Maybe the toughest week of the XC50 trip

 

View across Yellowstone Lake as we left Grants Village Lodge

After our rest day at Grants Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, our scheduled ride was to be 80 miles to the Wapiti Lodge about 20 miles east of Cody, WY.  However, the weather was looking favorable for an attempt to do the addition 20 miles into Cody for a 100 mile day.  As it turned out the weather was more than favorable.  As we descended for almost 60 miles with a 25-30 mile per hour tail wind I personally set a record for 100 miles at 5 hours and 41 minutes moving time for an average speed of 17.6 miles per hour. 

View of Sylvan Lake just before descending nearly 3000 feet in about 25 miles

The views as we were descending from the Sylvan Lake area of Yellowstone toward Cody on highway 12 were spectacular, but the road was steep, twisting and narrow, so I didn't stop for a picture.  It is just something you have to see.  I'm pretty sure that a picture wouldn't do it justice.

View of the Shoshone River Canyon after dropping about 2000' feet

Four of us completed the 100 mile ride to Cody and the rest really didn't have any interest in returning to just ride the miles from Wapati Lodge to Cody the next day, so we all started from Cody to our next destination of Basin, WY.  By doing the 20 miles into Cody, we only had 60 miles and basically flat to down hill the whole way to Basin which for this week is a relatively easy day.  It was windy and we were hit some pretty good cross winds, but generally everybody enjoyed the ride.

Glen and me outside the Burlington Place Bar in Burlington, WY ... Population 320

My good buddy, Glen is known to stop for a beer or two along the way during the ride and his friend and drinking buddy, Dave who started the tour with us had to abandon several weeks ago with some medical issues.  So Glen has continued on, but he is always looking for someone to have a beer with him in the small town bars we pass.  Today was a shorter day, so I stopped with Glen at the Burlington Place Bar and had a beer with Glen while he had two.  Glen knows no strangers and always strikes up a conversation with the bartender if they aren't too busy.  

We were the only ones in the bar at 11;30 AM, so we heard all about Burlington, WY, talked Buffalo Bills football (Glen is a big fan) since their quarterback, Josh Allen, played for the University of Wyoming and discussed Joe Pickett and Longmire books which are both set in the nearby Big Horn mountains.  I think I have read all of the books in both series and have watched both TV shows so I could stay involved with the conversation.  Glen and I had a really good time in our 45 minute stay at the bar.  It is for sale if you are looking for a business opportunity in the remote farming area of Burlington, WY.

Ten Sleep, WY.  Population 240

After our night in Basin, WY, we had a relatively flat 50 mile ride to Ten Sleep. From there it is a ride up the canyon formed by Ten Sleep Creek.  This is a ride that I have been anticipating since signing up for this trip.  A few years ago, Beth and I made a loop through this area, camping in the van on the mountain above Buffalo and then driving on to Ten Sleep.  When I saw this canyon, I knew it would be a lung buster of a climb and extremely pretty.  The tour plan was to ride up to Deerhaven Lodge, 13 miles from Ten Sleep and at an elevation of 8000'.  My initial goal was to continue to ride on to the summit another 11.4 miles and to Power River Pass (elev. 9600').  But an early tailwind and lots of sun quickly convinced me that I would burn up before I got anywhere near the top.  So I slowed down and "enjoyed" the nearly 3400 foot climb to our campsite.

Ten Sleep Creek Canyon

This is a hard climb on the highway, but 6 of our group following an out of date route provided by the tour company ended up on the old highway which turns to gravel after a couple of miles.  If you follow the gravel long enough it will connect back to the main road, but only after climbing a very steep gravel hill.  Needless to say there were some pretty unhappy campers who thought they were following the route and ended up out of water.  A couple of us had a discussion with Arlen, the tour operator and head guide about the confusion on some of the routes.  This isn't the first time it has happened.  He uses a web based tool called Ride With GPS Experience to distribute the routes.  It is fine as long as you use your phone running the app, but if you try to load it to a Garmin or Wahoo GPS it is a multi-step process prone to errors and old routes already on the device won't be erased.  Just one more complaint we all have about this tour operation and Arlen was unapologetic about the confusion.  I have decided he is just totally oblivious to the mood of the group about how things are running.  But we do keep moving down the road and being fed, so we call that a win at this point.

Me and the 3 Amigas at Power River Pass (my roommates in West Yellowstone)

Today, we finished climbing over Powder River Pass to get to Buffalo, WY.  We were camping at 8000', so it was a sunny, but pretty chilly morning.  As climbed on up to up to 9600' and the pass, the clouds rolled in and the temperatures dropped.  So everyone was pretty much frozen as we made our way into town. 

Downtown Buffalo - Occidental Hotel & Bar in the background

The route for the day called for riding another 20 miles out of Buffalo and then to be shuttled back to the KOA campground in town.  Several of us decided to take the opportunity for an afternoon Off the bike.  Glen, Jocelyn and I rode to the historic downtown area and had lunch at the Occidental Hotel and Bar.  It was an eclectic place and we enjoyed our leisurely lunch and afternoon off.

The Occidental Hotel Bar

Current Riding Stats:

  Location:  Buffalo, WY

  Miles Ridden:  1422

  Elevation Gain:  68,475'