I was on the road at 8:30 this morning as I had a long day ahead of me. The climbs started almost immediately out of Casper and weren't helped by the fierce head winds channeled through the valleys.
After a long way of battling the hills and winds I reached the idyllic Alcova reservoir region. The red sand mountains and jagged rock faces were simply stunning and made the climbs slightly more bearable.
I stopped at a rest point at the top of one of the climbs to get a few photos, where a woman came up to me asking if there was a gas station nearby. She had run out of fuel and I couldn't recall seeing any gas stations in the last 20 miles. Not much I could do I'm afraid! Another person had stopped for her too and headed off to find her some petrol. I hope she wasn't stuck there too long!
My next stop was where I had my lunch at 2pm, next to 'Independence Rock', a large smooth rock that seemed quite out of place with its surroundings. There was a small tourist building and a tap outside to fill up on water, which I was very grateful for!
The next 30 miles from there were torture. The wind sapped any speed I tried to gain and even cycling downhill was a huge effort; if you stopped pedaling you were stationary within 5 seconds! Trying to stay motivated was very difficult, especially when the road signs said I still had over 40 miles to go.
Then came the rain. I saw a curtain of shower slowly drift across the road ahead of me and said to myself "I'm going to get soaked". Sure enough a few miles later the rain started to pour in thick heavy chunks and pummeling my bare arms. But at least there was no thunder this time. I'd psssed a landmark known as 'The devils gate' a while back and now I knew why!
With 25 miles left to run the wind died down, and after passing Lamont at 6600ft, I assumed it would be all plain sailing from here. The road, however, had a few more nasty tricks up its sleeve. Another climb took me up to 7200ft, where the strong wind and rain started again. Not great for morale! I panted my way into Rawlins and eventually made it to my hosts house after being on the bike for nearly 12 hours, but so glad that it was done.
Today marks 4 weeks of cycling completed, with another 2 weeks left to go. Nearly less than 1000 miles to go! Here's hoping tomorrow is less windy!
Miles today: 119.5
Total miles: 2159.6
After a long way of battling the hills and winds I reached the idyllic Alcova reservoir region. The red sand mountains and jagged rock faces were simply stunning and made the climbs slightly more bearable.
I stopped at a rest point at the top of one of the climbs to get a few photos, where a woman came up to me asking if there was a gas station nearby. She had run out of fuel and I couldn't recall seeing any gas stations in the last 20 miles. Not much I could do I'm afraid! Another person had stopped for her too and headed off to find her some petrol. I hope she wasn't stuck there too long!
My next stop was where I had my lunch at 2pm, next to 'Independence Rock', a large smooth rock that seemed quite out of place with its surroundings. There was a small tourist building and a tap outside to fill up on water, which I was very grateful for!
The next 30 miles from there were torture. The wind sapped any speed I tried to gain and even cycling downhill was a huge effort; if you stopped pedaling you were stationary within 5 seconds! Trying to stay motivated was very difficult, especially when the road signs said I still had over 40 miles to go.
Then came the rain. I saw a curtain of shower slowly drift across the road ahead of me and said to myself "I'm going to get soaked". Sure enough a few miles later the rain started to pour in thick heavy chunks and pummeling my bare arms. But at least there was no thunder this time. I'd psssed a landmark known as 'The devils gate' a while back and now I knew why!
With 25 miles left to run the wind died down, and after passing Lamont at 6600ft, I assumed it would be all plain sailing from here. The road, however, had a few more nasty tricks up its sleeve. Another climb took me up to 7200ft, where the strong wind and rain started again. Not great for morale! I panted my way into Rawlins and eventually made it to my hosts house after being on the bike for nearly 12 hours, but so glad that it was done.
Today marks 4 weeks of cycling completed, with another 2 weeks left to go. Nearly less than 1000 miles to go! Here's hoping tomorrow is less windy!
Miles today: 119.5
Total miles: 2159.6
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