Transamericaride 2023

Total rest day. Read a book, moved from my campsite to an air conditioned cabin, and had dinner with fellow campers. In the upper 80s today. Good day to sit in the shade.

Short, hilly ride and started to get hot. Bet you tho’t I’d never say that. The weather has definitely cleared up and warmed up. No bungy cords today. Total still 42.

The next two days ride is 120 miles of hot, dry desert. I’ve already ridden both ways from Lander to Rawlins and really see no need to do it again. So I got a camp site tonight with the idea of trying to find a ride to Rawlins. I’ve been here an hour and have a ride on Monday. Taking tomorrow off to rest my butt. Yeeha!

Checked out the bike shops in town and bought two new pairs of bike shorts. One pair I brought is now too big and not comfy. Another pair was my favorite, but it is chafing me so badly that they both have to go. Finding the perfect pair of bike shorts is one of the biggest headaches for long-distance riding.

I’ve told you all Eby, so tho’t I’d fill you in on my riding style. I am on the road as early as the sun comes up on most days. I like to beat the heat, the wind, and afternoon thumderstorms. It is usually jacket weather the first hour or so, and that’s ok. I stop prob up to 10-15 times a day. Water breaks, pee break, butt break (often lately), take clothes off or put clothes on, every historical marker, Picture taking op(rare), and any other reason I can think of. I’m a leisure rider. I only ride fast to get ahead of trucks or beat a storm. I’m usually on the road 4-7 hours a day. I try to be where I’m going by no later than 2. On that 80-mile day, I did it in 7 hours and was in by 1:30, so I was very happy. The first thing I do when I get to where I’m going is find a place to stay. Then LUNCH. I rarely eat on the road.

Once I’m parked for the day, I organize for the next day, do sudoku, or read a book. Sometimes at night I watch TV but i’m usually in bed by 8. Up at 5 and off we go.

Don’t know how I keep ending up on round numbers. Beautiful ride thru Wind River Canyon until the last 500 feet.

I don’t mind short, well lit tunnels, but these were dark in the middle, absolutely no shoulder (just a curb), and wet. I couldn’t see if anything was on the road or if there were pot holes. Really freaky. I waited til it was all clear behind me, then cranked it into high gear and rode like a maniac. Before I entered, I put my yellow rain gear on my panniers so I could be seen. Overall, a really nice ride.

Broke a record today. 13 more black rubber bungy cords, making a total of 42. And that’s just on my side of the road. Also, one large snake right on the shoulder. And 27 worms (caterpillars, maybe), pencil thick and two inches long all crossing my shoulder onto the highway. One guy got blown over and rolled. Kinda funny, but I don’t know what they were or why they were only in about a 150 ft long area. I tried not to run over them. Can’t see how any could have made it to the other side. There seemed to be lots of traffic, especially trucks at that time. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen. There were prob hundreds, but I couldn’t count that fast and watch the road. Would love to have seen where they were coming from. Now that’s something you’d never see riding by in a car. I’m telling you, the bike is the only way to travel.

Eby passed the 1000-mile mark today at the top of the Boysen reservoir hill. I stopped to rest my butt and there were all these pretty little purplish flowers. Looked them up, and they were one of about 25 different kinds of Loco weed. Didn’t know there were so many.

One thing I still haven’t figured out about Eby is how to really guage his battery usage. In general, the first bar disappears around 25 miles and once in a while close to 30. The second bar disappears betw 20 and 25. And the third, somewhere around 20. It doesn’t seem to matter if I’m going up passes or just using turbo on the flat. On that 80 mile day, I was down to two bars out of 5. I was getting nervous cause I just didn’t know how much I had left and wasn’t sure of the terrain ahead. So if I know I have lots of climbing to do, I work harder and save my assist for when I really need it. As a result. I use ‘salon pas’ to ease the pain. They are aspirin infused patches that you put right on the spot that hurts. So much better than the aspirin pill that takes forever to find the pain.

Lazy ride today. Stayed in high gear most of the way. And saw 6 more black rubber bungy cords. New total is 29. The only exciting thing was a field of sunflowers. There were just a few along the roadside leading up to the field.

I tho’t I’d talk a bit about Eby since I’ve had some questions. He has what I call 9 chain gears. My favorite is #5. And he has 4 assist gears. That means the gear assists me but does not take over and run the bike. If I don’t pedal, I don’t go anywhere. If I try to ride without the low ECO gear, it is almost impossible to make it go. The bike weighs 55 lbs. I carry 40, and then you add me. That’s a lot of weight to try to move without any assistance. My favorite assist gear is #2, TOUR. So if I have fairly level terrain, what works best for me is #5 chain gear with #2 assist. I can cruise at a good speed without overworking the legs.

