TA 2 - September 16

I was thinking today could be kind of a rest day on wheels. Not too long, not too much climbing. That worked well for the first half, but then those pesky crosswinds and headwinds in excess of 25 kmph were back. Ugh, again ......

We started off on a secondary highway that took us through the town of Sinclair just before getting on to I80 for about 13 miles.  Sinclair, I would surmise, is a company town. There was a HUGE Sinclair refinery there.

Then onto our first Interstate of the trip. We rarely cycle on Interstates; really just when there is no other option. As always, I have a love/hate thing with them. They have wide shoulders and gentle grades, but lots of truck traffic and a fair amount of truck tire shard debris to dodge. After a few miles we hit construction, which actually worked in our favour. There was 2-way traffic in the eastbound lanes, but the westbound lanes were freshly paved and still closed to traffic. Open to cyclists, though! We had about 5 miles of our own private interstate. And the wind, if not exactly a tailwind, at least wasn’t a hindrance.

At 20 miles we exited the interstate and headed south. The picnic was over!  Strong winds from the southwest the rest of the day. A few obligatory shots but really I pretty much just had my head down trying to keep the bike steady on the shoulder, which could be narrow at times. I gotta say - that wind takes a toll. Not just on the legs, but on the upper body too as I hang onto the bike just a little tighter. At one point a couple had pulled their truck over and were talking to one of our cyclists by the side of the road. I slowed down to make sure everyone was ok. The man tried to foist some religious literature upon me before I scurried away. I was tempted to turn back and see what He could do about this headwind.

I was in to our destination town of Saratoga shortly after noon, so found a nice little restaurant for a bowl of soup and some homemade ice cream. Yum!  And they even had a bicycle hung up inside. Then out to our destination tonight - The Saratoga Hot Springs Resort. Very nice!  We were told there was a lot of money in the area. Judging by the number of private jets flying low overhead I’m thinking they’re right.

Stats for the day:
Rawlins WY to Saratoga WY
41 miles. 66 km.
1327 feet up. 1175 feet down.
Temps:  16C to 25C. Winds SW about 25 kmph

Wind forecast is gruesome for tomorrow.  Upwards of 35 kmph gusting to 65kms from the south and southwest.  Our direction of travel is south. Wonder if they would shuttle us to Walden, let us ride back to Saratoga and then shuttle us again at the end of the day?  Sadly, I can't imagine that I'll be able to ride it.