Catch up - Day 11 Powell to Sheridan, WY & Day 12 - Sheridan to Gillette, WY

Day 12 Pics (see way below for info)

Day 11 pics of Bighorns

Day 11 - Bighorn day!

Sorry - yesterday - I didn't get back in time to get my laptop out of the truck before it was locked up - plus I was beat! The big day yesterday was of course the Mighty Mighty Bighorns! Well, I think I mentioned Lon had said that on average it takes about 4 hours to get up - so we all guessed at what we thought our times would be and I thought - 3:48 - well guess what!? I blew the doors of that! 2 hours and 57 minutes!! Whew whoo! Of course many of the other FFGs did it in like 1:45, 2:15 but I didn't care - I did the Snoopy dance at the (almost) top of that bad daddy! The first picture is looking up at the start of the remaining 6 miles to the top, the other one is of the view from about 4 miles in looking down. It was awesome, as you rode up there were vehicles going up and down and they would stare at you in astonishment. I think they thought we were all insane! A car went by and yelled 'Go!', that was encouraging as I continued to pedal upward. It was an incredible feeling of exhilaration to make it to Lon and Jonathon - they both could hear me whooping and yelling as I pulled into the stop.

Paul and I waited for Susan to get to us and then we started up the remainder of the climb, the summit was actually at mile 61. There is a pic of me by the sign warning the trucks and RVs of their impending doom ahead.

And here is another one of Susan, Paul and I at the actual summit. The flowers were everywhere, the mountain meadows were full of them, this actually pales in comparison to what we saw along the way, I was just too cold to stop and take more. There were fields of lupine, indian sunset, bergomat, etc. Gorgeous! So, after this is when our adventure really began for the day. We summitted and saw the beauty all around us, the top actually still had snow on it. I had my jacket and long fingered gloves at the lunch truck - so dumb! I thought it would be at the top with Lon for some reason. Susan saved me by letting me borrow her arm warmers. We started our descent down and guess what? Gusts of wind pummeled us as we tried to descend - yes try is the appropriate word, when I looked down on a pretty decent decent, I was going 8mph!! What! There was apparently a severe thunderstorm rolling in and we were at the edge of it (for now). So, we continued on and finally made it down part of the way and started crossing this beautiful meadow complete with a stream running along it and there in the middle of it by some evergreen trees was an Elk! Yeah! Finally after scanning for days and day for anything there he was - not very big a 'satellite' bull all by himself - probably a four by. He was cool, but no time to watch and get a better picture we had to try and out run this storm. And thankfully, he wasn't running out in front of me so that "I hit an elk today" won't be a part of this blog! Well, we made it to the lunch truck - the only ones - everyone else had been long gone. Thankfully, Susan, Veronica and Tim were still there and got our plates and let us sit in the van to warm up and eat our yummy AND warm grilled cheeses. I grabbed my rain/wind coat and long fingered gloves, Paul borrowed some glove liners and a rain coat from Susan and she let me wear her wool jersey under my jacket (yes, I had my own jersey but it was freezing!). Susan and I went into the visitors center and warmed our knees up with the hand air dryer before we started off.

The next part was actually comical. We had another downhill, but first - more construction and closed roads, with an escort again. Thankfully my mt. biking skills were intact and I made it unscathed - however, a few pick-up trucks sure looked like a nice option to get me out of that gravel! No way! After the gravel, we got to climb a short hill and then guess what!? Anyone else this would have been pure joy (Craig) but for me the sign that read, "Next 11 miles 8% grade" struck the fear of God in me! Remember that severe thunderstorm that was surrounding us, well on the way down it gave us a nice sprinkling of rain - in a hairpin turn, 8% grade, white line always present, DOWNHILL!!! At some point, I did look out and think wow this is beautiful to see so far out and the trees and all that but then I also saw the bending twisting road below. Paul was so kind he stayed with me the whole way down, even though I think it was dangerous for him to do so. I had to keep relaxing my hands and shoulders to keep the death grip off. I also had a point when I was almost ready to walk the remaining 8 miles down - but in the end I made it - I freakin' made it!!! I couldn't believe it - I hugged Paul with joy that I made it! We still had 22 miles to go and we coasted into our hotel almost 12 hours after we left that morning - but as we road into Sheridan a big rainbow appeared in the sky and all we could think of was that God had taken care of us (his sign).

Day 12

Today we started out with 1,200 feet of climbing in the first 19 miles, but it actually wasn't too bad. The terrain was slightly rolling hills with mountains in the distance to view. It was incredible - anyone that ever has doubts about good in the world, just get yourself outside, it is amazing - the birds sing so loud when you ride you can hear them just like they are singing only for you and it is the most beautiful song, the sun is burning off the mist and dew, sigh.....

We rolled along looking for animals and wildlife as we took in the views, the weather today was perfect! Started out cool high 50's and then up to the high 70's. We did see some hawks and a crane, but at the first stop Mike asked me if I'd seen the antelope - WHAT?! I hadn't so I doubled my efforts to try and see some and finally we did! For some reason, all my pictures for today are clustered at the top of the page - so you'll see a really cool one of the views we had with a cute flower in it, the antelope and her baby, the place where we had lunch - the Spotted Horse -(check out that old Standard sign and the signs on the side of the building) we didn't eat there but our lunch trailer was there. And some folks coming up one of the rollers.

Today was a nice recovery ride kept it casual up til the last 8 miles and then we pulled a Walt, did the marine whoohaa and kicked in - Susan and I let the charge with Paul, Rick, and Stan - what a blast that was coming into town. My poor baby (bike) needed some extra luvin' after yesterday so I spend some extra time on her cleaning her up then, my favorite mechanic, John helped me with my brakes and my head set was doing some indexing so got that cleared up and ready to roll out tomorrow - cuz that's how I roll! (can you tell it's late - I'm getting punchy)

More pics coming soon - on flickr I hope - have some good ones! Take care!!!