#3 assist is called SPORT, and I really can’t tell much difference from TOUR. However, if I really want to cruise top speed or if I’m going uphill, TURBO is the high assist gear. I never climb without TURBO. As soon as my knees start to complain, TURBO comes to the rescue. I can feel the power immediately, and if the hill is really steep, I go down to #2 or #3 chain gear.

The reason I like rolling hills instead of flat is that I get to change gears now and then. Riding in the same gear for long periods of time is boring. That’s why I count bungy cords and ponder over some of the other stuff on my shoulder. And, of course, I talk to myself and Eby. Helps to pass the time.

I really like Eby, but sometimes I feel like he is almost as heavy as a motorcycle. He’s really awkward to maneuvre when you aren’t on him. My arms have to be getting stronger right along with my legs. This is really a workout.

Oh, my gosh. This was not planned. I left at 6:30 and got to Greybull by 9:30. Too early to stop so I went on to Basin. Only one place to stay, but they didn’t have power at that time, so I deliberated about going another 30+ miles. Now when you ask people about the terrain between two places, 50% of the time they don”t know what they are talking about. I had asked about the first 30 miles this morning and was told rolling hills all the way. Great. I love rolling hills. But going uuuuuuuuuup and then cresting out on the flats are not rolling hills. And that was constant the first 30 miles. So when I asked about the second leg, they were fairly accurate. NO surprises. The lady who told me about the third leg was so worried about the big hill out of town that she wanted to load me in her pickup and take me to the top. I said I could ride the hill. Just wanted some idea after the hill so I could decide whether I should go on or not. Didn’t want another 30 miles of more hills. Couldn’t believe she wanted to load me up and take me to the top.

I mentioned yesterday about the black rubber bungy cords on the shoulder. Today, I saw 12, more than the previous total of 11. 23 total now, and it makes me wonder what is not tied down when trucks go past me. Not only that, but I see bolts, nuts, and nails. The bolts are particularly worrisome. Hope nothing ever falls off in front of or beside me. And today I saw two snakes. I rode through what I would call badland terrain. Good snake territory. There is nothing on the hillsides, just bare dirt. The area from just before Lovell and down past Greybull is known for its bentonite, Gypsum, and lime mining operations. There sure isn’t much for any cattle to eat. I really would like to take pictures but it seems the sun is always in the wrong place. Saw a beautiful mountain range today to the east, but just couldn’t get a good picture.

Forgot to post this picture yesterday. It was a milestone getting into Wyoming.

Short day tomorrow.

Forgot to tell you about the road construction yesterday. I saw that, and tho”t, “crap, I’ll be riding in wet mud or fresh asphalt.” Neither were true. Thank goodness. They were putting rumble strips in the middle of the road after having done the sides. Oh. My gosh, the best riding ever. The shoulders were wide and freshly broomed. New pavement was so smooth. 10 miles of bliss. Then back to the old shoulder with expansion cracks for a few miles. But, Heaven for a while. Today’s shoulders were great all the way.

I see stuff on the shoulder someone in a car never sees. Several hooks that you find on the end of a chain. Just lying there all by themselves. Bungi cords galore. And the most common one by far is the black rubber one. I’ve seen 11 now, and I bet over half of them were broken. I use bungi cords a lot, and I hate those black rubber ones. They are always breaking. They get brittle, and they are hard to stretch. I haven’t seen any of my favorite ones, probably because they don’t break.

I saw one flower today along the road mixed in with the flowering alfalfa and the flowering sweet clover. The purple and yellow was beautiful. Then, in the middle was a pink swainson’s pea plant. So pretty. Never did see another one, so don’t understand why it was there without a buddy. Looks like the alfalfa and sweet clover were planted by the highway department for erosion control. It was really thick. Nice to look at instead of weeds for a change.

The first 25 miles were out in the middle of nowhere. Not a single road intersected it. Not one ranch house, no animals. Must have been BLM land. Not even a tree. So glad I didn’t ride yesterday afternoon. I would have been a lightning rod in that storm that went through. Absolutely no where to take cover. Nice ride, but it was uphill all the way to the WY border.. then it flattened out, and I had a town every 6 miles or so. So less boring. MT scenery was great, but the long, straight gradual uphills were a little demoralizing.

Tomorrow is supposed to have lots of rolling hills, my kind of riding.

Beautiful riding day, but had to make it short cause the next 48 miles are really hilly. Already used one bar and some energy. Sounded like too hard of a ride to push it. Plus, I started late knowing I prob couldn’t go all the way to Lovell. That would have been an even longer day than yesterday. And, there is NOTHING between here and Lovell. Tomorrow’s another day.

