Thursday was a scheduled rest day with an optional 100 mile climb to reach the Continental Divide. You had the option to choose Ride All (100 miles), Ride Some (60 miles) or Ride None (0 miles). I elected the Ride None option - as did Ken and the MO riders. The day before ride was just draining and we all needed the rest. We did miss out as the riders who went got to see some grizzly bears and moose (what is the plural of moose - mooses?).
The good news is that the rest day was in Dubois, a real "cowboy" town. The center of the town is about 3 blocks long with a couple of art galleries and restaurants scattered among some really neat bars.
Notice the wood sidewalks in the top photo. The town rebuilt the sidewalks in about 2004 and locals could "buy" one of the planks and have their names or personal messages engraved in their plank.
Also in town is the Big Horn Interpertive Center.
It seems that the surrounding hills and mountains around Dubois is the epicenter for Big Horn sheep. At one time there were millions of Big Horn sheep in the area but the population in the States has been decimated by disease, hunting and human encroachment. In order to repopulate, sheep are "exported" from Dubois to other areas in the US.
Our campground actually had trees and shade (all the other campgrounds were in large open spaces) and close to a river that really helped cool down the area. Really needed a respite from the heat.
The final ride of the Yellowstone ride was from Dubois to Lander, Wy. It was a 75 mile ride all downhill!!!!! We basically went down the hills we had climbed two days earlier. Where on Weds (I think it was Weds) I averaged 4 miles per hour, I flew on the ride to Landers and averaged over 17 mph. And this included climbing about 1800 feet during the ride.
I arrived at the lunch site at 9 am - about 50 miles into the ride. Of course they did not have lunch there so early. Some of the other riders complained that the lunch wasn't sent up. Had to tell them "Dude we just had breakfast". I finished the ride by noon - and missed the heat. Really a great ride.
The final ride to Landers made us all forget about the pain we had endured the previous days.
As Ken and the rest of the team had already ridden Sink Canyon which was the ride scheduled for Saturday - Ken and I loaded up the car and decided to head back to Squaw Friday night.
We got as far as Winnemucca, NV where upon we checked into the Red Lion Casino, grabbed a beer, took our first real shower and ordered the biggest steaks on the menu.
Good way to close out the ride.
1 comment:
Thanks for writing this Mike. It's great to be able to remember the fun times and challenges too. Enjoyed meeting Ken and spending time with you again. Good luck my friend on your ride across the USA and be sure to blog about it so the rest of us can live vicariously through your adventure.
Tom
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