Rockies II

Well, I find myself heading back towards the Rockies. Despite avoiding the Montana Rockies by going through southern Idaho, I decided that I'm in better shape now and can take one last crack at them before heading east. So today I crossed from Wyoming to Colorado and continued to head south. Passed many ranches and, as in the picture, most of them really do have their own "brand" and big entrance signs. Some of them can reach into the thousands of acres! As expected, the road got more steep but, unexpectedly, the wind also picked up dramatically. When you're riding on a long bicycle tour you will almost always hit hills and wind. The difference is that after a long uphill, you usually get a long downhill as a reward. With wind, unless it's a tailwind pushing you along, it's just wind. It slows you down and saps your energy with no reward at the end. Still, I managed to ride 50 miles today and I feel pretty good. Last night I camped at the Lazy Acres campsite in Riverside, WY and, about 8:45PM, Cody (pictured), another eastbound cross-country cyclist rolled into camp. He's 23, just finished his masters in civil engineering, and decided to do this trip before he starts work. We decided to ride together today. However, Cody is travelling "ultralight" and only carrying about half the weight in gear that I am. He's also much faster than me and typically covers almost 100 miles each day (!!!). Still, he was kind enough to wait for me at the tops of big hills and certain other rest stops. He's a really good guy and I really enjoyed having some company on this long trip. We thought there would be no services along the 50 miles from Riverside to Walden, CO but, much to our surprise, in Cowdrey, CO, we ran into Charlie and Tammy who were having a garage sale and also selling cold bottled water and the absolutely fattest hot dogs I've ever seen. This was a nice break and helped make the wind and hills easier to take. Tonight I'll camp in the town park here in Walden (and they let cyclists use the showers at the local pool!). Tomorrow, and for the next few days, it's more mountains until I hit that last, huge downhill that will take me towards Pueblo, CO.

Total mileage so far: 1,429

Please consider making a small donation to help cancer survivors (sadly, my mom was not one of them) http://www.livestrong.org/grassroots2008/steveonhisbike