135 miles (6400 ft climbing), 10:25 hours 15.5 mph
The day started off great with all three of us on the road again after Bob’s missed the last couple of days due to sickness. It was straight into a beast of a climb up Teton Pass on a protected old road bikeway. Great climb through the trees at 8-12% for the best part of an hour.
Then there was a long downhill and a chance to ride for most of the morning beside the Teton mountain range enjoying the views. We battled some side and head winds for a couple hours but then turned out of them for most of the rest of the day.
My day went south from about midday as a nasty head cold that has been doing the rounds started to settle in and drained me of all energy. Bob and Greg dragged me along for the afternoon and we got to West Yellowstone at a reasonable time (~5:25) for me to stock up on Dayquil to hopefully get me through tomorrow. It’s daunting as if I felt this bad at home I’d be spending the day in bed. Instead I’m facing 159 hilly miles of riding.
214 miles (5968 ft climbing), 12:47 hours 18.6 mph
Fine day of riding today, the closest to a ‘recovery day” you get on a tour like this. Greg and I rode with a great group of people all day in pleasant conditions i.e. no snow, sleet, headwinds etc.. and only a moderate amount of climbing. It was just what I needed after yesterday’s epic effort.
Bob sat out the day and drove along the route with Lon, showing up at various sag stops and our lunch stop. He should be back on the bike tomorrow for at least some of the day.
I was worried going into today as on paper it could have been a tough one to finish in daylight but all turned out great. Still on EFI (“Every F…g inch”) status with 2 other guys going into the last four days.
148 miles (10900 ft climbing), 12:53 hours 13.3 mph
Toughest day so far, straight into a serious climb up over 8000ft which started off in sun but quickly deteriorated up top to snow and sleet. Bob packed it in early on during the climb as he is fighting some sickness and got in the van. Greg and I struggled to stay warm along the ridge before finally dropping down to decent weather again at Flaming Gorge. Stunning view from the viewpoint but alas we had to keep going so could only hang out for a bit.
Due to the conditions we were going pretty slow and lunch was moved up a sag stop to the 70 mile mark. As we approached that we got hailed on and then more snow as we huddled in the trailer eating. Most people had bagged it for the day by now but Greg and I headed on to the next sag at 90 miles in. Greg stopped there and I opted to try to make it in before sunset to keep my streak of riding every full day alive. One tough 60 mile time trial later I made it to the hotel with some buffer. Down to just 3 people now from the whole tour who have finished each day. Tomorrow is the longest day of the tour so an even earlier start than normal. This is tough!
Crazy day today leaving Colorado on the first day of summer. We started with strong headwinds and then shifting to freezing rain as we got closer to our main climb of the day up Douglas Pass. People were abandoning for the day by the second sag stop (only 7 people ended up completing the whole day in the end) and the support vans were getting full of bikes and wet people.
I borrowed and extra jacket from Susan before the climb started and then had to ride at my own tempo to try to stay warm going up it. The wind eased a bit as I got higher but then the sleet and snow started. It’s rarely a good sign when a snow plough passes you going the other direction from were your heading towards. Lon, Susan and the rest of the support crew took excellent care of us today making sure that everyone who wanted to keep riding were properly monitored and finding extra gear when needed.
Once I reached the top it was straight into the van for some warming up with hot coffee. Bob and Greg soon joined me and we braced ourselves to head back out for the descent to hopefully warmer levels. Had to ride the brakes going down as with wet wheels I didn’t want to risk picking up too much speed. We got down below the snow level relatively quickly but in wet gear the headwind descending kept me shivering.
Hot tomato soup at the bottom of the main descent helped a bit but I stayed pretty cold until we finally got to our lunch stop and was able to dry out some of my gear in the sun.
Then it was off to Utah in sunnier weather though still battling a strong sidewind until we turned left and had a glorious tailwind for the last 40 miles to Vernal, rolling at 25-32mph for long stretches. A fine way to end an epic day.
Today started with a fast descent from Ouray down to the “plains” before heading over to our “bump for the day”. A single ~30mile climb up to 11,000ft en route to Grand Junction.
We made good time to the first sag stop (averaging 22+mph) and then shed some layers before heading on at a more controlled pace to the start of our climb. That said Greg was crushing it on the County, Town and River sign sprints which somehow we’ve gotten caught up in going for. At least with 3 of us you always podium.
The climb went on for a long time and started in 100F heat again. Fortunately it got cooler as we got up to the snow level and there were some stunning half frozen lakes to see as we got higher. Thunder storms were threatening around us and we just got to the top before some serious wind gust came along (nearly taking off the canopy on the lunch truck while we huddled inside it).
Once it died down a little we started the descent. I hung back a bit as the pavement was a bit dodgy and there was a serious cattle guard in bad condition near the top that wasn’t much fun going over. We regrouped at the bottom and rode down a great river canyon to the next sag. The wind was really picking up by now and some serious gusts were catching us. We reached the sag stop at the bottom to find that it had been destroyed by the last major gust (table with food picked up and blown into the side area).
We were just about to start a 5 mile highway stretch with a narrow shoulder and raging river on the other side of the barrier and Susan determined that it was unsafe to ride in the current wind conditions and shuttled us past it before we got back on our bikes and rode the last 14 miles in. The right call in the conditions. As it was a safety ruling Bob and my “elite” status of riding every mile is still intact.
Reached Grand Junction in time for a proper dinner. Hopefully will get a better night’s sleep tonight as it’s been touch sleeping at the higher altitudes of our last overnight stops. Tomorrow we head to Vernal.
