Day 48 – Jackson, WY to Ashton, ID

July 17^th:

Another climb day!  This one was a short but steep climb, but of course I was ready for it!  Coffee was, again, a must this morning.  I think the fact that we’re in a longer riding stretch than usual has made us more addicted to the caffeine that propels us for the first half of the day. 
Across the street from the coffee shop was a small park in the middle of town.  The entrances to the park were formed with what appeared to be cattle horns. 

We headed out to take on the infamous Teton Pass after coffee!

My boss from my AmeriCorps year at Habitat for Humanity, Tommy, said this was one of his favorite climbs when he did Bike & Build in 2007, and I remember how excited he used to get when he talked about it at work!  We talked about B&B all the time, obviously.  It was a short climb of about 5 miles, but it was a toughie at a 10% grade!  Usually, a good, hard climb is about a 5-6% grade.  This was a STEEP one!  We learned from a local at the last minute that the road for cyclists to take was the old Teton Pass road, which was now closed to motor vehicles but open to bike and foot traffic.  One group didn’t get the memo that we were switching up the route before they started climbing, so they took on the possibly more dangerous road (more dangerous because of cars).  Although they were on the road-more-travelled, they saw a black bear run across it in front of them!  I’m glad I did not see this bear because I certainly would have panicked and probably turned around to bike back down the mountain.

I climbed by myself so that only I could hear myself breathing, AND so I could talk to myself while riding, giving myself words of encouragement or singing random lyrics of songs that pump me up, without anyone judging me for this strange behavior.  It was a long climb with many switchbacks which forced me to power through so that I would maintain momentum and not fall over on my bike.  I came close to falling several times, but never did.  I occasionally turned around to look at the view and was astounded every time!

I was the first person to make it to the top of the mountain!  Flora was in the van that day, and she was chalking words of encouragement on the final stretch of the hill.  I yelled “FLORA!” when I saw her because she initially had her back turned to me, probably not prepared to see anyone for a while.  When she saw me, she ran down to where I was and ran alongside me as I rode up.  She was yelling parts of our morning cheer to me.  It’s one of those cheers where one group shouts a phrase and the other group responds.  She said “Where are we from?!” to which I responded “BALTIMORE!” …Where are we going? PORTLAND! East is…? EAST!! West is…? PORTLAND!  We are… 4K!!  We are… 4K!!  …Until I finally made it to the top!!  I was breathing very heavily at the top, and the view continued to take my breath away!

As awesome as it was to reach the top first, I waited for 2.5 hours for everyone to get up.  Remember, was have to wait at each water stop for every assigned team to get in.  On days like this, it’s really a setback for those of us who climb fast.  It was nice, though, to have some time to stare down the mountain from where we came.

Afterward, we headed downhill.  I didn’t enjoy the downhill as much as I would have in the early morning hours of the day, because by the time we started going down in the afternoon, the road was busy with cars and you had to proceed with extreme caution since there was no shoulder.  At the bottom, we made it to the Idaho state line!  My group of Martha, Gino, Halle, and Brett decided to take a photo at both the Idaho and Wyoming state signs, since we hadn’t seen a Wyoming sign when we initially got to the state.

We biked for maybe 12 miles after lunch before getting into the next town.  We were still far ahead of most teams, despite the fact that we’d waited until everyone got to the top.  A beer sounded good, so we made a quick pit stop at a brewery!

We honestly didn’t think we’d finish the day.  It was about 2:30 when we still had over 50 miles to go, and we were supposed to be at the host by 5.  That just wasn’t going to happen, so for a while we considered shuttling.  I’m glad we didn’t though because the ride in Idaho was beautiful!  We could see the Tetons behind us all day!  The view never escaped us and never ceased to amaze me!  I turned around to look back several times during the last part of the ride, always astonished to still see the Tetons standing tall in the distance.  I wish I’d taken more photos in the afternoon.  There were mountains surrounding us on all sides, but photos didn’t capture them as well as being in their presence.

Our hosts in Ashton treated us to a potato bar, with baked potatoes and toppings for them.  It was an appropriate meal for our first day in the potato state of Idaho!  Funny enough, we were only in Idaho for a day before sort of backtracking northeast into Montana toward the town of West Yellowstone the following day.

Day 47 – Dubois, WY to Jackson, WY

July 16^th:

The 90 mile ride from Dubois to Jackson was a huge reason for why I chose the Portland route for 4K.  Today was the day I finally got to see the Tetons!!!!  And I’ve heard incredible things about Jackson, WY, and I was ready to see what all the hype was about!

