Had to be at least 100 staffers supporting the ride. We are talking 3 meals a day plus 4 water stops per ride. Not to mention the little cities that were set up every night. Ice trucks, septic trucks and porta potties, shower trucks, drinking water trucks, luggage and tent trucks as well as a full restaurant stuffed into a couple 18 wheelers. Not to mention the all important beer truck!!!!
A shower truck was a key component of the ride. Somehow 12 shower stalls supported the needs of 400 riders. Amazing as somehow we never ran out of hot water.
Now I was able to get face shots of all our group - except Russ. I did manage to get his backside at the shower truck...
Russ retired as the CEO of a local MO agriculture bank - banks that lend to the local farmers to help them manage their cash flow (seeds and feeds). I met Russ on the Sante Fe ride where unfortunately Russ crashed and broke a bunch of ribs.
Russ is one tough cookie. A couple months before the Yellowstone ride, Russ had a stent implanted in his heart. And here he is riding 70 plus miles a day in 90 + degree weather. Never jumped in the sag wagon and completed ever ride. Too much.
As for the clean underwear....
We were limited to one bag per rider. Again we are talking 400 large bags.
The bags needed to carry your sleeping bag, pillow, inflatable mattress, sundries, etc. - not to mention your riding gear and camp clothes. Given the swings in temperatures you had to be ready for every weather situation. Cold, hot, rain and even snow. So you opted to limited your "camp clothes".
The ride advertised that they supplied laundry facilities - so my plan was to wash my camp clothes (think t-shirt, shorts and underwear) every two days. But much to my surprise when I found the "laundry facilities" was a bunch of the following "machines".....
Think salad spinner for clothes.
They might have helped wash your bike clothes which dry pretty quickly. But trying to clean and dry your regular clothes did not make much sense. Hence I had to make do with two pair underwear (rotated daily to make me feel like I had a new pair every night).
Luckily, Ken suggested we leave a change of clothes in the car for our ride back - so when we reached the hotel in the ride back - I was really able to put some clean clothes on.
Until Next Year.....
In any case the Yellowstone ride is in the books. After all the complaining we did during ride ride (it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too hard, etc) - everybody is planning on the ride next year. The route changes every year and next year's ride will all be in Montana (Red Lodge area). I think most of the group will "hotel" it and skip on the camping experience.
Not sure I can make the ride next year- as a week ago I signed up to ride across the US to "celebrate" my 70th birthday. Going to ride the Southern Route (San Diego to St. Augustine, FL) starting March 1, 2019.
It's a 50+ day ride and it's camping all the way.
So stay turned.
No comments:
Post a Comment