Wednesday, May 29, 1996
Day 18
Byron/Lovell, Wyoming to Sheridan, Wyoming
Today's Miles: 91
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 1135
Degree of Difficulty: Extremely Difficult
Terrain: Mountains, Steep Grades
Find of the Day: Bear Lodge Resort at Burgess Junction
"Oh, God, please don't let that be the road." was my reaction as we rounded the bend and were presented with our first, full view of the Big Horn Mountain Range. I found out soon enough, not only was it the road, it was just the start of the climb that would take us over 5 hours to go 12 miles.
"Big" Don and his grand-daughter, Sarah
Don woke us up at 6:00am. He still rises early from his cowboy days and I think he enjoyed having company at that time of the morning. Donna was at the stove when we came in, putting the finishing touches on a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, fruit and juice. A half hour later we were saying our goodbyes to Don and Elvira as they stood on the steps of their home, waving us down the road.
We started the ride for the day at the causeway, right outside of Lovell. The temperatures were in the 60's, the sky partly cloudy. If we were going to make it up The Big Horn Mountain Range, we couldn't have paid for better weather.The initial 10 miles was disconcerting. I was pedaling with enough pressure to be going 12 to 15 miles per hour, but every time I looked at my cyclometer, I was in the 7 to 9mph range. There was no headwind, so I couldn't figure out what was going on until I turned around and looked back toward Lovell. I had been climbing, gradually, to a high plain overlooking the Big Horn Valley. The perspective of the road disappeared into the distance, snaking in and out of redrock landscapeI pulled over at Five Springs Campground to get my bearings. That's when I saw the face of the mountain for the first time. Ken, Adam and I stood there looking at what we hoped WASN'T the road, carved into the rock, a half mile over our head. "Oh, God, please don't let that be the road." It was a collective plea, but one we all knew was worthless. The road is the road and if you wanted to get "there" from "here", there was only one way...straight up from where we were standing.The first quarter mile wasn't bad. Then I rounded the curve going hard left. I looked up the road to see where I was going and quickly had to look down at my front tire, before vertigo made me ill. Later, comparing notes with Ken, he had the same reaction at that point...put your head down and pedal. The road will still be there when you look up.I could write about that climb curve by curve, but the jist of it is, each ascent of the day led to the next ascent. There was no relief in the road, no flat spots to take a break. The views were astounding as we climbed higher into the mountains and looked back to where we had started. Visibility was 50 to 60 miles until we could no longer see behind us, mountain peaks blocking our view in all direction. As Lee is fond of saying, "I can't see anything because the MOUNTAINS keep getting in the way!".The ascent continued for 5 hours of never ending climbing. We passed the snowline and had to put on extra clothes. The temperature dropped as we rounded each curve, hoping for a sight of the crest. The mountain never laughed, never made fun of us. It just sat there and allowed us to scale up it's side on a day made in heaven.
The "Top" of the World
At 2:30pm, we reached the crest, a sign pounded into the top to verify we had climbed to over 9400 feet. There was jubilation, there was picture taking, there were high fives and slaps on the back. It didn't matter that we still had 60 miles to go to finish the day. WE HAD MADE THE CLIMB AND ANYTHING WAS POSSIBLE!The top of The Big Horn Mountain Range is a relatively flat plain of rolling hills. Today, it is still covered in a heavy layer of snow, the roads having been cleared just 5 days ago. The sky is several shades of blue with clouds forming different shapes and objects depending upon the person viewing them. The ride down to Burgess Junction was swift, a gradual descent. I was able to hold speeds of 30 miles per hour, knowing there was going to be a lunch break and a few minutes rest before tackling the rest of the day.
Burgess Junction sits in the middle of nowhere, appearing to come from nowhere and lead to nowhere. What an odd place to decide to put one of the best restaurants we have found in our travels so far.
Our Hosts at Bear Lodge
We stepped into the Restaurant at the Bear Lodge Resort and knew we were in a special place. The room had been done with a feeling for warmth, down to the knotty wood pine and decor on the walls. I've been looking for a jackalope to put on my handle bars. These were the kind of people who could tell be where to get one.
We were all starving. I ordered a couple of different bowls of soup and ended with two slices of pie...lemon meringue and coconut cream. It's nice to be burning over 4000 calories a day. I get to eat anything I want and STILL lose weight. The people at Bear Lodge are great. They all came over, one at a time, to talk with us about the area and make sure we were doing ok.Chuck has been asking me to start a journal about "Pies We Would Come Back For". I think this is the place to start. We've had good pies along the way, but not TWELVE to choose from in one place. "Big" Mike is the cook/baker and deserves our thanks for getting our tanks filled and ready to go for the 40 mile ride into Sheridan.I'm at that place again where it would be impossible to convey to you the feeling of riding out of the mountains, down into the valley 20 miles below. We were all screaming and hollering, making fools of ourselves at 35mph, curving, bending, swerving...in general having a blast during a descent that had the whole United States as our horizon. The view was so pristine, we could almost see the Sears Tower as we stood on the cliffs overlooking our next challenge of the ride, The Great Plains.
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