Day 16 Over the Continental Divide (Dubois Wy)

Today our challenge was to leave Jackson Hole and climb over the Continental Divide (elevation 9500).  Total trip distance was 87 ending in Dubois, WY..

We left Jackson Hole at 6 am to once again beat the heat.  Went pass the famous Elk Antlers Arch in the town park.

You have to love Wyoming.  you can buy gas with no Ethanol (good), you can smoke in the bars (bad) and you can carry.  As I said we ended up in Dubois.  The original name of the town was No Sweat, WY but we were told by our resident historian, Mike the Mechanic, that the Post Office made them change their name.  Given that the USPS refused to deliver a package Cathryn sent to me yesterday, they are not my favorite government agency today (or maybe ever).

First light was spent on the bike path leading out of Jackson into Tetons National Park.  The views were breathtaking for hours.

Got a shot of Jackson Hole ski area from the bike path.  Great ski area with lots of steeps.  

Then nature took over and presented us with mountain after mountain of the most incredible views.

We left the park at about mile 25 and began the climb to the Continental Divide.  The town of Jackson is at 6500 feet and the summit of the Divide is 9500 feet.  So we climbed once more.  It was a long climb, again with unbelievable views.  On the way up I turned around and snapped the following picture (looking back at Tetons National Park).

This was about 50% up the climb.  It was hot and steep - but when you get views like this - it's worth the climb.  The views were all around us..

Reached the peak and had to take a shot of the Continental Divide sign.  Remarkably I was not short of breath - but after a quick break at the Sag Wagon it was clear my muscles were affected.  Took a bit to get the legs going again (of course the 20 mile climb did not help either).

Over a beer at the end I asked our table if anybody knew what the Divide was all about.  Brian (from Australia) was quick to note that all the water that falls on the West side of the mountain range heads to the Pacific and all the water that falls on the East side of the range heads to the Atlantic (or Gulf).  Not sure this is right - but I am going with this explanation.

Once we reached the summit we had about a 20 mile downhill ride.  Yipppppeeeeeee!!!! No pedaling!!!!!!

As soon as we were down the the Valley where No Sweat was located. The landscape changed dramatically.  

Red Rocks with dry desert-like conditions now seem to be the norm.   As I entered into town I noticed I was not sweating (not exactly true -  but need to make the story about the town name hold up).

I reached our hotel, the majestic Stagecoach Motel (no air conditioning because no one sweats in this town) and was greeted by two Fed Ex packages.  One sent from Cathryn with more hydration mix and the other from Amazon with new pedals.  Screw the Post Office we should sell it to Fed Ex or UPS  (I hope the government is not monitoring my email/blog).

So I am cutting this short to have the pedals installed tonight.  Hopefully this will solve my hot foot problem.

Tomorrow we have a light day (70 miles) to help us get "rested" for our sprint to Casper (120 miles - no shit).  Pretty excited about that ride (yea right).