Lone Rider

YAAAAAAY for wireless internet, a warm house, carpet, and people. Im doing pretty good, i feel a little down and out, i think the past week was a bit rough and ive been riding 7 days straight. it almost seems like i just have to ride everyday at this point. my mind definately is telling me you have to get out and ride today because you have got to make it out of colorado before the weather gets crazier. There's a lot to post about. i will probably repeat myself a lot mentioning a lot of what i said in my audio blogs.

I think i will start with Thursday. I woke up and started in Virginia City and rode to West Yellowstone. I rolled in late, and it was a semi-cold day probably in the 50's i had a lot of headwind and on and off showers. i pretty much hated that day. I started to scream and coach myself as i was 2-3 miles away from West Yellowstone. i decided to stay at the hostel at the Madison Motel. Spent $24 on a bed. met a guy from canada, and one from where zippo lighters are made, i dont remember where that is. I'm sure someone will comment about it and look up where they are made. They were separate from eachother but both were pretty much doing the same thing. Traveling to parks and places, camping out and checking the scenes. I thought that, If i had a car i would definately sleep in it tonight. it was getting cold but not too bad, the problem is rain which in a car is nothing. That day the interesting thing was riding through a herd of cattle being moved down the road, and seeing cowboys and cowgirls horseback with their doggies keeping them together. It was interesting riding by them as they stare at me eye to eye. the uncool thing about that is that they leave a lot of fresh poo on the road and its tough to dodge. some got on my trailer.... Disgusting! At West Yellowstone i was disgusted by the high tourist prices, the cost of a value meal or combo at a fastfood place like mcdonalds was atleast 6 something! I refused to pay the price, and ate at a restaurant.

Friday completed 50 miles
Woke up at the hostel, kicked around town. Waited for the bike shop to open, Free Heel and Wheel. There one of the owners, melissa was amazingly helpful and friendly. There i got a rear rack for my bike, a spare trailer tire, some booties for my non waterproof cycling shoes, and some other gear. I started to leave West Yellowstone around noon, and it started raining as i began to ride. It was cold and wet, I soon found out my gloves i had were not waterproof. my fingers got cold but i found out wearing gloves is better than nothing, atleast they cut the wind some and insulate a little as long as i dont adjust my hand position. I rode past dark into Grant Village, which was 50 miles from West Yellowstone. got a shuttle to take me to a place to eat where i paid for access to a pasta bar with pizza for $12. then rolled down to a campground at about 9:30pm and saw some people around a fire, and asked if i could pitch a tent in their site. They were from the Czech Republic and touring around nat'l parks for a month or so. It was fun talking with them for a bit, and pitching my tent as it began to rain a little more. The interesting things that happened: i had a trailer tire flat that was hard to repair with cold and wet hands. the other thing was seeing signs warning visitors about being gored by wild buffalo, and then riding my bike through a pack of buffalo in the road i was glad to be able to place a car between me and a buffalo. they are pretty intimidating.

Saturday miles completed 65
I rode from Grant Village from yellowstone tatl park to a spot in the middle of a big climb to the top of Togwotee Pass. i started at about 9am and finished around 7pm. The morning started with waking up, and there being frozen rain on my tent. I had to shake it off and pack up. the day started off pretty clear, and then it began to snow. the down hills were cold, and the up hills were hot because of the physical exertion heating you up. Riding while it was snowing turned out to be amusing and pretty blessed. I thought i would have been pretty miserable, it started to get that way when it started to get darker though. God definately opened my heart to enjoy the beauty he had created and the amazingness of weather conditions. Snow was good at least water didnt leak into the seams of my gloves. I made the day fun because people begin to stare at you riding your bicycle in the snow, treating you much like the wildlife in the park. I even saw a someone try to take a picture of me while they drove by, that was hilarious. I started to begin to wave and smile to drive-by's and laugh in my head because i just thought how rediculously different it is to be in a car with heat, and how crazy it was that im riding my bicycle in Snow where i probably wouldn'y be willing to do that back in Georgia. So when i finally rolled to my destination, it was getting dark, i went into the lodge that was just before the camping spot. It was starting to snow harder so i checked to see how much it was for a room. $120 for a night! well thats pretty much to be expected in a tourist place but that not a price im willing to pay. So i said no thanks and proceded down the dirt/snow path at 8000+ ft elevation and found a spot to possibly pitch a tent for free. I stood there in the snow, debating in my head wether or not i wanted to camp, i started to unpack. Then re-packed and started back to the lodge thinking im going to shell out $120 to sleep in a room because i didnt want to have to pack up tent and gear from camping in the snow. i pushed my bike back up the hill about 100Ft. I stopped and debated in my head wether i was really going to dish out 120 dollars. i turned back to the camping spot. i did this twice, and finally decided that i was not going to pay, and that if i dont set up soon it's going to be real dark, and that if i better just hurry up, set up, eat a pb&j, if you have time read and then goto sleep. Thats what i did minus the reading. it supposedly got down to the 20s that night, and i had snow on my tent and bike. I didn't sleep the greatest that night, but i slept ok


