Tour Divide Day 8

Tour Divide Day 8-Tetonia to Somewhere about 30 miles past Pinedale, ~140 miles

This would prove to be a tough morning. I again had a metal picture of the elevation that I would face on this section of reroute but I was way off.... waaaaaaayyyyyyyy off... just way, way..... way off.

I was up about an hour later than usual, 5:45, because I wanted to give my body a chance to rest. There was a breakfast included with the room I stayed in which basically consisted of a continental type breakfast of home cooked food! I ate like crazy since I was still hungry from not eating the night before. My favorite was the home made cinnamon rolls! I wrapped up two of those bad boys to go and put them in my jersey pocket.

The road leading out of Tetonia was paved and a really nice change of pace compared to the rail trail snow storm of the previous night. I passed through Driggs and headed towards Jackson, my goal for an early lunch. My timeline was based upon my belief that it was FLAT going into Jackson. (What is with me and being off about all the reroute elevations?) After Driggs I left Idaho, which meant I had now checked Canada and two states off my list.

A Wyoming State Trooper waiting behind a parked vehicle, nabbing speeders RIGHT AT THE BORDER. 

Just after crossing into Wyoming the road started going upward very steeply. I started climbing and quickly I was spinning in granny gear while begging for air. I rounded a corner and saw a mountain of a pass looming in front of me which was accompanied by a sign that said, "Very steep  roadway for next five miles." 

I ground and ground and ground on the cranks. With each foot of elevation gain the air got thinner and thinner. It didn't help that I couldn't stop watching each hundredth of a mile tick by on my GPS. I wish I still had the GPS track so I could whine to you about the exact elevation gain but suffice it to say that I climbed about 2000 feet in 4 miles of roadway and I never got out of granny gear. As I topped out the pass I was super excited to bomb the roadway down to Jackson. I was getting hungry!

I started flying down the road and a quick glance showed that I was way off the GPS marker. I stopped and looked where the GPS line was but all I saw was a huge cliff going down the ravine that was covered in several meters of snow. I was confused by this and after some thought I remembered something about a bike path before Jackson. A quick review of my map cues showed that there was indeed a bike path starting at the top of the pass. 

I turned around and rode about a mile BACK UP to the top of the pass. When I arrived I was even more confused. The line that my GPS showed basically just went off down the side of the ravine. There was no path. I stopped to talk to some roadies that were out and they said. "Yeah, there is a bike path. It's under that fifteen feet of snow that slopes at 45 degrees down the side of the cliff." I explained that was where I was going and they told me it was closed. I explained that I had to because of the race rules. One rider responded, "If you're going down there for a bike race across the country because you 'have to', you're f^cking crazy and you're going to die." I responded, "You got me pegged. See ya!"

I took off walking aimlessly through snow that was more than knee deep, dragging my bike along. I had no idea where the trial was so I just followed the line on my GPS for a mile or so until I came to a place where it looked like there was a trail carved in the side of the ravine. Another mile of snow hiking brought me low enough that there was a low snow pack and the paved bike path revealed itself. While I was able to ride, there were still several fallen trees and snow berms that I needed to traverse. 

I finally got to a rideable path and I was at long last reaping some free speed from all that climbing I did. Alas, it didn't last for long. The rear of my bike began weave and I realized I was getting a flat. Of course!!!!!

I couldn't find a leak for the life of me and eventually I realized that the nozzle wasn't closed all the way on the tubeless valve. (How the hell did that come open?) I aired up the tire again and started riding only to realize the tire was too flat still. I stopped again and aired it up. This time when I took off the nozzle it pulled out the removable core of the valve and the tire went flat. Sigh. I put the core back in and re-inflated the tire AGAIN. This time I got it right and I was able to move on, although I was super frustrated at this point. The only thing more annoying than pumping up a 29" MTB tire with a hand pump is doing it three times in a row.

Once I was in Jackons I ate at McDonalds. While eating I struck up a conversation with a couple that wanted to know why I was eating four burgers, four orders of fries and a stack of apple pies. After 'lunch' I stopped in for food at the local market and then I took off down the route. 

Twenty miles later I was feeling pretty sleepy so I stopped at a gas station and picked up some ice cream and Nodoz (Thanks for the intel Marshal Bird and thanks to Dave G. for reminding me about it!). Those Nodoz would come in handy for much of the rest of the race. Starting at this point I would get really sleepy in the afternoons and each day the sleepy feeling got stronger and stronger. (Several times later in the race I actually woke up to the feeling of my bike bumping up and down because I had fallen asleep in the aerobars and ridden off the road.)

I shot this video post ice cream and Nodoz.

Just after this video the route left the road and followed a trail that was really just a faint line through forest and fields. Then I came across a herd of cows standing on my faintly visible trail. I remembered to get video this time!

John Wayne, eat your heart out.

"Don't look at me like that."

~Me speaking to a cow

Shortly after this I passed another gas station that I stopped at for ice cream. As soon as I walked in the door the attendant said, "The ice cream is right there." Apparently I wasn't the first racer she had helped!

I can't remember for the life of me what the route was like after this but I do remember getting to Pinedale. I stopped in at a pizza place and ordered food. Then I walked over to a gas station and resupplied while I was waiting for food. By time my resupply was packed up my pizza was ready. I ate a bunch and wrapped up a little to go. 

Then it was off and running. I put in another 30ish miles even though it was getting dark by time I was leaving Pinedale. I knew that eventually the route would leave the roadway and I would be able to find some sage. Unfortunately I started to get really cold and all I could think about was sleep. (I was only a few miles away from the dirt when I decided to stop. Had I know that I would have just kept riding.)

After tons of effort looking into the dark trying to find a spot, I saw a little outcropping of trees just big enough to hide me and my bike. I shoved my bike in, cleared a bivy spot, laid out my stuff, got cozy and started eating. 

Here is a video I made just after I got in my bivy. Right towards the end I pause because I hear I really weird sound.....

Then I heard an interesting sound, kinda like a squirrel but it was larger sounding. Then I heard multiple varmints making the noise from different sides around my bivy spot. It sounded like they were talking. I started to get concerned. Was I laying on their nut stash?

Then all of the sudden these four huge @$$ squirrels started charging at my bivy from different directions. As soon as I would kick at one, another would charge towards my head. After a 30 second barrage there was a cease fire. I took the opportunity to get out of Dodge. I left them half a cinnamon roll for their troubles. I hoped it was a peace offering that would heal the hurt between bikepackers and rodent kind. That's a war none of us needs. 

Looking back I still can't believe I got into a gang turf fight with a bunch of squirrels over a bivy spot....

I packed up my stuff and started riding. About two miles down the road I was getting really tired. Like, REALLY TIRED. It was dark and I just couldn't see any spots. I eventually fell asleep on  my bike and crashed into the ditch. I woke up as I was going head first into the grass. 

I just shrugged my shoulder and figured the side of the road was better than the middle of the road. I reached over, unclipped my sleep system, pulled it out of the dry bag and crawled in. I was out before I even knew it. 

(I slept horribly this night. It was really cold and I woke up with tons of frost on my sleeping bag. [My bag was actually frozen to my bivy.] During the night I woke up shivering heavily several times. In retrospect I realized I had lost so much body fat that my sleep system wasn't warm enough, even though I had tested it below freezing at home in Alaska. I remedied this in Steamboat by buying a Smartwool (PhD!) base layer which worked really well.)

Coming up: I make my assault on the Basin......