The worst day of my life

After leaving the Tetons and climbing Togwotee Pass the route generally heads south through Wyoming's Great Basin. The route instructions warned of southern winds. The second day I experienced  those winds. That night in Jeffery City the 5 of us cyclist  that stayed at  the Jeffrey City Community Church all came to the conclusion that an early start would be best to try and beat the winds that typically start around 10AM. I guess it didn't  bode well for the day ahead when the first guy up at 5:15 stuck his head out the door and said "shit the wind is already blowing". I was on the bike at 6:15 headed east while the other four headed west.

Things didn't  start to bad, cross wind and a slight tail to start down a small canyon. I stopped and talked to a local on an e-bike headed up canyon, he could have been Jethro's cousin. He warned that as soon as I exited the canyon the road turned  due south. I had no idea how foreboding his warning would be.

If I never see the wide open range land of Wyoming again it will be to soon. The winds continued to climb in speed all morning. Today I would cross the continental divide three times cover more then 65 miles and climb over 2000 ft. You know your in trouble when your going downhill pedaling as hard as you can and you can only maintain 8 to 10 mph.

The afternoon turned hot, the length of the climbs increased and my energy level and mood started to decline rapidly.  I knew I had to eat and drink as much water as possible. At one point I stopped for pb&j and to refill my bottles. I still had about 18 miles and one big climb to go. I remember stopping numerous times, putting my head on the handlebars and breathing like these were the last breaths I would take. Then you look up and see the road continues to rise and fall across the range for as far as you can see. You tell yourself come on you can ride 12 miles you do it every day.

I stopped just short of the last climb, sucked down my second to last bottle ( that day I drank 3, 24 oz bottles and another 2 litres on top of that) and started up the hill. By now the winds were steady at 20mph head on and gusting to 35mph. The pitch of the hill slowly increased to 7% . At one point , in my lowest gear I just couldn't turn it over. I stopped, and never haven been this broken before, I layed the bike down and sat in the gravel on the side of the road,  buried my head in my lap and screamed." Man what the fuck am I going to do now?"

I remember saying to myself you have to get up and move. I pushed my bike, walking for 3/4 of a mile up that last grade. Once over the top I'd like to say the final 6 miles were easy, but!! Al I know is I finally made it to a Safeway, bought food, called Kathy, and headed to the KOA. Just before the KOA on an uphill turn I had a hard time maintaining my balance and fell over. 2 guys came running over and helped me up. I walked some more to get to the campground, eat and set camp. I called Kathy again. I didn't  realize how bad I must have sounded the first time we talked. Now that I can look back at it, I was in a pretty bad way at that point..

I didn't know it at the time but Kathy threw out an sos to some close friends. I need to thank you guys for reaching out to me. Your encouragement helped me greatly.

Things that don't kill you makes you stronger

The next two days the 110 miles I covered seemed to fly by. I knew I was headed to see my girl Fred.

It was very hard for me to write this tonight, even though this ride was 6 days ago the emotions It arose where almost overwhelming. To know that the the amount of support I have from everyone  has helped me immensely.  After this I know that with a little determination and effort I can conquer anything ahead of me.