Days 33 and 34 – Jeffrey City, Wyoming to Rawlins, Wyoming

A Much More Relaxing Day

So far I’ve ridden 1,615 miles since leaving the Pacific on August 4th, with 29 riding days and five rest days. That’s an average of 55.6 miles a  day for the days I’m on the bike and 47.5 miles a day for all days, including the rest days.

On Monday morning I woke up around 5:30 in the tent on the picnic table in Jeffrey City. The ride the day before was a strange one with trying to keep ahead of the storms, and two out of the three times I did.

My plan was to hit the road as soon as it started to get light out and I could see that there was no threatening weather.  I wanted to ride the 68 miles to Rawlins and be there as early as possible.

I started to pack things up and a short time later noticed that it was getting light out and that the sky wasn’t filled with rain clouds, which was very good news because I was ready to go.  Isabel at the Split Rock Cafe told me they opened for breakfast at 7:00 but I didn’t want  to hang around for that, so it was a Cliff Bar and some trail mix before heading out at 6:20 as the sun was coming up (cover photo).

It was a very nice ride as there was no wind to speak of, no traffic at all and the hills weren’t too bad.  I wanted to keep the pace up and arrive at Muddy Gap, 24 miles up the road and where there was a store, by 8:30. I was only five minutes off arriving there.  That was the last stop for the final 44 miles to Rawlins and I picked up some more food and a bottle of Gatorade. The guy there was helpful and talkative. When I asked him how long he’s been running the store he said he’s only worked there for the past three months and is only doing so because of massive coal mining layoffs in Wyoming.  Because of this he had to resort to whatever job he could find.

He told me as I was leaving, “You’ve got two big hills ahead of you.  First one is not so bad, the second one is longer.” He was referring to the two times I would again cross the Continental Divide.  I wasn’t too worried about these because, while they weren’t exactly easy, the elevation gain wasn’t too bad.

In between Muddy Gap and Rawlins, there was a place I passed called the Anna Lope Cafe. Here, there was a woman who ran the cafe and let cyclists camp behind it. Apparently it was a somewhat popular spot.  But I had talked to a cyclist the other day who had stayed there before and had heard that the woman who ran it, I’m assuming Anna, had died of cancer and the place was now deserted, as it was when I passed by, which is a shame. (I wish these photos would show up better on this blog.)

Further up the road I ran into Dillon, a young cyclist heading west. He was telling me about how he had to get off the road yesterday because of the weather and set up his tent for an hour. I then told him about the three storms I was trying to get away from.

After chatting with Dillon I began the roughly ten mile climb for the second pass of the Continental Divide (which is way, way behind him in the photo). It wasn’t so bad, which again makes me think that maybe I’m getting better at these uphills. After getting to the top it was only another easy  ten miles or so into the town of Rawlins.

So it was a rather uneventful ride compared with the day before. Upon arriving early at 1:30 and with no storms, which I was very happy with, I passed by an elementary school.  I noticed there were no cars, which I thought was odd for a Monday, but then I finally realized that it was Labor Day. You kind of lose track of things out here.

After not having internet for the past day and a half the first thing I did was stop at the McDonalds I was approaching to get caught up on things online and make arrangements on where to stay.

I had made up my mind to take the fifth rest day of the trip after four pretty big days of riding.  At least pretty big for me, at somewhere around 270 miles.

So today it’s back on the road, easing back into things with either a 40 or so mile day to Saratoga or maybe 55 to another town which I can’t remember the name of.  As usual here in Wyoming, where I stop may depend on the  wind.