Day 15
Climber's delight

DAILY REPORT: 

Really tough to get out of bed this morning at 5:00, but we needed an early start today...it's a tough day by anybody's definition.  We grabbed a 5:30 buffet with all the trimmings and loaded at 6:00...then on the road for another day of adventure.  We had two passes to climb; you might say we climbed a bump and then a real big bump!  It was pretty cool when we departed...around 50 degrees according to the weather channel.  We expected comfortable temps all day, and got them. It never got out of the mid 80s...an absolutely glorious day for cycling in the mountains.

For the first 10 miles out of Idaho Falls we were on pretty flat terrain, but it wasn't long before we started a gentle climb toward the foothills.  Sometimes our eyes didn't see the climb, but our legs could feel the pressure and coupled with the stout headwinds we experienced for the first 40 miles, we were tested all morning.  This was the first headwinds we've really had this trip, but it's normal for this day to get easterlys early in the morning.  By afternoon we had a nice push toward Jackson Pass.

After the warm up gentle climb to about 45 miles out of town the real climbing would start.  In spite of all the surrounding mountains, wheat was the dominate crop.  They were even growing wheat on the slopes of the foothills.  It looked like a glistening carpet after the irrigation system spread water over the fields.  The only break in the wheat carpet was the tracks where the pivot watering system rolled through the field as it swung around. 

Our first hiccup happened just before the first SAG.  Barb drove up through everyone and when she arrived at the posted SAG location, she found it under construction and unavailable for us to use.  She turned around and sped back to a store about 5 miles prior and set up.  Before she could get back to a useable location, the front riders were past her new location.  Karen and I arrived about 10 riders back from the front and began putting down directional arrows to the new SAG.  Meanwhile, Debbie in the White Van sped forward to catch all the riders who were forward of our new location to give them an "on the road" SAG.  Good job crew...flexibility is the key to airpower they always say in the Air Force.

At 45 miles, we started to climb to Pine Creek Pass at just over 6,800 feet.  That climb started out gradually for the first 6 or so miles then the slope started to increase as it neared the top.  Probably the last 3 miles were in the neighborhood of 6-7%.  As it turned out, this climb was just a warm up for the second ascent to Teton Pass at 8,431 feet.  As Karen and I were just getting to the slope, I got a call from Bill and Jim...Jim had a flat so I had to go back about 2 miles to help them fix it.  I sent Karen on ahead to the SAG at the top of Pine Creek Pass to wait on me.  I made quick work of the flat and got back on the road.  I really enjoyed the climb up Pine Creek as I was holding 11 to 12 MPH most of the way up...should have taken it a little easier probably since Jackson Pass was just ahead...oh well, I'll know next time.  On the descent from Pine Creek Pass, we got our first glimpse of the Teton Mountains--just a glimpse--a tease for tomorrow.

Many riders stopped for lunch at a small cafe in Victor, a small town at the base of the Teton climb. Shortly after they started the climb, we finally departed our second state and entered Wyoming.  As I took this photo, I didn't have the heart to tell Earnst about the 10% grade sign behind the Wyoming sign...they would find out soon enough.  But what a beautiful start to our tour of our third state. 

Just after we left this sign, we started one of the toughest long climbs we've ever had on any of our rides.  I think most everyone would have liked this climb better if they'd had bigger gears.  I used to use my 23 cog for a bailout gear, but last year when I rode this leg I found myself in my 25 a lot and most of the time I was wishing I had much more.  Usually, I shift up a gear as I stand, but on this climb, I had to stand just to turn over the 25 gear!  The slope was an average of 10% for the last couple of miles with no let up and one rider said his GPS registered 14% in some places.  Quite a test--hors category climb for this group--actually even for the Tour de France.  Everyone who crossed the summit was spent and glad that struggle was over, but their sense of accomplishment was keen...even the ones who walked some of the way were proud to have made it to the top.  As everyone celebrated at the top, taking the obligatory pictures of the summit, we couldn't help but look in awe at the scene before us.  The view of the descent and the town of Wilson below was magnificent.  Now that we are up here...now what?  Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The descent was a screamer (right)! That's a runaway truck stop on the left--one of two. It always give you pause when you see a sign announcing a runaway truck ramp. Both had to be on the left side of the road, of course, so if a truck ever did lose its brakes, and if a car were chugging up the mountain . . . well, it's not worth contemplating.

It was a wide open descent but it had several turns before the bottom that were marked with a 20 MPH limit.  That's assuming that you could get that slow in the first place.  I was bending the turns at about 40 MPH as I flew down the side of the mountain at 55+ on the straight-aways.  In places, the road surface was a bit bumpy, which dictated caution as we neared the turns.  It would have been nice to have had a smooth surface...I'm sure speeds in excess of 60 would have been possible. 

I, and some of the other riders, stopped at a Bike and Bagel shop in Wilson and grabbed a snack on the back veranda before riding the last 8 miles to the motel.  I was pretty famished by the time I got there...any food would have been good after all that climbing.

Everyone got down the mountain safely...making me one happy ride leader.  I'm never worried about everyone getting to the top, it's the descent that worries me.  There's no room for error at the speed you can attain if you let off your brakes...zoooooooom comes to mind.

At rap this evening, we said good bye to Mark and Carol...they have to leave because of jobs or something.  We sure hate to see them go and are confident they'll come finish with us another time.  We also discussed a tough day again tomorrow.  We'll climb higher to the divide, but not nearly as steep...and we're looking forward to seeing the Tetons too.  We may have some construction to deal with...may get that dirt road stamp punched tomorrow.  We'll see if we can ride through it.

Tonight's dinner was an all-you-can-eat pizza at Pizza Hut. The riders have earned it.  The Hut had plenty of pizza to go around, so guess they knew from past experience how hungry these folks are.  Fed and ready for bed...tune in tomorrow and see some awesome photos of the mountains we'll ride by.

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