The big debate leading into this tour was: which bike should I
bring? Yeah, I have several bikes with bunches of gears in a
variety of ranges, but the bike I ride more than any other is a
fixed-gear. After consulting with friends and studying the route profile, I
decided to stick with that.
Sunday, July 17
The first day began innocently enough: a westward route into a
bit of a headwind through the flats outside
Laramie. However, in the distance we could see the challenge du
jour -- the Snowy Range. The headwinds seemed to intensify a bit
as the day wore on. We cheated the wind a little by forming up a
little train on the way into the first rest stop. After about 30
miles of fairly flat terrain, we hit the town of Centennial, where the 13-mile uphill slog
began.
Four miles into this climb, I decided to flip my rear wheel over from
the 16 tooth fixed gear to the 18 tooth freewheel on the other
side. (For those of you insisting on fixed-gear-specific content,
click here.) It didn't exactly flatten out
the hill, but it made the effort a couple of teeth easier. Along
the way, I met up with a guy on a twenty-something speed mountain
bike who said, "I reached for a lower gear, but there are no
more."
Amen, brother.
As we ascended, the lack of air then became the bigger challenge.
I stopped for lots of "photo ops", trying unsuccessfully to capture the
extent of the grade, but really just trying to
catch my breath. Around 10,500 feet, the road hit some level
spots -- false summits, actually, but
beautiful scenery all around. Very close to 11,000 feet, the top
came into view. I stopped to snap some pictures
from the observation deck at the top of this hill. Wow.
There was plenty of snow on the ground as we
descended into the lunch stop on the lake.
Flipping the wheel from fixed-to-freewheel made the 15-mile descent off
the mountain a joy ride -- a nice reward for all that uphill work.
The evening in Saratoga saw lots of tired faces. Tough day.
Monday, July 18
After yesterday's long hours of cycling, and anticipating a shorter day
today, many folks slept in late. I know I did. The ride
today was much shorter and milder than yesterday. The hills
barely warranted standing up, and a slight tailwind pushed us east
towards the evening's destination town of Medicine Bow. The city
limit sign advertised 274 residents, so the tour more than doubled the
population.
After "invigorating" showers at the Trampas Motel, where the tour had
rented 8 rooms for participants' use, many cyclers headed over to the Dip Bar for lunch and beverages. The air
conditioning made it hard to want to leave. So did the Fat
Tires.
When dinner time rolled around, most folks took advantage of the dinner
served at The Virginian, the lodge and bar
made famous on the TV show of the same name. The roast beef and
fried chicken dinner was substantial.
As enjoyable as the downhills were today with the rear wheel still
freewheeling, I missed the momentum generated by the fixed-gear
arrangement, so I flipped the wheel back over to the fixed side.
Tuesday, July 19
We started out of Medicine Bow towards Shirley
Basin with a bit of a crosswind from the west. That turned
into a headwind as the route veered left. Huge gusts slapped us and kept our speed in check. It
wasn't until we got close to Shirley Basin
that the winds became favorable again. Along the way, we spotted
an antelope sprinting across the road and a monster jack rabbit
bounding into the brush to our right.
When the route took us west again, we hit headwinds HARD. Bunches
of bikers sagged in. Again, we got some relief when the
route turned more north and east and headed towards Casper.
Once in Casper, lunch was found at the Guadalajara restaurant.
Excellent chicken mole. Later, dinner was at Sanford's, where we
could catch a glimpse of the Tour de France reports on ESPN, and enjoy
25 oz draws of excellent beer.
It's funny how a tough day of riding turns into a loud evening, full of
stories.
Wednesday, July 20
Normally, I don't look foward to eating at McDonald's. However,
this morning, the tour bought us all a large
pancake-sausage-hasbrowns-juice-coffee breakfast at the McD's across
the street from our overnight accomodations. Big Yum.
Today's route started with a couple of climbs, then flattened out for
long stretches, following the path of the North
Platte River. Tailwinds pushed us along very quickly.
The 67 miles went by fast, arriving in Douglas before
noon.
Ate both lunch and dinner at a nice little sports bar called "Hoggie's
Diner". Great salad bar and Fat Tire, too!
Some generous soul on the tour dismounted their satellite antenna and
TV from their RV to provide Tour de France
coverage to folks on our tour. Quite a nice gesture!
Thursday, July 21
Hot, hot, hot.
Afte a nice pancake-sausage-egg breakfast at the recreation center in
Douglas, we hit the road around 6:15 in an effort to beat the heat.
A big chunk of today's route ran next to
railroad tracks, which meant limited grade. Another chunk ran on
an outer road, which brought with it hills. Check it out -- next
time you're on a highway, look over at the outer road -- it's bound to
be hillier than the highway you're cruising.
I tried to keep up with the Davis Tandem for a
bit, but fell off on a downhill where they took off like a rocket.
Arriving in Wheatland before noon, the temperature was already in the
90's. I felt sorry for anyone having to ride into the afternoon
hours. Even the Pool Boys of North Dakota opted to sit in the
school's hallways instead of the sunny day outside.
After pitching tents and showering, we headed into town and ate at Taco
John's. Then, it was back to the school's hallways for relief
from the heat. After dinner at the Wheatland Inn, the group met
in the shade of the park, where the limerick contest
was held.
Friday, July 22
The final day...One of the treats of today's ride was spotting bull elk atop a hill at the Syblille Wildlife
Research Station. Riding up through the canyon brought beautiful
scenery into view -- a nice goodbye to Wyoming.
This has been a very enjoyable tour: well organized and
supported, challenging with payoffs of fantastic scenery.