117 Mile Test Ride

Just returned from my first full load test ride. It went really well! I rode a total of 120 miles. I started out the ride at home in Jackson, WY. Went through a total plan and pack with food and water to last two days. The first half was an easy 30 miles down to Alpine, WY. It was hot so I drank lots and pedaled a lot more. The original plan was to camp down at Alpine ending around 5-6pm. But I made really good mileage and found myself at Alpine around 1. I decided to do what's in Jackson they call going around the block, it's a 100+ mile loop through Idaho and back to Jackson. After Alpine around 40 miles from home I hit some construction.

The flag lady told me I might have to ride in the pilot car, this is after I turned down an offer for a ride from a pickup driver who was also waiting at the stop. Eventually they let me ride but asked me to go at the end of the motorcade. Luckily they told me I could ride on the new pavement where the traffic wasn't yet allowed to drive. I ended up having 20 miles of highway with my own traffic lane!!! It was nice to not have to worry everytime I heard a truck approaching from behind. Around 5 pm I got to the South Fork damn on the Snake River. I pulled into a campground and jumped in the river for a swim, I can't remember anything that has felt soooo good! The 60 degree river greatly made up for the 95 degree riding all day long! I checked into a site at the campground and the "host" would only let me stay if I paid the RV rate which was 10 bucks. I really wanted to camp on the river so I could swim some more, but not enough to pay that much so I pushed on through into Swan Valley only another 10 miles down the road.

I found another RV camp that was closed. But what sold me were the trees, they were everywhere. I found a nice shady spot and set up camp. I ate bland minute rice, with mashed potato flakes, and the savior of the meal refried beans!! Yummm. I think they're going to save me on this ride. I forgot a book and found myself really bored so I took some pictures. This is the cokpit of my bike. You can see the computer, headlight, aero bars, and underneath is my bell! The aero bars are because I have a slightly broken wrist. I broke it in December, the scaphoid specifically. A very slow healing bone. Here is my camp. By 8 that night I was falling asleep, but forced myself to stay awake until at least the sun went down.With a plan to leave camp by 6 I fought my eyelids until 9:30 and then crashed. I woke up at 4 and tried to nap for another hour, eventually getting up at 5:30 and ate breakfast. I got on the road by 6:20 hoping to beat the grueling 95 degree temps of the previous day. I started pedaling and was so cold I had to put my rain gear on. I didn't have gloves so I had to pedal through my hands going numb from the cold. This kept up until about 9 when I reached the first pass and climbed for around 2 miles. Then it was a cruise down into Victor. But something odd happened once I got into Victor. I was looking for a place to eat breakfast and I started to not feel so well. I finally found a place to eat, I sat down, and when the waitress got there I was feeling light headed and dizzy. I attributed it to calorie deprivation as I had only eaten two packets of oatmeal that morning, and no shops were open in Swan Valley when I left. So I scarfed down eggs, bacon, home fries, toast, 3 glasses of water, and an order of french toast and called it even. I headed out onto the last leg of my journey which I knew was also going to be treacherous, the Teton Pass. As I was approaching the pass I was feeling very sluggish and not at all recovered, it had only been a mile since breakfast but I was feeling very drained. I pulled over at a gas station bought a small coffee, filled it half way and chugged it. Then as I stood out front waiting for the caffeine to kick in a little, I got this familiar sensation, diarrhea.

So I ran to the bathroom and did what I needed to do. My lower intestines and I battled through most of the approach to the pass. I was talking to them out loud telling them, "You have to absorb that water. You have no choice. If you don't absorb that water then I don't survive, if I don't survive then you don't survive." I know it was a little harsh, but I really didn't want to toy with having this problem through the 6 mile climb. Needless to say I made it to the top! It was grueling, it was hot and it was long!! A lot of the climb is on a 10% grade! And I've never been more happy to be at the top, I mean I don't like driving up it, nevermind pedaling a bike up that weighs 80lbs with gear! (on the way up their is a truck scale. I stopped and weighed the bike, the bike with me, and just me. The measures are: me:160; bike:80; bike+me:240;)

If you've read this far, thanks for reading. I know it was a long one, but it had a strong impact on me. I also learned a few things and came up with some rules.

Rules:

1- Always pack a book even one I may not like
2- If I am feeling anxious or stressed I'm pedaling too hard. slow down.
3- Get up VERY EARLY and beat the sun, half the day can be done before it gets hot
4- If I can ride over a mountain pass up 6 miles with diarrhea I can complete any task on this journey