Two years ago, Heidi and I attempted to ride to Mark's in Livingston. My tire went flat around mile 15 and, after a 45 minute attempt at patching, died for sure 3 miles later.
We talked about it all last year but never quite made it onto the road. This year, we decided to get our attempt in early. The first weekend we set ended up being the last weekend for my 200RYT certification. The second weekend was cold and wet. No, thank you, we've tried that before. Then, came June 7. I was nervous because I had spent over 20 hours in the car over the past week and my back was bothering me something fierce. But the wind looked good (supposedly going to be a headwind, but not more than 4 until we were slated to have arrived) and the weather was perfect. I pulled the trigger and told Becky (who also is a sick, sick person and thought it would be fun) and Heidi that we should try. Which is why, at 5:30 in the morning, I ran out of the house, still eating my fried egg sandwich. We were off! I forgot to set both my heart rate monitor and my "MapMyRun" app so I didn't capture it perfectly, but I do have portions, and, of course, my picures.
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| First longer stop at the turn off to East River Road |
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| Check out Becky trying to beat the camera |
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| Heidi and Becky were both on road bikes so, I on my hybrid, often lingered behind |
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| Out for a Sunday ride |
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| Sandhill crane! Other animals seen by at least one of us (in varying degrees of aliveness) were a coyote, elk, wolves, mule deer, whitetail deer, ground squirrels, a weasel, bison, skunks, osprey, and various song birds |
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| Another long stop, this time about 45 miles in, near the Pine Creek Restaurant |
The predicted headwind turned out to be a gentle tail wind which didn't turn until we were over halfway through. Also halfway through, my left pedal started making the most godawful clicking noises. Did NOT add to the enjoyment of the day. I felt really good for most of the ride. Every time I started getting a little tired, I either focused on the scenery or a serendipitous tailwind would come up or something would happen to make me remember this was a life-goal that I was about to accomplish. There were four miles toward the end of East River Road that were gorgeous. Not only was it mostly downhill, the tailwind was back and I maxed out my gears and just sailed. Add "Paradise City" coming on and me belting out "Take me down to the Paradise Valley where the grass is green and the birds are pretty.." and it was pretty euphoric. Plus, we got to a rest stop. With toilet paper (!) and, oddly, a container of raspberries. And a group of people from the Fire Cache who knew Becky.
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| No peeing on the road for us! Carter's Bridge, the fishing access just before East River meets 89 again |
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| We're here! |
We actually
beat our estimated time. We thought it was maybe 54 miles and would be about 10 miles/hour getting us there around 11 at the VERY earliest. Time of arrival? Just about 10:45. Pretty damn awesome.
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| Unfortunately, I forgot to turn my HR monitor on until 5 miles out and then accidentally paused it for awhile, but still not a bad day! |
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| Deb biked over to meet us for lunch |
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| Had thought to have a shake but ended up with a double cheeseburger and tots. Still the best tots in Park County. |
Rounded out the evening with some cribbage with Heidi, Emily, and Carrie. A really great day!
