Hotter than hell... I expect.
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Mileage: 108.7miles + 5miles in truck, Start: 7:30am, Time: 8hr:29min,
Avg: 15.8mph, Rolling: 12.8mph, Climb: 5,859ft,
Weather: Hot then Hotter, Temp: 70-104°F
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Climbing day today, except I didn't think it had quite enough climb. Kurt and John are normally first back with me and a few others a little while later, give or take. Now, Kurt and John are both big and strong but neither can climb for toffee, so the climbers had a chance today!
I had a 'hotel flat' this morning, that I only noticed just before breakfast, so fixing that put me a bit behind schedule. As a result, I left reasonably late and had to catch groups up through the morning. During the early gentle climbs I made some time up and made the second rest stop at Bear Creek well up there. I chased Kurt out of the control but we then had a 12 mile downhill section, so I didn't make contact until we were forced to stop for road works.
We weren't allowed to ride through so we hitched a ride on a flat-bed truck and bounced at high-speed through the dirt and gravel to the Wyoming border! A funny experience, if rather frightening. 6 bikers and their bikes crammed in a pick-up with the tail-gate down, holding on for dear life (well, I was anyway). This took us to lunch at the border. It was now very hot and we still had 40 miles to go...
Setting out again (after pouring a cup of iced water over my head and re-applying factor 50) it felt like riding into a furnace. The sun was beating down relentlessly, the wind was up (a headwind of course) and the scenery was just dirt, hills and mountains. My computer read 116 degrees and we still had climbing to do. I got through water very quickly, but managed to kept going through the gentle rise and then the steeper pass. It was then downhill to Cody, but the wind was strong so it was still tough rolling along. Glad to reach Cody, but Kurt and John were already there.
Tomorrow is harder (!), and there's a warning on the noticeboard that you have to reach lunch by 1.30pm in order to make it back by dark! I just hope it's a bit cooler...
Red Lodge, MT
Loading up!
Bumperty, bumperty, bump.
Nearing Cody - temperature over 100 degrees
2 comments:
Well you maybe achieving on your US ride, but if this works, I think I have achieved too.
Thought you were supposed to be riding not hitching lifts, still it does seem that the 'hairy' lift was worse than the ride.
Well done
Now I think hitching a lift is cheating! I think you should have had to cycle round somehow - even if it would have added a lot to the journey.
Impressed with R&A's posting - yeh! Well done you.
Good luck today Shaun. Hope you ARE back before dark. Sounds like a long day.
Mx
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