Miles Ridden: 105.9
Avg Speed: 18.4 mph
Avg Heart Rate: 119
bpm
Climbing: 2,540 ft
Calories Burned: 3,783
My 2nd fastest century ...rode with the boys all day ... wide open Wyoming ... Raw Hide parade in
Lusk
Rested and ready for more "fun", we loaded the truck at 5:45 and headed to
JB's for another hearty breakfast. The long 106 mile day actually included over 2,500 feet of climbing, but we finished just a few hundred feet lower than Casper (5224') when we hit
Lusk (5014'). So ... that meant a nice day of rolling hills with only a few climbs of significance. The Geldings worked well and rode fast to the first SAG and arrived just after the speeding bullet (Ann from Toronto). Mark's wife Susan (the Duchess) was waiting with great homemade
biscatti cookies. I was in great form and took a long six mile pull. Jeff (Douglas) eagerly anticipated passing through the town with his name (more on that later). The SAG was about the busiest I have seen ... everyone was out early and/or riding fast.
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| Me Blowing Katie A Kiss As We Passed Her Out of Casper |
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| A Not So Flattering Snapshot As I Go By |
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| An Almost Empty Sign In Sheet ... Ann Plus the Geldings |
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| Jeff is Ready to Ride to Douglas |
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| Mark and Susan |
We bid Susan goodbye and headed out on to the interstate for 15 smooth but debris filled miles. No incidents, although Mark thought he had a flat at one point. I think that was strategic on his part to allow me to reconnect with the group after one of the steeper climbs of the day. After leaving the interstate, we took some quiet and flat frontage roads that led to the town of Douglas. A few good shots for Jeff and another
Jackalope were among the highlights. A lot of folks stopped to play at the Train "museum", but we pushed on. There was neat drag racing track on the edge of town, but we couldn't get close enough for a good photo.
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| Another Stretch on the Interstate |
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| Jeff to Leave IBM and Open New Store? |
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| Another Jackalope |
More country roads brought us through more open spaces. Some mountains appeared in the far distance (I am still trying to figure out which ones). Long roads and gentle surroundings were the theme of the day. We pulled in to the 2nd SAG just in time to see Ann leave. A few other folks arrived not too soon after us. A quick PBJ, potty break, some GU, and we were back on our way.
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| Wide Open Spaces |
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| Frontage Roads Kept Us Off the Interstate |
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| A Few Lone Farms and Silos |
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| Distant Views From The Rollers |
The next stretch saw some very long trains, the most uphill sections of the day, and some pretty narrow shoulders. The rumble strips did not give us a lot of room, and what little we had was pretty beat up. It really took its toll. Wyoming is certainly a wide open place with few towns and people. Our ride in to Casper went through a town with 10 people ... we beat that today ... "1"! That sign provided us a good resting point and break from the beat up roads.
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| A 200 Coal Car Train |
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| Population of 1 ... |
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Me Under the Lost Springs Sign (I know I need to get more close ups!)
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We pushed on to the last SAG stop where Karen had arranged a great spread of fruit and the usual goodies under the shade of a picnic area. An interesting bicycling gentleman who we had passed (he abruptly stopped to pray) earlier came up and asked for some "candy" and "Hi C". Karen asked us to stay with her just a little longer ... interesting is a kind word for this fellow. Jeff provided him some granola and water (with Gatorade mix) and sent him on his way. With the climbs done for the day, we refocused our energies on stopping for pie at the 3 Sisters truck stop. We took turns pulling and made great time to the stop. However, storms were a coming, and we decided to push on to
Lusk. The descent into town was fast and I got to be the lucky one to pull us in ... can you say fast!
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| Storms A Coming ... Never Got to Us |
After a shower and some R&R, it was time for the famous
Lusk "
Raw Hide" parade. It is quite the event in these parts and includes the parade, a big dance and pageant, auction, a recreation of the events (a man gets skinned by the Indians), and a lot more. Lots more great old pictures and info can be found
here. The parade included wagons and Indians a plenty. Not sure the it was the most politically correct or culturally sensitive thing I have seen, but it was fun. Besides, I got lots of candy that was thrown by the numerous wagons and politicians.
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| The Covered Wagon ... Our Hotel (Me by Pepsi Machine) |
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| Welcome ABB |
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| Rawhide Parade ... Covered Wagon |
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| The Indians Are Coming |
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| A Long Ride on the Trail to Rawhide |
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| Leah Wasn't Around To Fetch The Candy So I Had To Do It |
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| Neat Old John Deere Tractors |
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| The Beverly Hillbillies? |
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| Mark Scheer Doing His Bart Connor Imitation |
We had to wait a bit for our pizza dinner because the cooks were in the parade. The night was capped off with some ice cream at a local drive-in restaurant. They don't make them like that anymore, although Maine still has a few like it. It is getting late ... another 90+ miles tomorrow to Hot Springs ... South Dakota (State #4).
Good night moon ... good night 5 hour and 27 minute century (only my 5 hour and 10 minute Seagull Century was faster) ... good night Wyoming (we bid you farewell tomorrow) ... good night Rawhide (and
EvaLou "Bonnie" Paris) ... good night new cleats and heel pads (I finally changed them today after my toe nail turned purple)