Unfortunately, we awoke to about 45 degree temperatures, which we were unprepared for.  That doesn’t sound like unbearably cold weather, but when you’re riding bikes, there’s certainly a wind chill factor to be concerned about.  On top of that, we’d brought out all the bikes into the grass yard of the church at around 4:30am, and at about 5:00 the sprinklers turned on and completely soaked our bikes – seats and all.  So – wet bikes plus wet clothes while riding bikes plus cold weather – this did not make for an exciting morning.  Still, I remained positive because I was too pumped for this day!

We stopped for coffee because caffeine and warmth were even more necessary than normal this morning:

My riding group was Sam, Jen, Gino, and Kevin.

The landscape leading up to the climb over Togwotee Pass (pronounced Toe-guh-tee) was already incredible.  A creek snaked its way alongside the road with beautiful mountains all around.

Our first water stop of the day was at 20 miles out from the host, which put us at the base of our 10 mile climb for the day!

I had warned my team that I preferred to climb on my own, even though that’s not necessarily “4K ok.”  They were all fine with it though, so after we stopped quickly for water, I took off.  I eventually met up with Sean and we climbed together. 

Honestly, it was one of the easier climbs I’ve ever done.  The grade was not steep at all, and there were even moments of flatness where it felt more like we were going slightly downhill.  We made it easily up to Togwotee Pass, where we had our second water stop at the most beautiful pond I’ve ever seen.  I’ve rarely been so in awe of a landscape.Togwotee Pass wasn’t our only climbing of the day, but it was the longest.  Once that was over, we knew it was mostly downhill from there. 

I was a little bummed at the top because I’d been under the impression that the Tetons would appear at the top of the pass.  Unfortunately, this was not the case, and we still had a ways to go after that before running into them.  BUT WE FINALLY DID AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!  Click here to watch a short video of my first glimpse of the Tetons!

I had been told that they just appear out of nowhere by more than one friend.  I didn’t believe it until it really happened.  They are HUGE mountains, and you’ll be making your way along the road and then BAM! there they are!!!  They are the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen, and I’m so thankful that I was able to bike into them!

We biked on and on, never losing sight of the Tetons as they grew closer and bigger.  To personify them, they seem confident and independent; they are majestic and they stand alone.  I LOVE THESE MOUNTAINS!  It was such a joy to ride into Grand Teton National Park and ride literally alongside them for the last 30+ miles of the day.

The last part of the ride took us on a bike path that paralleled the road we had been on all afternoon.  It was still alongside the Tetons, and it led directly into the AWESOME town of Jackson.  I will say that Jackson was more touristy than I had envisioned, but it didn’t disappoint.  What DID disappoint me was missing the BIKE & BUILD TEAM that was ALSO in Jackson!  My group got in later than most, and the first teams that headed straight to the bar ran into the Central U.S. B&B team and told me about it later.  I was pretty upset about it, and even though I wore my Camelbak with B&B hazard triangle around town that night hoping it’d make me recognizable to them (we all had to wear the yellow/orange hazard triangles that I wear while riding), it didn’t happen.  Ohhh welllll.

We went to a bar called the Cowboy Bar, where a feature is that the bar stools are horse saddles.  As if we needed to spend more time in a saddle, we went to enjoy a local beer there before dinner.

Kevin’s mom bought us dinner at a delicious burger restaurant (a veggie burger, for me).  We were all trying to find ways to create a day off in Jackson the next day instead of riding, since we didn’t have one built into our schedule, which is terrible planning on 4K’s part.  I MUST go back to Jackson, whether it be for the bike riding, hiking, or skiing.  I will be back!!!

Day 46 – Riverton, WY to DuBois, WY

July 15^th:

This day, I mostly remember getting stuck in storm after storm, living the “hurry up and wait” life, and facing serious headwinds.  The storms were fun to watch roll in over the mountains!  You could see the lightning bolts striking from a distance and it was beautiful!

Of course, we sought shelter as quickly as we could.  The first shelter we found was in a large garage.  We asked the woman who own the garage if it would be okay for all of us to go inside, and she gave us permission.

The next shelter we took was actually in someone’s small house!  We felt bad taking up so much space, but he was so generous to let us all in.  I’m sure he didn’t wake up expecting to take in 29 people for 30 minutes or so that afternoon.

