104 miles. Spent the first 70 miles fighting a strong headwind....and it was hot!
Everyday I check the weather before rolling out and everyday it's the same forecast..."severe thunderstorms possible after noon". I haven't been hit by any storms, thankfully, because my riding day is usually finished by early afternoon.
Got hit hard with wind in the face for the first 5 hours today. I wasn't in a rush so relaxed and took it on but frustrating to pace 12 mph endlessly. Most of the day was spent descending, very gently, through valleys between some really beautiful sandstone rocky mesas.
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| Today had plenty of this.... |
The trip planning was pretty careful and I generally know what sort of road conditions to expect. My Pony Express route is not an established cycling journey..I had to blaze the trail using Google map. Planning is critical because I don't use GPS or any fancy stuff while I ride...just a AAA map. Today I ran into a gravel road, bummer, but there really was no other clear option, and it looked right. Anyhow, 4 miles on gravel is an un-rideable situation with skinny/high pressure tires. I walked much of it but at least the navigation was good and eventually ended up at the expected junction.
About mid-way arrived in Gurnsey looking for food. Food! Turns out the local FedEx guy has a taco truck parked near the river park on Sunday in Gurnsey so sat down with my burrito under a shady tree on the N. Platte river bank. Gotta say I wasn't up for another 3 or 4 hours riding after that relaxing few minutes.
More gentle downhill and the wind eased up a bit so the pace improved. The only bad thing was the 100F temp. It doesn't feel hot, until I stop, but it definitely wears me down. Dragged into Torrington and was really glad to have that long ride in the books.
Torrington is in Wyoming, just barely, but it sure doesn't feel like Wyoming to me. It's much like any mid-west farm town with the freight train rolling through every 30 minutes, corn fields everywhere and the grain silo is the tallest thing on the horizon. I guess I finally made it through the Mountain West. Wow.
Tomorrow is a short and sweet ride to Scottsbluff, Nebraska and the last day of this year's journey. Scottsbluff is a random place to end but I fly home tomorrow and it's the nearest place with commercial air service.
The Nebraska state line is only 7 miles from Torrington and I think it's 30 more miles to Scottsbluff? Doesn't matter really. 650 miles on the bike so far this week and I'm tired. I miss my family too.
and we miss you too
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