Diary

Mileage:  117 miles

Elevation Change:  4020 feet

Weather:  cool in morning, hot in afternoon

Morale:  great! 

Incidents:  Lil left her water bottle behind

Daily Summary:

Another great day with perfect weather.  We rolled out of Jackson at 7:15 in long sleeves to ward off the chill.  We had a beautiful route out of town, thanks to our dinner partners of last night, Andrea and John, who know all the good cycling routes in the area.  The route followed the Snake River for miles today, and in the right direction—downhill!  The first 70 miles to lunch just flew by, as there was no wind at all.  We got in some good pacelines and made very good time all morning.  There were two steep climbs in the last 40 miles which made us work a bit.  But the difficult thing was that the wind picked up and we had a very stiff headwind for the last few hours.  We had to pedal down the steep descents as the wind was so strong.  Fortunately we were again able to get into some good pacelines to help with the wind, so the day was actually our easiest yet.  (I never thought that I would consider a 117 mile day easy!)  At the last SAG stop, Lil prepared herself a nice bottle of iced orange Gatorade for the last hour’s ride, then promptly left it sitting by the cooler.  She was condemned to dream of iced Gatorade while she drank warm water for the final stretch. 

 

Montpelier is a tiny town and is completely shut down today (Sunday).  There is one diner open, where we are all eating, but they are out of pasta, so no joy there.  Butch Cassidy robbed the bank here in 1896, and the Oregon Trail came through here in the mid 1800’s.  The Mormons founded the city of Paris, Idaho just down the road from here in 1863, thinking it was in Utah.  We get to go through Paris tomorrow!  We are hoping for an easy day tomorrow, as the day after will be the hardest of the tour. 

 

Below you see Ray on the bike trail heading out of Jackson in the early morning.  Afton, Wyoming has an amazing Antler Arch spanning Main Street.  Ray rolls past pretty Wyoming scenery.  We dip into Idaho for the night, but it will be back to Wyoming tomorrow.  Finally, the view from the top of the big climb, while Ray hangs around waiting for his slow Mama to finish the climb!