a milkshake or Blizzard.  I haven’t had a milkshake in almost forever, but on this trip it’s ok.  

Dinner is either catered in at the hotel, or a walk to a nearby restaurant and mostly hit, but sometimes miss. (Last night was a miss.) Back in Baker City, dinner was at a local brew pub and we ordered off the menu.  This was a treat – real food at a real restaurant.  I pondered the special:  Coffee-rubbed flat-iron steak with beer cheese sauce.  

Hmmmmm …  beer cheese sauce.  

“Excuse me, miss, I’m not from around here. Could you tell me, please – what is beer cheese sauce?”  

“Oh,” she replied, “you’ve never had beer cheese sauce?” 

“Why, no, I haven’t”.  

“Well … ,” she went on, apparently unsure exactly how to describe this local delicacy, “have you ever had beer cheese soup?”

“Hmmm,” I shook my head, “I’m afraid not.”

“Oh, because it’s a little like that.” 

I paused. 

“It’s really good,” she added reassuringly.

“Ok, I’ll have the steak then, medium rare.  And, … um, … could you put the beer cheese sauce on the side?”  

“Certainly,” she answered, “I’ll just mark it SOS.”  And then, as if to let me in on a trade secret, she added, “that means sauce on side.”

When the entrees came, the steak was delicious and medium rare (or, close enough).  And there, on the side, was a rather large bowl of the beer cheese sauce.  It actually looked like a bowl of Mac and Cheese, but without the Mac.  I gently dipped a piece of steak in and tried it.  It was quite good.  It had a bit of a kick – the beer, I guessed.  I shared the new find with my table mates and pretty soon, everyone was taking a dip and nodding affirmatively.

Live and learn.

***

Our rest day was spent sleeping in, relaxing and taking care of equipment issues.  Some of us hiked over to the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center which had a fantastic exhibit on the history of the pioneers and the development of the West.

Mostly, it was a stark reminder of the harsh conditions of the pioneers and traveling in covered wagons without America by Bicycle SAG support!!  A walk into town for dinner capped off our relaxing day.

It’s another century-plus ride tomorrow of 107 miles, so I will say adios for now.

 

July 5, 2018

Day 18 – Riverton to Casper, WY – 119 miles, 2,840 feet vertical

Brutal.  Period.  

Today was the longest single day of our journey – 119 miles.  When Judy previewed this stage for us about a week ago, she warned us about our 119-mile longest day.  This caused Jon Dobbs to lapse into a convulsive fit of laughter.  We all stared at him. “Jon, are you ok?” He just continued to laugh. “Oh yeah,” he finally stammered.  “Because 119 is just SO MUCH LONGER than the 116 miles that we just rode!”  It was pretty funny. 

What wasn’t funny was the brutal headwind that dogged us almost the entire day.  At least on the climbs, you get some sort of reward on the downhill.  But the wind was just relentless.   And as for scenery, it was a whole lotta nuthin’  for 100 miles.  

With this kind of mileage and unfavorable wind, I decided to get on the hammer train early.  Those of you know me, know that I don’t do mornings and I have been, … um, … not always on time for load and go.  Tami warned me last night that they were leaving “promptly” at 6:30 and if I was late it would be “an FM day” (and I don’t mean the radio.)  Everybody loves a story of redemption, and forewarned is forearmed, so there I was at 6:25, ready to rock and roll. 

It was a rough day all around and I won’t bore you with the gory details.  Let’s just say, we have really earned our rest day tomorrow in Casper, WY.  

Please enjoy the photos of the day and don’t forget to follow our progress at Where’s Jeff at jeffblye.com

(Oooops, hotel doesn’t have any working WiFi, so photos will be posted tomorrow.  Please check back then.)

July 4, 2018

Day 17 – Dubois (rhymes with Joyce) to Riverton, WY – 79 miles, 1,251 feet vertical

The alarm went off at 5:15, then again at 5:30, and after hitting snooze a few times, the sun came up at precisely 5:43. “Hrmmmpf,” I thought, stretching.  “Morning already?”  I clicked on my Weather Channel app. 38 degrees.  Seriously?  Is that Fahrenheit? Are you kidding me?  Back home, I have an absolute floor temp of 43, below which, I go to the gym instead.

It looked like it would warm up gradually, and the forecast for our destination in Riverton was 80s.  So, this was a day for layers and for stripping.  Thank goodness for the vans and their perfectly timed “drop baskets”.  We could go on stripping all day to our heart’s content.

The early rollers were already geared up for their early departure (god bless them), while we headed next door to the Cowboy Cafe for breakfast.  Oh, right!  It’s The Fourth of July!  All the wait staff were loosely dressed in red, white and blue Americana of various sorts.  And when I say “loosely”, I mean that in every sense of the word.  

Breakfast was a “real” breakfast in this Wyoming cowboy town.  And that meant: huge portions of eggs potatoes, cheese and meats of various ilk.  Oh wait, I meant elk.  I followed Randy’s lead (see? not just on the bike) and ordered the “Yellowstone” skillet.  This was an enormous melange of eggs over-easy, potatoes, cheese, spicy elk sausage — our patriotic waitress recommended this over the buffalo. “Definitely, go for the elk!” she declared — and all this on a cast iron skillet, complete with a potholder. “Careful, honey, that plate is hot!” The coffee kept flowing non-stop and the sourdough bread was perfect.  I ate about half of the plate before I surrendered. 

