Mileage: 119.9 miles Average Speed: 16.0 mph
Vertical: 3062 feet Depart: 5:48 AM Arrive: 2:42 PM
Calories: 7805
Today was a long, long day in the saddle. As you can see, we left early, and didn't arrive until mid-afternoon. The good news was that we had temperatures at departure in the upper 40's that stayed mild until I got in, and the winds, once again in the wrong direction, were generally not an issue either until the very end. I took this photo of Mark Weisbarth from Toronto coming into the first SAG. I think it gives you a very good idea of the land most of the day. Lots and lots of open spaces, with nothing much exciting to see.
We did come across some antelope at a couple of points. If you look real close, you can see them in the field in this photo. Later, one saw us, was running along, seemed to wait for us to catch up, and then loped along and jumped the fence to join another group.
I rode with a nice pace line through the 3rd SAG at 91 miles. We took this group photo when we stopped at Hell's Half Acre 77 miles into the ride. The group was Bob Shaw (who is leaving us after today), myself, Margo Addison, Tom Zack, Beth Laber, a nurse from Boulder, and Matt and Michael Louis on the tandem. Peaking over my shoulder is Phillip White from San Diego, who I don't think realized we wanted a team photo. He is one of the weaker riders who sagged much of the way to this point.
Hell's Half Acre is pictured below. It is actually about 320 acres, and is an interesting feature out here in the middle of nowhere. The Indians used to drive buffalo over the edge here.
The group was taking longer than I wanted to regroup at the 3rd SAG, so I left with a faster bunch. Unfortunately, I dropped my water bottle and lost them while I retrieved it. When we got to Casper, we were routed along the North Platte River on a bicycle path, and found this pelican resting at the rapids.
Tomorrow is a much needed rest day. I will try to report on what happens, and introduce a few more of the riders.I am also trying to include the link to my Garmin data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39708351
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