I didn’t take many photos in the afternoon because my phone was low on battery and I could hardly stay up on my own against the headwinds.  I tried my best to take in the scenery around me, as it was truly stunning, but it was hard to stay positive while battling the wind for hours.

Dubois ended up being such a cute, small town!  The church we stayed in was an adorable log cabin, and they had a corkboard hung on their wall with cards and photos of cross-country cyclists whom they’ve hosted before!

We went to the laundromat and the gift shop next door, where we found this “jackolope,” the existence of which seems to be a running joke in Wyoming.

Day 45 – Worland, WY to Riverton, WY

July 14^th:

We’ve been psyching ourselves out with our routes binder, which provides information about the daily routes, including elevation maps.  My teammates all too often check the queue sheets and elevation information before each day and get themselves worked up about the hills.  I try to tell them that it doesn’t matter, that they’re going to do it regardless, but some of them just like to know.  Anyway, this was one of those days where a “huge” climb was expected, and even though it didn’t happen, we had broken up into our climbing groups.  Mine was Lizzy, Jessie, and Hannah, three strong cyclists!  We have very compatible riding paces, which made the prospect of climbing with them exciting… but like I said, it didn’t actually happen.

The day started off slowly.  We did have some cattle running along the road beside us, although it didn’t seem like they should be there and we wondered if they’d escaped.

I laid around with some teammates at the first water stop as we waited for other teammates to roll in, and I nearly fell asleep, which isn’t good considering how groggy I get after naps.

We were told that there were natural hot springs on the road ahead!  Despite the hype, I should have known better – hot springs are usually more of a weird tourist attraction than you’d imagine.  You picture a warm, bubbling pond in a beautiful landscape, but what it ends up being is a man-made pool filled with what is presumably the hot spring mineral water.  Also, it smells like sulfur, or more recognizably boiled eggs.  We put our feet in the hot pool and then decided that was all the experience we needed.

At the second water stop, we met a group of old men who were on a fishing trip together.  One of them had biked across the country self-supported years ago!  It was great to meet them and talk to them for a bit, and especially to be reminded that the adventurous spirit can thrive even at an older age.

Later in the day, we biked through a canyon called – I’m not kidding – Crazy Woman Canyon.  While my feminist side doesn’t love the name, it was at least a little comical.  We biked alongside a river with the canyon walls hovering high up above on either side of us.  Although this seems strange, we genuinely could not figure out if we were going up or downhill throughout this canyon.  We think the canyon walls were causing some sort of optical illusion, but we went with it because in the end, we were going uphill, and it was nice to not even realize it at the time.  Someone in our group would say “well, I just downshifted, so we must be going up,” and that’s how we’d have some sense of up or downhill.

We got to a set of 3 short tunnels, and even though you could easily see from one side to the other, we decided to have the vans guide us through.  We waited for a couple other groups to make one larger run through.

The rest of the day was back in the wide open spaces of Wyoming, including a dip in the lake!

In the last 15 miles, we suffered through a horrendous headwind, but we got through it and made it to the host in time for a delicious lasagna meal.  I’ll leave you with a photo of me after falling in the parking lot of a gas station (I just didn’t clip out in time) next to a tiny car, which had a huge dent in it, ironically.  Also, here’s the screenshot of where we are in the country!!  We’ve made it so far!

Day 44 – Buffalo, WY to Worland, WY

July 13^th:

I will forever be bitter about being in the van this day.

It was our biggest climb day so far – 90 miles of riding, the first 40 of which were climbing through the Big Horn Mountains.  In case you were unaware, climbing is my favorite. No, seriously… most people seem to hate it, but I love it.  It seemed cruel and unfair that the one person on the team who thoroughly enjoys climbing was subject to van duty on this particular day, and as I have stated, I will never truly get over it.  It’s one of those days that people note as highlight of the trip and also as one of the hardest days.  My other van days have not made me feel guilty about missing out on some of the mileage this summer, but this one makes me feel like I can’t claim to have biked across the country.  I feel like I cheated by being in the van instead of climbing, and I can’t let it go!!