There’s one motel in town and a crappy campground. Thunderstorms moved through, so glad I chose not to camp in the mud. However, I could never get a hold of the motel owner. Sign on the door said, “Call a number.” I did 14 times, and no one ever called me back. I waited 7 hours for someone to show up. At least I had cover from the rain. Then a power Company worker, Justin, showed up and said he had a key to a room. He had prearranged it last week. I left one message saying I would pitch my tent under the motel canopy if the owner didn’t show up by a certain time. But then I was having second tho’ts. What if I got murdered in the middle of the night, or a cop came and chased me away. This motel sits right on main street, set back a teeny bit, but, very exposed. I really didn’t want to go to that campground. So I told Justin I’d feel lots safer now that he was here, and I’d pitch my tent two doors down under the canopy. He even parked his truck to hide me a bit. Nice fella in his late 30’s, early40’s. Offered his microwave, which I don’t need. I feel more safe now, and I’ll be dry.

Stupid motel owner. He should have left a note if he wasn’t available. How do people run busi esses like that. He lost more than just my room.

So I’m all cozy in my tent, and Eby is tied to a motel pillar. All is well. Once again, people helped me; this time, I needed it.

Yeehah. Can’t believe those 74 miles flew by in just a little over 6 hours. I guess I’m rested.

The ride was delightful. I love these frontage roads. Very little traffic, nice scenery, can ride somewhat relaxed. Hardly ever a truck. I did have to ride 10 miles on the interstate, but even that was good. Big wide shoulder.

I was on the wrong side of the interstate, and these were the best shots I could get. These cars fell in the Yellowstone River. Quite the excitement here.

I haven’t talked much about weeds lately because there haven’t been many. I did notice the milkweed a couple of days ago, but it was sparse. Only one or two plants once in a while. Well, today, I saw a whole field of them. Some rancher has a big problem. And, amongst them along the roadside, were 4 ft tall mullein plants. The past few days have just been grass, grass, grass. It’s interesting how quickly the roadsides change. I tho’t I saw the first thistles, but not sure. Flying by too fast. Haha.

Also, today, I saw the first corn fields, wheat, and beet fields. So weird because beside the road were yucca plants. They should not be growing in the same area. And none of the crops were irrigated, but all looked really good.

Woke up to a very black sky and lots of wind. Decided to take another rest day since I had a great motel room. Turned out it threatened all day but didn’t do much, but very windy.

However, the excitement, if you want to call it that, is the train derailment off a bridge into the Yellowstone River two towns from here. Right where I am headed. It looks like the bridge just fell into the water. And, that is where the flood warnings are due to heavy rain tonight. I’ll keep you posted if I see it tomorrow, altho I’m sure this is big enough news that you might catch it on your own news stations.

I should be well rested tomorrow, and I am really anxious to get back on my bike.

Boy, did I sleep good last night. I guess my body knew I needed the rest and slept til 7, not my usual 5. However, today, I’ve been feeling a little guilty cause I think I could have made it those 68 miles without too much difficulty. But then, I had to keep telling myself that I was really tired and that it was good to listen to my body. It seemed like such a perfect day to ride. No wind, somewhat warm. THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM. When it started to sprinkle, within 30 seconds, it became a torrential downpour. Not even enough time to suit up in rain gear. So, I’m reading a book and walked 2 miles to the post office, library, convenience store, and lunch. Got goodies for dinner so I wouldn’t have to go out in the rain. Fretting a little about tomorrow since I’ll either have to take another day off or ride in the rain. I’ll make my decision in the morning.

When my good friend, Bill, rode on the interstate one time when he went across country, I tho’t he was crazy. But he said he had no choice. And now, after going x-c four times, you really do not always have a choice. In some states, it is legal, and, in others, it is not. My first time was in 2014 in North Dakota, and it wasn’t too bad. Second time was in 2018 in AZ, and it was the pits. Rained hard, trucks plastered me with spray, (water and sand). And it was cold. I was on the Rte 66 ride, and my hands were wet and frozen. The interstate was on top of Rte 66, so there was no option. As was the case yesterday. The frontage road disappeared three times and the only route was on the interstate. Just so happened that part of it yesterday had the worst shoulder conditions I’ve ever had to ride. And, also some of the best. I was taking off excess clothes on the approach to the interstate yesterday, and a cop stopped to talk to me. I tho’t, oh, boy. But he was concerned and just said, “Be careful.” I really like these Montanans. Actually, I’ve had two cops stop and talk to me the last couple days. I don’t know if I look desperate or if they are concerned because I’m old. I didn’t think I put out vibes of needing help cause I certainly didn’t.