Sunday- completed 109.5 Miles. Togwotee lodge to Lander, Wyoming
Well sunday morning i woke up to snow on my tent with no snow falling. I packed up and started riding by 8:30 or so. I hit the road and i started to see snow and ice on the road! It's pretty crazy but i kept riding and was determined to make it over the pass that morning. 9 miles of twisting and turning icy,snowy, wet roads to the top of the Togwotee pass at 9,658ft from sea level. I had to hop off a few times going up because my tires slid out on ice, and couldnt move. I eventually would find a spot where my tires could grab some and would begin to ride at 3-4 miles an hour again. I again was amused at cars passing by because i would lose focus at times and want to see facial expressions. People driving basically stared me down with jaws dropped, and i would smile and wave hoping i wouldnt lose balance or track and fall over. God let me have fun with that.

Descending was the worst. i forgot the physics and laws of nature of driving down hill on ice. when there is snow or ice on the road, and you hit your brakes your tires lock up and youre sliding with no control. With 4 wheels you stay upright, but with 2 wheels that means you immediately fall. I took 3 falls within probably 200ft. It was a good thing my cleats on my shoes could not clip in because of snow/ice buildup on my shoes. i was mostly able to hop off and throw my bike down. There was one bad spill though. my shin has a 3 inch scrape on it from something and my sunglasses are now broken. I eventually made it down, the road had no more ice or snow really on the other side of the pass after about a mile from the top of the pass. After that it was pretty awesome. Lots of strong Tailwind and downhill. i averaged probably 18- 20mph the rest of the time. So that was amazing. Rolled into Lander at about 6:30.


Monday, taking a sabbath.
So when i rolled in and found a church with an evening service. Lander Valley Baptist. The pastor and his wife are letting me stay in their guest room! its awesome and ive decided i need to take my sabbath. I cant believe i would wrestle with taking a day off. It was hard to make myself say i am not riding today. I know weather here is starting to change like crazy. today is a beautiful day, the sun is out, and the weather isnt too cold. I hear there is another storm brewing and will hit here around thursday. So i know i need to make it through colorado swiftly. So that made it hard to call the day off, But i am and need to take the day off to catch up on stuff and rest.

Other Notes:
People ive Ran into on the way:
Conradhttp://www.myspace.com/luckysaddles
matthew and nancy, but they were from georgia - http://paddedshorts.blogspot.com/

Questions ive gotten

How are you feeling? I'm feeling good, mood changes al the time. my muscles are always sore. after 5pm my brain starts to complain

Are you eating enough? probably not. i am still going for big meals at sittings, but i need to start eating constanly throughout the day, so food digests better, and so that i dont stuff my stomach so that it hurts

Drinking enough? probably not. well i know im not. but i try. So i know some of you may not want to hear this but we all know that you can know youre wll hydrated if your pee is clear. that doesnt happen much. but it is amazing that when its cold you dont feel compelled to drink as much water.

has it been lonely out there? it gets totally loneley. often the worst is toward the end of the day. and when camping with no one else around. i miss social interaction throughout the day. I am content though, it allows me to think, and its a time of life for me to be put through doing things i sometimes dont want to do but its Christ wanting to prepare me for the future of an abundant life, and being content with him.

all of that stuff is either broken or missing, can you make it the rest of the trip without it? well ive pretty much replaced most of it. i got a new headlamp. new socks, a pair of pants. I ended up buying a new saddle. I crushed my sunglasses in a fall :( no good, now its time to go dish out prob 50 dollars on a new pair.

Has it been getting cold at night yet? ohhhhh yeah 20 degree nights cold feet, trying not to move to hit cold spots. but its a part of the adventure.

ok thats it for now. i got other work to do peace outside.week5 photos up soon.