Big Ride Day 19

Photos from Day 19

Another day in the rolling hills of Wyoming. After yesterday's ride, it's nice that today was fairly short. The breakfast this morning was about on par with the dinner last night -- it was pretty gross and there wasn't enough of it. Fortunately, there was a cafe about 10 miles out with "the best cinnamon buns West of the Mississippi." I was one of the last ones out of camp as usual. It was a bit chilly as I rolled out but warmed up quickly. I stopped at the cafe and got one of their "world-famous" cinnamon rolls -- in fact, I got the very last one. It was pretty good, though I don't think it quite earned its title. Quite a few people were stopped at this little cafe, supplementing the inadequate breakfast we had received. They were ready for us too. They had quite a spread put out, probably anticipating a few more bikers than they got based on last year's totals. It was a fun atmosphere. The jukebox was blasting good music and it struck me once again how odd it was to be in a bar/cafe listening to music this early in the morning.

Unfortunately, when I went back to my bike after enjoying the roll and some coffee, my tire was flat. I quickly patched it up and got on the road again. The weather was warm and sunny and I rolled slowly up and down, not really in a particular hurry. After a while, I encountered two other bikers -- George and Elise and struck up a conversation. The miles rolled by, Elise stopped and George and I continued on. Just before checkpoint, I saw an antelope, a new one on me. It was right by the roadway and there were a bunch more in the distance. How cool! Checkpoint was in a small town just South of the Devil's Tower -- you might remember it from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." It was too far off the route to bike to, but some locals had taken a bunch of riders up there. Unfortunately, I was too late to make the trip.

Back on the road again, I noticed that my tire was going flat again. It appeared to be a slow leak so I just pumped it up and continued on. The miles began to drag by as we picked up a headwind and it was a trudge getting into camp. About 10 miles out, I picked up another rider and brought her in in my draft. Camp tonight is at a school which is unfortunately located (as is the whole town) in between train tracks and some kind of industrial plant, making for a noisy night. Upon getting to camp, I iced my knees, showered, and then got a ride down to the local library to send out an e-mail update. Then it was back to camp for dinner. Dinner was OK, but not great. I spent the rest of the night working on my bike and fixing the flat. It turned out that the patch had leaked and when I tried to install a new tube, I caused another pinch flat in that tube. What a frustrating night! I got to bed late but fortunately slept OK despite the noise. Tomorrow promises to be a great ride -- can't wait!

This page modified November 25, 2000