Thursday, July 5, 2012

Day #18, Riverton to Casper WY, Wind can be your friend, but not today

We had 120 miles to ride today, you look at the map and the elevation profile the night before and start calculating how long you expect to be on the road. My estimates were way off due to the brutal wind we encountered starting around the first SAG stop at mile 30. We were generally headed up hill for those 30 miles and I averaged at least 15 mph. The winds kicked in and my speed began to plummet. During the second half the ride while going downhill I was barely able to average 12 mph. It made for a long ten hour day in the saddle, and many of us joked at dinner that we still felt like we were sitting on our bike seats. Some of the slower riders were caught in a hail storm as they approached Casper, they said it was quite an experience, and proved to be a big motivational factor as they sped to the Ramada Inn. There was one interesting attraction along the route today, "Hell's Half Acre", its a canyon that groups of Indians herded Bison off the cliff's to their death. I also saw a couple Antelope and was able to do  a quick draw of my camera and capture one in a picture. Well its a rest day on Friday, we will see what fifty bikers can find to do with a day off in the big city.

Slide show




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