Although today was only 72.5 miles with 3250 feet of climb
it was a hard day. The road conditions were a major contributor to
the difficulty of the day. The shoulder
was only 2-3 feet wide and there was a foot wide rumble strip along the white
line this gave you only a one or
two feet to ride in. The portion of the shoulder to right of the
rumble strip was really rough and filled with gravel and tire bits. There was a very flat light so you could not
always see the rumble strip so you were constantly hitting it. The traffic was heavy enough and consisted of
too many semi-trucks and half tonnes pulling trailers or boats that riding to
the left of the white line was way too dangerous.
Four years ago there was such a nasty head wind you could
only make 4 mph. We had a rotating pace
line going which enabled us to make 6 mph.
No such need to day as the wind was very light even though I think that overall
it was a bit of a head wind.
At the 43 mile mark we were at Earthquake Lake which was
created when an earthquake broke a section of the mountain off which dammed the
Madison River. It is a really steep
climb up and over the earth quake rubble but once up there is a great view of
the valley below. This is where picnic
was and it was great to sit and eat and enjoy the view.
After lunch there was a 30 mile ride down along the
lake. There were lots of huge rollers as
the highway doesn’t exactly follow the lake shore. I was making pretty good time and the wind
was not a big factor. The big
illuminated sign which was warning motorists of wild animals on the highway
four years ago is still there but was not flashing to day.
The last 8 mile the road turned due south and there was such
a heavy head wind blowing I had to stop 3 times to recover enough energy to
continue on.
Tomorrow I am going to leave the tour and head off with Tom R
into Yellowstone. We will have a 71 mile
ride to Grants Village and then a 60 mile ride down to Jackson to re-join the
tour. This means no blog tomorrow. I will catch the blog up on Sunday as that is
the rest day in Jackson.
Terry
4 comments:
Two things I remember about this segment in 2014; the brutal, brutal headwind and the all the fly fishermen towing float boats.
Enjoy Tom's detour through Yellowstone. (Three miles shorter!!)
Canada Ken C.
Great pictures and description of the road challenges. You sound like you have toughened up and ready for Yellowstone. Watch out for the buffalo and tourist. Anxious to hear about the Park on a bike. As I remember you have some big climbs to Jackson.
Yellowstone is one of my favorite places. I hope you have a wonderful ride through the park and look forward to reading about your adventure. Watch out for the Bison and stay on the boardwalks when touring the features. I think the most dangerous thing you will encounter are crazy people pulling over randomly to view wildlife. Take lots of photos and be safe.
Your ride today looked a bit brutal with all of the traffic and road debris, I'm hoping your journey takes you on some quieter roads, however there aren't too many alternatives in this part of the country.
Terry, after reading your blogs, if I ever considered doing this ride...as Ken just said to me "shoot me". You are so amazingly tough and CRAZY 😊 Sandy
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