Riverton to Casper (Part II)

That was a shift that was.  I left Riverton at 05:47 precisely and saw the sun rise as I pedalled furiously to try and get up the road as quickly as possible.

It was not the most scenic of routes and the shoulder on which we had to cycle was cracked meaning I had to go over a bump every few yards so I feared the worst for my spokes. I got to the First SAG in good time and only stayed long enough to grab a banana and fill my water bottles. The wind was light and the temperature was cool so I wanted to get as far on as possible before the wind got stronger. When I got to the second SAG at 60 something miles, there was a small store so some ice cream and coke was the order of the day.  I didn't see where they kept the guns but they made no secret of what they would do if we caused offence.

The most interesting part of the jopurney was here.

As I made my way East, I had my first flat tyre.  I replaced the tube but on checking the tyre carefully, I could not find any reason for it.  A closer inspection of the tube seems to suggest that a patch from a previous repair had failed so I am not counting it as a puncture.  As I feared, just a couple of miles from the third SAG I hard the tell tale sound of a broken spoke.  Fortunately, Mike arrived shortly after and was able to replace it without having to dismantle the wheel.  I was suffering at this point from another attack of Helmet Hair.

The wind felt a lot stronger and the last 25 miles was a bit of a battle but as I got to the outskirts of Casper, I wondered if help could be at hand?

Anyway, I resisted the temptation and went straight to the hotel, feeling a little tired and sore but also elated as that is not only the farthest I have ever cycled but I arrived inside my target time. Imagine my delight when I discovered that happy hour in the hotel bar was 5pm to 7pm. Clearly it would have been entirely pointless arriving any earlier!

Later on, we were treated to Karaoke, cowboy style.

Today's Stats

Mileage - 120

Climbing - 2650 feet

Time in saddle - 9hrs 40 mins

Average Speed - 12.4mph

Cumulative for this section:

Mileage - 703

Climbing - 19970 feet

Cumulative so far:

Mileage - 1315

Climbing - 48320 feet