West Yellowstone to Ashton July1 2022

 

West Yellowstone to Ashton

July1 2022

Happy Birthday Canada! 

It was crisp this morning when I crawled out of the tent it had reached a low of 36F  last night or at least that’s what the weather forecast had called for. However the drops of dew on the outside of the tent were frozen and the condensation on the inside of the fly was frozen as well.  I had been nice and warm in my sleeping bag and the tent really retains the heat.   I had dressed with four layers so that I could peel them off as the day progressed to the high in Ashton which was 82F. 

When I was pumping my tires this morning I noticed that the back tire was only around 45 pounds which meant it had lost quite a bit of air over night. Not a good sign.  However I pumped the tire and headed off to breakfast which was in the Holiday Inn and I was keen to get a big feast of bacon.  After picnic I stopped to take a layer off and noticed the tire was low again.  As I only had 12 miles to go I thought I  would pump the tire.  Rarely does this “I’ll just pump the tire”  thing  work out and about 5 miles later I stopped to change the tube.  When I got in I set to work and put the new Gatorskins on I had brought. 

I wasn’t the only one with tire issues today Thomas who rides tubeless had a flat at about mile 15 this morning.  When I rolled up I could see that he had a torn a huge triangular gash in the side wall of his tire. It was probably 8 mm on a side.  As this was too big a hole to put a plug in we set about putting a tube into the tire.  I had a very nice thick piece of cardboard and coupled with a $1 bill fashioned a boot.  In about 40 minutes we had it fixed and he was able to ride in.

This was the first time I have ridden out of West Yellowstone when it was not pouring rain.  It was cold but not raining.  In fact it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The first section of the ride down highway 20 was busy but for the most part had a good shoulder.  At mile 36 we turned off and rode down the Mesa Falls Scenic Parkway.  It has been chip sealed since I last rode it but as it is a very quiet road it was better than hwy 20.  It is primarily downhill all the way so picnic at mile 50 came up at 10:00 am.  I have never seen the Mesa falls which is right by picnic as it has been too rainy but to day I hung around and enjoyed the view.

At only 64.2 miles it seemed like a rest day.

Terry