Day 29-31

This 75 mile day started out just fine, on the bike at 8:30 AM which always seems necessary if I’m going to make a big day. I ran into the Dutch gang’s support van again, almost in the first 15 minutes of the ride. They were ahead of the main group, shuttling a few people that didn’t want to do the upcoming hill and we’re going to ride the other side. They had a very long day planned, all the way to Pinedale and another 12 miles beyond for a campground.

They got another helper as two of their helpers had quit earlier in the trip, he is a nice guy from Anchorage, was chatting with him for a while. He is pondering the possibility of joining them as a helper next year just as I am.

There was a lot of wind as you could tell there was a storm moving in from the south, but the road was decent even though it was impossible to find more than 12 inches of smooth road without a rock embedded in it. 

After a couple hours I met up with the Dutch gangs van again stopped for their lunch break, they offered me a sandwich which of course I took them up on, they are very kind to me! And as I know I probably won’t see them again since I’m planning a day off in Pinedale, I made a point of thanking them all again for sharing their hospitality. 

According to the elevation profile, just a few miles ahead the elevations began to drop into Pinedale, that’s why I bit off such a large day, knowing that at least there would be some relief over that 75 mile distance in the elevation. 

Finally reaching the top of the pass and gently descending toward mosquito lake, I could see the weather ahead was looking much less favorable. And that’s about when the headwinds started, probably with about 40 miles left in the day. For any of you that have cycle before, headwinds sap not only your strength and your heat, but also your will. 

The relentless powerful headwinds got stronger as I went along, through barren desolate rolling sagebrush, with no possibility of any shielding from the wind, and every single bit of advantage that I had hoped to gain from the elevation drop on the second half of the day was completely negated (and more) by the winds.

Somewhere around 20 miles out of Pinedale, still facing directly into the powerful headwinds, the $&#%?@ rain joined the horizontal wind in defeating my hopefulness and breaking my soul. I discovered quickly that screaming at the top of my lungs into the wind telling it to stop seems to have no effect whatsoever. This was the kind of day that you read about in other cyclist’s blogs, the heartbreaking headwind, the chilling rain, the miles ahead that seem to diminish ever so slowly, questioning why you’re here, questioning everything… In fact it’s taken me a couple of days to even be able to want to talk about it, such a horrible wet cold horrendous hypothermic experience that I never wish to re-live ever again…

But I did eventually make it to Pinedale, even so slow as each revolution brought me along the road into town. When I finally checked into the Sundance motel, I immediately got into the hot shower and got all the wet clothes off of me, ran hot water and my body couldn’t even tell if the water was hot or cold, that’s how through and through I was chilled and challenged by the days heartbreaking conditions. Moderately hypothermic…

As soon as the very hot shower unchilled me enough to get real clothes on, I walked down in the now heavy rain just two blocks to Los Cabos Mexican restaurant, a simple but heavenly place. There I sat nursing my emotional wounds, drinking tres Negra Modelo and eating every last morsel of a huge steak and chicken fajita platter. Oh my goodness, was that ever a soul warming meal.

But even so, I felt some indescribable emotions inside me that afternoon, and continuing through my night sleep and into the next day… I didn’t want to blog or talk or text anybody, just wanted to be alone in my misery. I could see my own raw exposed emotions clearly with my own eyes, thankful no one else could…

The next day was a planned rest day in Pinedale and a big chore day. As it turned out, very good timing as the weather has turned to shit, raining almost nonstop with snow predicted at 8000 feet. 

I started out in a real laundromat doing wash that hadn’t been done in quite some time other than in the sink, and then stopped at the post office to pick up packages that have been sent kindly by Bridgette and my Bike Shop guy Corey, at Seven Corners Cycles in Portland, who did the buildup on my very trusty Surly Ogre.

Dearest Bridgette sent me some of the prepared food that I trail mix that I had made up before I left, and also some Mountain House dehydrated meals. 

Have I mentioned anything about Mountainhouse dehydrated meals yet? They are wonderful in that they are very light, you just boil up water, pour water into the pouch, wait 10 or 15 minutes and you have a complete meal. There is an amazing variety of foods, beef stroganoff, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti meatballs, beans and rice, lime chicken, it runs the full gamut of wonderful meals. However, it should be noted that each and every meal has the exact same consistency of the kind of slop that you’ve seen in movies poured onto a lowly prisoner’s plate by an indifferent institutional cook. I want to say that the consistency tends to be somewhere between oatmeal and grits. However, the flavors are certainly different between each package so as long as you can tolerate the exact same pasty consistency with every meal, the dinners are absolutely fantastic!

Back to the chores, Cory sent on my request a new tire and spare tubes as I suffered a puncture several hundred miles ago. I am running tubeless tires, but when the goop inside the tubeless tire won’t seal a large puncture, you have to put a tube inside. I was only carrying one tube, so I felt somewhat vulnerable in that had I suffered a puncture on my front tire as well, I’d be up shit creek. And I was surprised that my rear tire has already worn about two thirds of the way down to the main tire core, so I was ready for a rear tire replacement anyway. The rear tire wears much more quickly than the front because of the additional weight of the panniers and my dry bag as well as my ample derrière… Thank you, Corey!

The tire issue actually took several hours to deal with, I attempted a tubeless reinstall, but that failed because of a valve issue. Ended up just putting a new tire on with the same tube, but I now have two spare tubes with me so a high level of confidence that tires won’t be an issue going ahead.

Went down to the wind River brewing Company for dinner, I had a Reuben and a couple of beers for dinner, knowing that the storm I was in the midst of here with lots of rain had not let up, and could continue another day.

Though I was completely prepared to head out on the bike this morning (Wednesday), with all chores and repairs completed, food purchased for the next four days where services will be scant, and my emotional quotient back to reasonable, I awoke to rain and strong wind yet again. Decided to wait until about 11 AM, eagerly watching weather radar to see what was projected to happen during the day, and it became pretty clear that it would be foolish to start a four-day wilderness crossing with no services, including crossing the great divide basin, starting out wet and cold from the rain. So as much as I hated to give up another day of hanging around Pinedale, I used the day to pore intensely over the maps for the next 10 or 12 days ahead.

The weather beginning tomorrow seems favorable enough at the moment at least, and I expect to be back on the road bright and early tomorrow morning. Is much colder than when I arrived here, but if I can stay dry, I can do anything!

Ps: Pinedale is a nice little town! Definitely and upwardly conscious town, they have a huge aquatic center next to the high school, a brewery, several good restaurants, a coherent downtown Main Street, very nice people, actually ran into a few people who had moved here including the people who bought the motel just a few months ago that I’m staying in. A very nice place, I can imagine myself in a smaller town like this.

Pss: I haven’t taken many pictures the last couple of days, and certainly none on my horrible headwind rain day as my phone was in a Ziploc, so what little I have is posted below. Please note the one picture that just looks like a bunch of cars in the parking lot, it is at the grocery store across the street called Ridleys, I think there were eight pick up trucks lined up there, definitely representative of the rollingstock all over the state that I’ve seen… 

Psss: Chris and Dave and I keep in touch by text when we have the capability, I know they spent last night at Crooked Creek Lodge where I spent the night a couple ago. I don’t know what their destination was today, I hope they stayed in another day like I did…