Cycle Across America
RA
Day 59 of 7331 July 2010

Day 59: The Two Passes

Day 59: The Two Passes
View route map — see where this day sits on the trail
Route overview

73 days, one line across the country

67 riding days · 6 rest days · 4,227 miles · Yorktown, Virginia → the Oregon coast

Start — Yorktown (Atlantic start), VADay 1 — Chickahominy Riverfront Park, VADay 2 — Ashland, VADay 3 — Ashland, VADay 4 — Mineral, VADay 5 — Charlottesville, VADay 6 — Afton, VADay 7 — Lexington, VADay 8 — Lexington, VA — rest dayDay 9 — Daleville, VADay 10 — Radford, VADay 11 — Rural Retreat, VADay 12 — Damascus, VADay 13 — Rosedale, VADay 14 — Breaks Interstate Park, VADay 15 — Hindman, KYDay 16 — Hindman, KY — rest dayDay 17 — Booneville, KYDay 18 — Berea, KYDay 19 — Bardstown area, KYDay 20 — Hodgenville, KYDay 21 — Rough River Dam State Park, KYDay 22 — Sebree, KYDay 23 — Cave-In-Rock, ILDay 24 — Eddyville, KYDay 25 — Carbondale, ILDay 26 — Carbondale, IL — rest dayDay 27 — Chester, ILDay 28 — Pilot Knob, MODay 29 — Eminence, MODay 30 — Houston, MODay 31 — Fair Grove, MODay 32 — Golden City, MODay 33 — Chanute, KSDay 34 — Eureka, KSDay 35 — Newton, KSDay 36 — Larned, KSDay 37 — Ness City, KSDay 38 — Scott City, KSDay 39 — Sheridan Lake, CODay 40 — Haswell, CODay 41 — Pueblo, CODay 42 — Pueblo, CO — rest dayDay 43 — Cañon City, CODay 44 — Fairplay, CODay 45 — Silverthorne, CODay 46 — Hot Sulphur Springs, CODay 47 — Walden, CODay 48 — Saratoga, WYDay 49 — Rawlins, WYDay 50 — Jeffrey City, WYDay 51 — Lander, WYDay 52 — Lander, WY — rest dayDay 53 — Dubois, WYDay 54 — Colter Bay, Grand Teton NP, WYDay 55 — Grant Village, Yellowstone NP, WYDay 56 — West Yellowstone, MTDay 57 — Ennis, MTDay 58 — Twin Bridges, MTDay 59 — Jackson, MT (you are here)Day 60 — Darby, MTDay 61 — Missoula, MTDay 62 — Missoula, MT — rest dayDay 63 — Powell, IDDay 64 — Kooskia, IDDay 65 — Riggins, IDDay 66 — Cambridge, IDDay 67 — Richland, ORDay 68 — Baker City, ORDay 69 — Mount Vernon, ORDay 70 — Mitchell, ORDay 71 — Redmond, ORDay 72 — Eugene, ORDay 73 — Florence (Pacific Ocean), ORYachats, ORLincoln City, ORPortland, OR

Every dot is a real day on the trail, placed from the towns named in that day's post — click one to jump straight to it. Hollow-ringed dots are rest days along the way. The lighter branch up the coast is the post-ride detour to Portland. A few days without a clearly named stop are interpolated between the nearest confirmed ones. The highlighted dot is where you are right now.

OriginalStorytelling

76.36 miles (Total: 3246.04) Avg Speed: 11.3mph Max Speed: 34.5mph

Me and Wim were the slow starters this morning with the others having left as we were just heading to pick up some groceries. Wim was looking at the bottles of wine for this evening when he was informed, not for the first time on this trip, that you can’t buy alcohol on a Sunday. Terry was the first victim of this back in Kansas where local county laws prohibit the sale.

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Beaverhead Rock, I don’t see it.

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We soon caught up with Stefaan who was taking it easy suffering form some saddle sores. After passing through Dillon we had the first of two big passes to deal with. Wim was on fire today and set out to storm up the mountain as me and Stefaan plugged away drafting in the slight headwind. We stopped halfway up for some food and then slowly climbed on. After the first came a steady descent to the base of the second, since Dillon we had quickly ran out of water and Stefaan took the duty of walking up to the few trailer homes dotted along the route to get some. The first two attempts he was barked away by dogs then eventually he found some guy who stumbled out of his home to help fill bottles from the spigot.

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Stefaan finally getting some water.

By this time the sun had started falling steadily and we still had the second, longer pass to go. It was slow progress all day especially with Stefaan’s saddle sores. I slowly pulled away from him on the final ascent as my determination to be done with the climbing took over from the pain my arms, neck and legs were kicking out. The road curved up and round the final bend which took an eternity and I was feeling pretty low. I knew by this point Wim, Terry and Jessica were probably already relaxing in Jackson. But a strange sensation happens at the top of a pass. After spending several hours listening to your own heavy breathing and chain winding round in dead silence you suddenly see the curve at the top where the road stops going up and seemingly drops of the other end out of sight. Once you reach that point, without even pedalling, you begin to gain speed as the wheels snowball into action and the dead silence is replaced by the rush of wind reducing your eyes to tears and blasting your ears with noise.

I don’t think I’ve felt as happy all trip as I was to get to the top of the second pass today. I couldn’t even see Stefaan behind me so I was all alone. I threw my fist in the air and when one car eventually passed I shouted “COME ON! WHOO!”.

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Top of the final pass.

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As I approached Jackson I wasn’t expecting much, maybe some primitive camping and a gas station supper. But as I pulled in I see the other bikes up against the Jackson Lodge building. In the middle of a pretty baron town is this amazing bar, restaurant hot springs resort which allows you to camp out back. We rejoiced with a beer and food at our fortune before taking a dip in the hot spring and hitting the sack.

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Jackson Lodge

1 comment from 2010

Ben31 July 2010

Haha I can def imagine you shouting whooo when someone paced past Keep it going bud! See you soon <3 xxx

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