Being Independence Day, — quick pop quiz: anybody remember which king we are celebrating independence FROM?  (Oops, sorry, I promised non-political.) — we were directed to wear our festive red, white and blue America by Bicycle jerseys.  This meant figuring out how many layers to put underneath. It was already in the low 40s and warming rapidly, so the trick was to stay just warm enough at the start and strip layers at the first opportunity.  I decided this would be a smart time to break out the long fingered gloves — finally. 

I was a little slow out the gate, and my hammer team left without me. Waaah. I figured, ok, easy ride today, no big climbs, mostly flat or downhill (emphasis on “mostly”), so I resolved to get back to Lawrence O’Donnell and ride solo.  About a half-mile out, … there they were, waiting for me! “C’mon Jeff, this is YOUR day.”  Translation: today is flat, you suck at climbs, but we need your cylinder firing in the paceline, and besides, we want to be in your pictures.  I held out my arms, “I feel the love!”

The opening section today was spectacular, with red rock cliffs, jagged abutments, rocky streams and photo ops everywhere.  It was so beautiful, the train actually stopped twice for a photo!!!  By now it was getting toasty and we all stopped at the Deana’s van and peeled off all the extra layers.  

We passed Jon at the 40-mile mark today.  He was pulled over at a rest area as we flew by. “Hey, that’s Jon,” someone yelled.  As we waved to Jon, Jon waved back at us and yelled out “You’re LATE!!” ‘Twas true. My fault. Sor-ry … 

At the second SAG stop, and after an all-too-short interval (I thought), the train was ready to pull out. “Ya coming, Jeff?” someone yelled (probably Randy).  “No thanks, I think I’ll fly solo the rest of the way.”  I love these guys, but fact is, I missed a number of good photo ops while on the morning train.  Not the big huge vistas that make everybody ooh and ahh, but the details, the small stuff:  the unique road sign (“WANTED: Antlers and Horns”), the quaint house nestled in a canyon, the Indian Reservation sign that reminds us who was here first.  And so on.  

I met an orthodox Jewish bike rider 12 years ago in Israel.  After waiting around an unduly long time for the day’s ride to start, I had a lot of trouble clipping into my pedals.  I finally realized I had forgotten to remove the protective cleat covers from the bottom of my shoes.  I felt really silly.  I sheepishly looked at him and sighed, “Details.”  He looked at me and held up a lecturing finger, “You will find god in the details.”

I pulled in to Riverton around 1:30 or so.  It was hot.  I checked the temperature.  The digits had magically reversed.  83 degrees.  In the shade.  

Tomorrow is our longest day at 119 miles and it will take us into Casper, WY for our well-earned second rest day.  

Happy Fourth, everybody.  

July 3, 2018

Day 16 – Jackson to Dubois, WY – 86 miles, 1,172 feet vertical

So, we all had a fun time in Jackson last night.  The message board called for an early dinner and so we had time to walk around afterwards and take in the kitschy touristy sights.  I don’t know about the kitschy part but we are tourists after all.  The town was packed. 

This morning we had to deal with some unexpected logistics.  Our planned route would have taken us through Teton National Park, but ABB staffers told us there was an issue with the required permit and – yada, yada, yada – it was “access denied”.  (This reminded me of my Montauk ride on Long Island where we always have trouble going through snooty Southampton.) And so, we loaded up the bikes on the vans and were driven through the park in two shifts.  This cut 30 miles off our route (the 30 flat miles, I hasten to add) and put us on rolling terrain leading up to a long (about 18 mile) climb up to the Continental Divide at 9,658 feet elevation. 

Above 9,000 feet, I started to feel it: slightly faint, light-headed and out of breath. I slowed down and took it very slowly the rest of the way.  Where’s my Sherpa when I need one?  About a mile from the summit, the headwinds picked up and became rather fierce. And it started to rain – it had taken 16 days for us to get wet. 

So, as everyone may already know, the Continental Divide marks the separation of the Atlantic and Pacific watersheds.  All water falling to the west of the divide will eventually flow to the Pacific Ocean and on the other side, to the Atlantic. On the grueling climb, I had toyed with the idea of relieving myself at the top on the precise line of division and thinking how, in a few million years, my carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen atoms would be dissipated between two oceans.  “After all,” Carl Sagan would have reminded me, “we are all made up of star stuff.”

Karen and Judy were manning the SAG stop at the top and after refueling, rehydrating and taking the requisite photos, we all started down.  Almost immediately, the weather turned ugly.  Dark clouds, penetrating rain and worst of all, angry headwinds and crosswinds that buffeted us all the way down.  My fingers were numb, my legs were cold and it was absolutely no fun.  I couldn’t decide between slowing down (and lessening the impact of the rain pellets) or going as fast as possible to get it over with.  I opted for the latter. 

About seven miles down, there was a mountain lodge where a number of riders had already congregated.  Michael, Arlene and I went in for coffee and to warm up while the storm passed.  

While I have tried to keep these posts non-political, I must say I was shaken by one of the items on the shelf.  “Did you see this?” Michael asked.  It was a set of three miniature heads, likenesses of three real people: (former) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (former) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and in the middle, (former) President Barack Obama.  

They were Christmas ornaments.  To be precise: “Hang Em’s” Christmas Ornaments.  

With rope.  

My jaw dropped.  I was speechless.  

Back to our ride, Rob kept checking the radar and we hung out until it cleared and then boogied down the remaining 18 miles to our hotel. We got in just as the skies opened again.  After I got out of the hot tub, we all spent an hour cleaning our filthy bikes to get ready for tomorrow. 

Please enjoy the photos and don’t forget to check “Where’s Jeff” to track our progress.  Thank you!