Five Springs, WY to Sheridan,
WY
78 miles
"Brrrrrr!" [Mike Weston and Mark Bazerman, simultaneously and unrehearsed, during the descent]
Today was advertised as the hardest single day of the entire trip. We started with what by one estimate was 10 miles averaging a 10% grade, although with a couple of intermediate descents/flats it seemed slightly easier than that. The downhill after the highest point was quite rapid for over 8 miles, and there was really only one climb of any signifiance for the next 40 miles or so. It was a great day.
Tomorrow is a very short day, so we're sleeping in.
Looking back, about 45 minutes into the big climb:
Mark Bazerman taking a picture:
Looking down from about the same point, which turned out to be a false
summit:
After the continuous climb was over, we entered some rolling hills and
much more snow and cold (I think this is Deb Klein):
The snow along the road was quite high in places (Mike Weston):
Deb Klein, Mark Bazerman, and Mike Weston reach the highest point of
the Bike America Tours trip:
Looking back as we descend (probably Deb):
We have lunch at Burgess Junction, elevation 8300' (clockwise from left,
Joanne Blair, David Blair, Win Westervelt, Amber (Bobbi's friend from Juneau,
AK), Bobbi Epperly, Brian Holsenbeck, and Sandra White):
Another angle at lunch (Chuck Blair and Rob Christian at the counter):
A lake with a fair amount of ice still unmelted:
Not that I've ever been there, but for some reason this shot reminded
me of Scotland:
Looking back up at the road we have descended:
Looking out at eastern Wyoming (this lookout also had a bunch of tourists,
possibly from Germany):
The descent is about over:
That's over 5500' of descent from our highest point today:
And here is my heart rate (in blue) and speed (in green) graph for the
day - through about 2 hours and 15 minutes was the main climb, with a little
more climbing until we reached the highest point a little after 2:30, followed
by mostly downhill (up to 44mph) until lunch - after lunch we had some
rolling hills and climbing, and then mostly downhill until a break in Dayton
(a little over 6 hours total) - then I tried to keep up with Rob Christian
for a while, pushing my heart rate slightly higher than it was during the
main climb:
