Category: Wyoming

We said our final farewells to the beautiful, but windy, WY and said our first hellos to Idaho, but only for today. We are deviating from the established TransAm route due to the fact that organized tour groups cannot ride through Yellowstone, so adjustments had to be made. We are in ID tonight, only to leave and return to it down the road. It was a warm welcome at first, with tailwinds, however, ID didn’t want us to get too comfortable, as the winds changed quickly to head winds. As we rode through the farmlands, we were able to see the Grand Tetons from the back. They’re much more grand from the front, but still beautiful nonetheless.

We left WY via Teton Pass, a 5.5 mile 10% grade mountain in which we gained 2500’. It is by far the longest and steepest pass we have encountered this entire trip. Even though it sounds harsh and exhausting, it was actually my favorite climb of the trip. We were on a paved bike trail the whole way up, completely segregated from the busy road. We had amazing views of the valley that provided an excellent distraction. Plus having fresh legs from yesterday’s off day was a welcome bonus. The descent from the pass was unfortunately not on a bike path and we had to brave the steep curving roads with the traffic. Luckily we all made it in one piece.

Yesterday’s off day was much needed. We slept in till late (10 am!) and explored the city. Some of the crew went white water rafting, and at night Ten’s aunt invited us for dinner. I declined the offer, and instantly regretted it when those who went told us about it. The house they went to was in between Judge Judy and Harrison Ford’s vacation homes! The pictures of the house were unbelievable. There was also a valley wide power outage due to a substation going out, so the whole city was without power during peak dinner time. Locals said power never goes out, so no businesses had backup generators. Almost all the businesses were closed, and I was on a ravenous quest for dinner. We finally found the one place in Jackson Hole that had a backup generator and gas stoves. We devoured dinner and as soon as we paid the bill the power was restored. There was a town wide deafening cheer from hungry folks thrilled by the turn of events.

Tomorrow we head into Montana where we’ll have another rest day!

Today we took advantage of a low mileage day and went hiking in the Grand Tetons! Meg’s dad suggested that we hike at Jenny Lake to Inspiration Point. It’s a relatively easy low mile hike. Inspiration Point itself was beautiful, with a great overlook on Jenny Lake and surrounding mountains. There is a pretty substantial wildfire in the area, so unfortunately the view was slightly obscured by smoke. From Inspiration Point, we continued to hike into the canyon. I wasn’t aware that we could hike into the actual mountain, so it was a pretty cool experience for me.

The ride to Jenny Lake was awe inspiring, as we rode right to the base of the infamous mountains. It was really cool to experience it from the saddle of a bicycle, able to take it in fully. The ride from Jenny Lake, however, was a little rough. The wind picked up and of course was right in our faces. We rode on a bike path free from traffic.

We are staying in Jackson Hole, a very touristy town but a really neat one. It has everything and we’ll have a fun time exploring it tonight and tomorrow, an off day!

We were told yesterday that the ACA had ranked today’s ride in the top 5 rides of the TransAm. And for good reason too. Sure we had to do a pretty substantial climb over Togwotee Pass (also crossed the continental divide again) but the 17 miles of downhill (mostly) with grand views of the Grand Tetons made up for it. Even the climb had beautiful views of surrounding buttes.

We rode into Grand Teton National Park and continued to ride closely to the behemoth mountains. We were able to pull off onto observation points to take them in. It was stunning. We are camping at Colter Bay under them. With an approaching storm coming in, it set an ominous atmosphere watching the grey clouds overtake the grand mountains. The water was freezing, yet refreshing. We got to hang out more with Monica, likely the last time we’ll ride with her because she’s lucky enough to spend a few days in the park.

We are officially in bear country and everywhere we look are flyers on keeping food away and preventing bear attacks. We stored everything in bear boxes, so hopefully we won’t have any furry friends knocking on our tent doors asking for a cup of honey.

Tomorrow is a short day to Jackson Hole, then a much needed rest day. After 11 days of riding, I think we deserve one!

We mostly succeeded in getting out early in attempts to beat the winds. We only hit winds for the last 10 miles, which weren’t nearly as bad as the last couple of days. Scenery is more of the same, looks kind of out of this world, like another planet.

And now a little tidbit into the glamorous world of cycling: for some reason, when the winds hit, it causes your nose to run like you wouldn’t believe. Because you’re holding onto the bike so hard in attempt to counteract the wind, you can’t take your hands off the handlebars to wipe it. So you just let the wind splatter it across your face, or let it hit the unlucky soul behind you. It’s a sight to behold, I’m sure.

We got in pretty early today, so we stopped by the local watering hole for wifi. Hoping for another early start tomorrow in preparation for what I’m sure will be another day of headwinds.

Sheena’s corner, resurrected:
I’m alive, just exhausted.

Today Emilie heard a cow moo and proceeded to ask me, “was that you or the cow?” …. “What? The cow, Emilie.” “Oh, I wasn’t sure if you farted.” 😑😂 Yea, it was probably her trying to blame the cow. Poor cow…

Just because today was a short days does not, by any means, mean today was an easy day. We all enjoyed the hotel stay and slept in late, getting a late start on the road. Which of course meant less miles in before the winds hit. And boy did they hit.

We had to ride on an interstate highway for a little over 10 miles right into the wind. Sheena was a champ and led a group of us through. The cars were pretty respectful, though I’m sure they thought, “wow what a buncha idiots”.

We caught up with Monica, a solo rider who we met in the Appalachians. She was smart and spent a lot of time in Colorado, taking it all in. We also met a couple from close to home, West Chester, PA who were driving across the country and wished us luck with our journey.

I said goodbye to my parents and Addie today, but I’ll see them soon enough. I also booked my flight home seeing as we’ll be done in no time flat.

The winds are still kicking and setting up camp was difficult. Here’s to hoping they bestow mercy upon us tomorrow and lessen up.

Colorado didn’t want us to leave, seeing as how it froze us all in our tents this morning. We stayed in the city park overnight and from 11pm on, we (I was at least) were harassed by sprinklers. Apparently I set up my tent right next to one, unbeknownst to me, and it was doing its thing all night long. I couldn’t move my tent at that point, so I just slept through it. In the morning I could barely open my tent fly because my whole tent was encased in ice (yes, it was that cold). After I broke through, I noticed that my bike was also frozen. I had to time moving everything with the sprinkler so I wouldn’t get doused, and in doing so, was too distracted to snap a picture of the nonsense. As the morning wore on, those who weren’t hit by the sprinklers at night were hit as they were packing up. It was like a mine field and if it wasn’t so darn cold, it would be comical.

But eventually we thawed out and said our goodbye to CO and ventured our way into Wyoming. We passed by the wild fire and could smell it pretty strongly. As soon as we passed into WY we hit those head and cross winds again. As usual, it was demoralizing but I have at least come to terms with it. As we rode into the afternoon we noticed that the wildfire smoke was billowing even more due to the winds. I was so distracted by it that I almost rode right over antelope roadkill, but Sheena came to my rescue just in the knick of time.

WY is pretty desolate so we have to be very mindful of our water and not to get too low. My parents met us at the end of the ride and provided dinner for us all. Everyone was very appreciative. We are staying in a motel for the night and I get to sleep cuddled up next to Addie! Perfect way to end a tough day.