There are certain places along this route that I know I hope to come back to see more of the sights. One will be Yellowstone. We didnt' quite make it into the park but had a couple beautiful rides just outside the park coming into and out of West Yellowstone -- the launching pad for many visitors going into the partk. Stayed at an RV park -- 95 riders just sort of pitching our tents anywhere we could find grass -- not in designated spots to be sure. But, it was a great place to get more laundry done and even a bit of fun to go into the tourist trap of a town known as West Yellowstone. After dinner I caught the 9 p.m. show of Yellowstone at the IMAX -- nice to have a cup of coffee and be inside for a bit. The movie itself was so-so.
Rode from West Yellowstone to Ashton, Idaho. We are going south now and then will be heading to Jackson, Wyoming for the Fourth of July. All along the road you see fireworks stands -- like the one we saw in Lincoln just outside the High School called "Hong Kong Harry's Fireworks." I can be sure that it will be impossible to sleep on the Fourth of July! Mostly I am sleeping from about 11 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. so I'm sort of wondering when I will really have a sleep crash. The thing is that we wake up every morning running (or cycling) and it is a rush to pack up -- get the wet tent down (and it always seems to be wet) and off to breakfast and on the road by 7 a.m. This morning was tempting to stay in the mummy bag as it was in the 40's and I had a nice wool hat and long sleave Smart Wool shirt on and all stuffed in my mummy bag.
The highlight was seeing the Upper and Lower Mesa Waterfalls along the Henry Fork portion of the Snake River. It was like a mini-Niagra Falls (which we will see later on the trip) and well worth the effort to cycle a little out of the way to see it. Time to go air out my tent next to the Ashton High School football field.
Oh, and to look up and see the Teton mountains from a distance --still with snow caps. WoW! Tomorrow we will pass them -- no doubt it will be our most challenging ride to date -- up, up and away -- so tonight I hope will be a real take it easy kind of night.
Physically I'm doing well -- but a few extremities like my hands and feet are going numb. It's been a bit hard to shift with my left hand these past few weeks. And, by the way, have you noticed how expensive sun block is these days? But, yes, I'm putting it on in bucket loads -- but still starting to get a bit red each day.
Oh man, Wyoming for the 4th. You are right, you won't be sleeping. When I worked at a firework tent in high school(in CO) we were always so excited when the truck would accidentally leave the fireworks for Wyoming at our tent - they were all the illegal ones that exploded!
ReplyDeleteYou are riding through some of my favorite part of the country now. The Tetons - incredible. Riding over them - ouch!
What do you do about the numbness? Do your hands and feet stay numb even after you are done riding? I don't think gummies are the solution for that one.
Good work, Scotty!!! Not many people could do what you are doing.
You are doing an amazing job Scott! I couldn't survive on that little sleep.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but try loosing your toe straps a little (just the bottom strap or maybe the bottom two straps of your shoes) to try to reduce the foot numbness.
Hi Cara,
ReplyDeleteOne hand continues to be numb -- the others come and go after long, long rides. It is sort of the thing that lots of people are dealing with. Some have stopped at a creek here and there to dip their feet in the creek on warm days. Everone has cycling cleats and pedals but it is just sort of the nature of things with so much distance. Sometimes it is more of an issue than other days. It is just one of those things.
Tetons -- can't say enough about it. It was so awesome when they first came in sight when we were in Idaho -- and so, so sad when we turned away from them to climb another hill yesterday -- glad to see them and sad to see them go. Nice, nice area!