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Tuesday Sept 3         Cycling Day 51

 

         Fontenelle Reservoir (Wyoming)  to Buckboard Crossing (Wyoming)

Distance:  (Km). 147

Time:   5:57

Average Speed: (Km/ hr).  24.7

Ascent:  (m).  931

Heart Rate: (beats / min).  121

Cumulative Distance:   (km).  5597

Cumulative Ascent :  (m).  45,719

Punctures so far : 3

Last night not near as cold as the previous on due to some light cloud cover. As I emerged from the tent shortly after 6 the sun was about to appear at the other side of Fontanella Reservoir.

All out on the road shortly after 7 as it was a long distance today. About 2 km back to the highway before turning south again. Then into a 100m lift over 2 km and this stretched out the peloton. Still cool but dark clouds were present out to my right. Hoped we could outrun them and escape their load.

After 15 km we turned east onto a less busy road with no shoulder but a warning that cows might be on the road. Resulting from the condition of the road Nancy picked up a thorn in her front tyre. Seeing her I pulled up and we had the show on the road again quickly. At camp she told me she had a flat in the rear tyre later and a broken spoke. Not her day. Ed told me he had 3 flats yesterday. Not nice.

Along the course of the road today there were frequent instances of mining well off the road. Accordingly the number of trucks and trailers increased but never felt threatening. Also an enormous area totally covered with solar panels.

 Straight lines.

The road today, especially as far as Green River (103km) was featureless desert much like yesterday dominated by straight lines. The skyline on both sides was miles away. It would have been soul- destroying except that I was moving gaily along at a good speed. For that 100km my average was just on 25 km/hr with only the occasional brief stop. I hope we get out of this long straight road with nothing to distract before too long.

  I-80.

At 93 km I crossed over Interstate 80 and approached Green River on a parallel road running between the river and I-80. Approaching this city of 12,500 the terrain changed with vertical unstable-looking cliffs over the road. All due to the workings of the river over the years!

In Green River I pulled into Arctic Circle (a fast food outlet) in order to upload the last two blogs. Had a root beer float but the girl tells me then there’s no WiFi. Just exiting Green River I spotted a  McDonalds and pulled in there....always WiFi. Had a large coke, got WiFi but it was very weak. One of the staff, Bryan, confirmed that their WiFi just isn’t great. But I did get the drawn result of the Dublin-Kerry match.....I was right...again.

Directly out of Green River ther was a 300m climb over an 8 km stretch and the heat was a factor now. I approached it with my own technique (and full of root-beer and coke) and kept moving at a good pace. Half-way up Andreas (tour leader) came against us in the van and offered a can of ‘Club Orange’. I just couldn’t refuse. Plenty of fizzy drink being burned on this climb!

A little further on a gentleman came walking down against me, on my side, swinging his arms. Referring to the cyclists ahead and behind he asked me as I cycled past ‘Are ye all family or friends?’  ‘No’ says I, ‘we’re all mad’. He might have agreed.

 Glorious descent.

In time the top appeared and we were back onto those desert roads again, but some glorious descents over the next 30 km. It made the climb worthwhile.

At 144 km, I turned left onto Buckboard Road leading down to another reservoir, or near to another reservoir. I pulled in at 2:30 and got a spot under a tree. Both trees and shelters similar to yesterday are here. And some light clouds in the sky make conditions more bearable. Showers available so no need to trek down to the reservoir.

Another long day tomorrow, I believe.  And we’ll be saying goodbye to Wyoming.

Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.