Day 52: 68 Miles

Rawlins, WY to Jeffrey City, WY

After yesterday’s short ride I woke up well rested and ready for a more challenging ride today. I also spent all yesterday refueling with food, so I knew I’d have energy. I followed up the Thai buffet at lunch with a premade salad from Walmart that according to the packaging had 5 servings and about 1,000 calories. For dessert, I ate an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Breakfast this morning was a breakfast burrito bowl, a large Greek yogurt, a bag of apricots, and a juice. I hope that’s enough food to keep my weight up.

The ride today started with about 9 miles of climbing. It wasn’t a steep climb, but it did get me to another Continental Divide crossing at 7,174 feet. This was one of two Continental Divide crossings of the day. It usually takes me some time to warm up, so starting with a climb was not the best way to begin the day. Thankfully, after crossing the divide I had a nice down hill that was longer than the uphill. I had started the day slowly, but by the time I hit mile 20 I was making really good time.

 

Yesterday I mentioned that the shoulders in Wyoming have been great to ride on. Today was an exception to that. I got to mile 20 and suddenly the shoulder had rumble strips on one side and was falling apart on the other side. The middle section that was rideable was full of cracks. For about 15 miles I had to really watch the road because I only had about 8 inches of rideable space. I got very frustrated during this section and ended up putting a headphone in to take my mind off it. I think this was the first time I’ve listened to music while riding since eastern Colorado.

 

By the time I hit mile 35 I was in the town of Lamont and the road got a little better. Lamont was the town Chris and the couple I met yesterday were planning to push ahead to. There was literally one building in the town. It looked like it had previously been a café with lodging, but it was closed. While the map clearly shows that this town has services, the addendum to the map states that all services have been closed. The next stop on the map was Muddy Gap about 11 miles further down the road. Muddy Gap also shows that there is lodging, but the addendum states that the lodging no longer exists. This is a real lesson in reading the addendum before making any decisions. When I got to Muddy Gap all I found was a gas station with a convenience store. I’m not sure where Chris and the couple spent the night, but I hope they found something.

I made a stop at the convenience store in Muddy Gap to take a break and eat some lunch. I had packed a foot-long turkey and cheddar sub from Walmart in my bag and got a Mountain Dew and Snickers from the convenience store. It was only 11:15 when I stopped and with just 23 miles to go I took a nice long rest. The wind seemed to be coming from the north east today, so I didn’t have to worry about the wind picking up in the afternoon. If anything, the wind would help me the rest of the day. I got back on my bike shorty after noon and made quick work of the final 23 miles. There were a few historic signs along the last section of today’s ride, including Split Rock. I guess this route is now overlapping with the historic Oregon Trail.

 

I got to my end point in Jeffrey City and it didn’t look like much. However, based on the addendum and map notes it was the only place to stop between the 125 mile stretch from Rawlins to Lander, which is my stop tomorrow. I read a lot of blogs and information online about this trip while planning and this 125 mile stretch made me the most nervous. A lot of people were doing the 125 miles in one day, because of the lack of services. It seems that only recently has the church in Jeffrey City opened themselves up to allow cyclists a place to stay. I got into town and rode about .75 miles down a dirt road where I found the church. At the back entrance, there was a sign welcoming cyclists to stay in any of the rooms and offering the use of showers, bathrooms, and a kitchen. Without this church opening its doors, the 125 miles from Rawlins to Lander would be a huge challenge. Jeffrey City sits just past half way to Lander which is the perfect spot to split up the ride. There weren’t any cyclists here when I arrived, but the sign in book showed that last night there had been 10 cyclists, including Steve and Joe who are still a day ahead of me. Most of the cyclists were heading east from the west coast, so I may meet some new people tonight if anyone else shows up.

I am a bit concerned that Chris and the couple I met yesterday had not signed in yesterday and were not here when I got here. I figured they had either made it to Jeffrey City yesterday after finding no services in Lamont or Muddy Gap, or they had found a place to put up tents last night and would do a short day to Jeffrey City today. If they pushed passed Jeffrey City today, they may have set themselves up for another night with no services. This section had made me so nervous about services not being available that I knew the only logical thing to do yesterday was to stay in Rawlins and set up the next two days as Jeffrey City followed by Lander. I wish I had been a little more forceful with that information before they decided to push on from Rawlins yesterday. I’m sure I’ll see them somewhere along the way and get the full story of what happened.

 

The other great thing about Jeffrey City is that it has a bar with food and WiFi. After I take some time to relax at the church I will head over to the bar for dinner. While this town doesn’t look like much, it has all the necessities; shelter, shower, bathroom, food and internet. I don’t even think I’d call all the things on that list necessities any more. The internet and shower are luxuries I’m happy to have tonight. I’m thankful Jeffrey City has it all, because I’d otherwise still be out riding, trying to get to Lander tonight.

I got to the bar in Jeffrey City and it seems I hit the jackpot. They are having an annual party and for $15 I got all I can eat prime rib, ribs, baked potato, bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers, salad, dessert and all you can drink beer. I’m getting all the calories I need tonight.