A day off in Casper today. A welcome rest for the legs and butt.

It seems most of the action in Casper is right here at our hotel. The Wyoming state softball tournament is in progress, so hoards of uniform-clad teenage girls are sprawled about. And then there is another hoard of much older ladies with bright orange T-shirts proclaiming each of them proud members of a traveling motorcycle clan called ‘Women on Wheels’. I’m not sure which group is louder. Our bicycling armada usually takes over a hotel, but here at the Casper Ramkota, we are totally outnumbered.

My wanderings around Casper brought back an old memory. As I did a double-take at the two-story brick office building next door to the hotel, I positively recognized it as the former Casper division office site for Conoco. I worked as a software developer for Conoco back in the early 90s, and visited the Casper office a few times. The building looks pretty much the same – with just a few newer buildings up the hill side. Crazy to think I’ve arrived back here by bike, nearly 30 years later.

I also ran into Mike Lansing field, home of the Casper Ghosts minor league baseball team. A Wyoming native, Lansing was a popular major league baseball player for the Montreal Expos and Colorado Rockies. The cozy ballpark is nestled along the North Platte river.

A visit to a downtown book store, art museum, and western-wear shop rounded out my Casper experience. A full day here is plenty. Back to the busy hotel to rest up for another 100+ mile day.

~Dan

At 120 miles, today’s ride is the longest of the tour. So an early start of 6:30 makes good sense. Riding into a bright sunrise, I made an early scenic stop at Boysen State Park, casting a long morning shadow in the picture below:

SAG (Support And Gear) stops are set up every 30 miles or so for filling up water bottles and grabbing some food. On a long ride, it’s essential to stay hydrated and well nourished. A cyclist can burn over 8,000 calories on a ride like this. SAG stops are also great for mid-ride chats and check-ins with fellow riders.

Pace-line groups also tend to form on long rides – groups of similar-speed cyclists that draft off one-another to help preserve energy. I fell in with a steady group of 3 other cyclists today, forming a team-traverse across the wide open Wyoming landscape. Winds were light and the pace was high – until a dreaded flat tire brought us to a halt. No worries, a collaborative group fix and we were back at it… until about 2 miles later when a second flat struck the same rider’s other tire. Double rotten luck!

Eventually we made it to an interesting geological feature in the middle of endless sagebrush prairie, named Hell’s Half Acre. It’s a buffalo-jump site, where native Americans would stampede unsuspecting bison over cliffs and into a ‘pit of misery’.

And speaking of misery, our cursed rider would be rewarded with yet another flat about 13 miles from Casper. Triple rotten luck! But it didn’t dampen our spirits much, as a nice tail wind developed during the second half of our ride and more than made up for the time we lost fixing tires.

After a 120 mile day, we are rewarded with a day off tomorrow. I’m looking forward to sleeping in and giving my legs a well-deserved break.

~Dan

Today’s ride flowed like a river. More precisely, like the Wind river – through reservations, farmland, red rock formations, and wide open sage country.

A good day starts with a good breakfast. Today’s fare was a hearty homemade breakfast buffet provided by some good folks in Dubois. Pancakes, REAL scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, and OJ provides optimal fuel for a 79 mile spin. A brisk 40 degrees at the start – but the rising sun and declining elevation warmed the air as we rode along.

Feeling inquisitive, I stopped at a point of interest on the roadside. I should stop at these more often, since they are usually enlightening and thought provoking – like exercise for the mind while the body cranks those pedals. The hand-carved description told of a legendary battle between Shoshone, Bannock, and Crow Indians for supremacy of hunting grounds in this river basin and surrounding buttes.

Interesting to reflect on how this area has changed over the last 150 years since that tribal battle. Or perhaps, how little has changed? The wind and water keep flowing while our human footprints fade into memories. What will the next 150 years bring?

Time to rest the body and mind, tomorrow is a long mileage day.

~Dan