Some people have asked me, “How’s your butt doing?”, and its a good question to ask when you’ve been on a bike for 6-7 hours a day logging 1235 miles for over 2 weeks now – especially after 2 days of rain. And the answer is – “Not as good as yesterday!”. Butt care is something we spend time on daily, particularly pre and post ride. As I trained for this adventure, I went through 3 saddle trials and finally found one that works for me – The Ascent Saddle. While it didn’t get great online reviews, it worked for me and that’s all that matters. In any case, regardless of how well you prepare before a long ride, the rain changes everything. I use Chamois Butt’r and its a common product but since it is water soluble, its breaks down when it rains so you have to reapply regularly. In any case, given 2 days of rain, I do have a small “hot spot” that I put Desitin on after each ride now – yes, the diaper rash ointment. It works for me. Sorry if that is TMI, but since some people have asked – there it is.
Today’s ride started at 7 AM for our group and we rolled out on the hour under cloudy skies and a steady wind coming from the east. Like yesterday, most of today’s climbing was frontloaded and we quickly warmed up as we climbed steadily out of the Columbus area. Crossing the Yellowstone River yet again, I was pleased that my legs felt pretty good after only a few miles, especially given the grind we had getting into Columbus yesterday afternoon. I can feel that my body is adapting to the new routine and my recovery overnight is quite remarkable – at least to me right now. I am still doing my pneumatic compressions with my Normatec compression boots and it certainly makes me feel better.
So we had the first SAG stop at around Mile 18 after maybe 1500 feet of climbing at that point and things were looking good. I thought it was pretty easy to tell the geographic changes as we neared the Wyoming border – more grasslands, wider valleys and different crops like corn were more prevalent. But still all very beautiful.
Given the geographic spacing of potential lunch spots, our lunch stop was at Mile 43 in Bridger, MT in a little welcome park on the edge of town and it was only about 10:50 or so when we got there. It was at lunch as we prepared to get back on the road that my Apple Watch weather alert popped up that said “Light Rain Soon” – after only 10 minutes on the road, we soon found out that the forecast was accurate. We were on a super long 7-8 mile slow climb across the high desert floor that you could see for miles in front of us and then the headwinds pushed in the rain harder. So we struggled to even hold an 8-9 MPH speed for close to an hour. A couple of the truckers seemed to get their jollies by buzzing past us at 70 MPH with no opposing traffic and making our trek today even more hazardous – but we made it. I just get concerned that the vehicles behind the trucks won’t see us in time to avoid us – there are some pretty narrow shoulders on these roads.
Finally the slow climb relented as we neared the Wyoming border and we crossed the state line on Hwy 310 near the town of Frannie, WY (Population 146). So we stopped and took pics to commemorate our 5th state line crossed. By then the weather had cleared a little and we ditched our rain gear for a more comfortable ride for the final 15 miles or so into Lovell, WY. We were all filthy when we rolled in but the Trek guides were ready with hoses and towels to get our bikes ready for the big assault on Big Horn Pass tomorrow. I have had this date circled on my calendar for the last 12 months and I am looking forward to taking it on!
We are staying at the lovely Horse Shoe Bend Motel (horseshoebendmotel.com) in Lovell, WY tonight and have a catered group dinner scheduled for 6 PM! I am sure we will all be hungry!
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