It was a hectic day, too.  I was in the water van with Sam, which means we’re responsible for providing water stops along the way.  Usually, this occurs every 20 miles, but since the first part of the day was all climbing, our ride directors decided to make a stop at every 12 miles.  The difference, though, is that normally each riding group has to wait for the last group to roll in before they can leave.  That way the water van can always beat the first group to the next water stop.  On this day, the riding pairs (we only rode in pairs because it’s easier than climbing in groups of 5) ended up over 12 miles apart because they didn’t have to wait to leave each water stop.  So it went a little something like this: Sam and I drove to the first water stop at 12 miles together.  After a few groups rolled in and out, I drove the van to the 24 mile mark with half of the food and water to set up the second water stop.  Once the first team came to the second water stop, I drove back to get Sam and the rest of the food/water.  We drove together to the second water stop, where I could drop her off again and head up to the top of the mountain where the teams would have their lunch stop.  PHEW!  It was so much more coordination than a normal water van day.  The first groups that made it to the top of the mountain had to wait nearly 2.5 hours for all the groups to arrive – that’s how spread out we were!  We live quite the “hurry up and wait” life.

Right before the first team rolled out of lunch to complete the rest of the 40+ miles, I got the opportunity to ride, so I took it.  It’s hard to explain, but basically someone took my place in the van and I got to do the 18 mile downhill.  The last part of it brought me to tears it was so awesome!  It would have felt much more deserved if I had climbed up other side of the mountain, but it was still great to have the experience. 

I rode the rest of the day with Brett, Kyle, Amanda, and Sean as we left the evergreen tree filled Big Horn Mountains and descended into somewhat of a desert landscape.  Overall – I wish I could have experienced the whole day, but riding some is better than not riding at all!

P.S. All of the higher quality photos are brought to you by Kellie and her GoPro!

Day 43 – Gillette, WY to Buffalo, WY

July 12^th:

Another century day for the books.  My riding group was Sean, Halle, Zack, and Lindsay.  We started our morning off with our usual dedication circle and 4K cheer at 5:30am.

We headed out of Gillette and hit some big rolling hills through the countryside.  The views were incredible!  Wyoming is so great.

Martha fell biking out of the first water stop, and we couldn’t help but laugh about it.  She couldn’t help it, either.

We passed through a “town” called Spotted Horse with a population of 2.

I took a photo by an informative history sign because it said “Wyoming” and we hadn’t gotten a state sign photo since we came in on a gravel road.

Today was the first day we could see mountains in the distance!!!  I called them the Rockies, but really they’re the Big Horn Mountains, although I’m convinced that they are just a subset of the Rockies.  Anyway, it was SO COOL to round a corner and see the snow-capped mountains in the far distance!  It’s probably too difficult to see them in this photo, but they’re there!!!

Lindsay got in the van at the second water stop.  It was a long and hard day, both mentally and physically.  During the day, I thought about how to explain what we talk about on a day like this.  Really, we talk about nothing in particular.  We talk about whatever comes to our minds.  We sing songs that Halle was playing from her phone, ask each other random questions, etc.  This sounds dangerous (because it is), but we played a game where you had to close your eyes and maintain your position between the yellow line and the white line/rumble strips for as long as possible while riding.  You could see for miles behind and miles ahead, so we didn’t have to worry about cars.  We had the roads to ourselves for most of the day, so we took advantage of it.  My personal record was 14 seconds, while Halle’s was 1 minute 7 seconds… and she opened her eyes by her own choice because it was going on for too long. 

After lunch, Zack and Sean tried to convince us that we had 30 miles left, when really we just had 20.  They actually fooled me at first, but then we saw mileage signs for Buffalo and they were ratted out.  There were horses that we stopped to pet and feed on our final stretch.

We finally made it to Buffalo!!!

Sean thought it was comical to take a snapchat of me laying in the grass near this sign with one of the many filters available on the app:

We picked up some stickers from the visitors center and spoke with the man who worked there all about Buffalo.  He said that bears and mountain lions have come into the town before, although it’s a rarity.  There are tons of hiking trails around town, since it sits at the base of the Big Horn Mountains.  I thought the downtown area was so cute and the surrounding mountains were awesome!

Day 42 – Sundance, WY to Gillette, WY

July 11^th:

Okay, I’m gonna be honest — I wrote a huge post for this day and it got deleted, and I DO NOT have it in me to write it again.  It was a hot, incredibly windy day.  The morning started out fine with my “mustachio” lady gang (Flora received mustache stickers from a friend in her mail drop).

My group was the only team that got in late and missed showers, so we had to find and pay for our own, and then we were the ones who ended up doing laundry for everyone AND getting dinner donated.  We did a lot considering the long day we’d had!  Anyway, I’m sorry – I’m just going to dump the few photos that I have from this day right here.  Please accept my apology!

A view of Devil’s Tower in the distance!