WYOMING! Sad to see you go, Colorado.

I woke up, once again, with a waterfall running from my mouth. I’ve got to learn this whole sleeping on the back thing. Anyway, we wanted to wake up at 5 AM to avoid moderate winds we’ve been hearing about. I packed up pretty quickly, unlike Alex, who is probably the slowest packer on the TransAm. Tim and I decided to hit up the local cafe for coffee before our departure. ‘Twas a chilly morning, somewhere near the low 40’s when we woke up, so we layered up for the trek into town. The sun was just rising, and I became excited because I love starting the day during sunrise.

Tim and I drank at least two coffees before Alex arrived, and with one last chug we were out the door. The excitement was amongst us because today, today we hit WYOMING.

We rolled out of town on a slight incline, which quickly warmed us up. We all undressed into our base layers, and loaded up on sunblock. The amount of lotion Alex uses is enough to keep a fully grown elephant pale in the safari. Whenever he asks me “Is there any left on my face?”, I lie and say no.

Tim and I took off, feeling great without any morning wind, and sailed 20 miles like it was nada. We patiently waited about a quarter mile away from the Wyoming border for Alex so we could cross the state line together as a team. All for one and one for all. What does Alex do when he sees us waiting you ask? He flys by us and crosses the border without a care in the world!

We all took our pictures and ate a quick snack, we still wanted to get 40 miles completed before the real winds kicked in around noon. We set off again, I was blasting Good Charlotte and singing at the top of my lungs. Unfortunately, the weather cracks on the road continued into Wyoming, so I may have cursed at them a couple times. I promise it’s worse than you think.

More on Wyoming though, it’s absolutely beautiful. The scenery quickly changed from skyscraper mountains to large rolling hills. You could again see miles ahead of you. A lot of Trans Am racers were passing by today, so I screamed out “Enjoy Colorado!”. I will certainly miss Colorado and what it has offered me, but I’ve heard exciting things about Wyoming, so we’ll see where it takes us.

We absolutely crushed our ride into Riverside, WY, where our first stop was a convenience store. I quickly found a charger to plug in my phone, Good Charlotte had it running low. I proceeded to find a bench to make the routine bagel, banana, and peanut butter lunch. I so desperately look forward to this meal every day, it’s just the perfect filler upper and fuel I require. I usually don’t ever need to buy items from convenience stores, but something grabbed my attention on this warm afternoon. Chocolate milk. I pulled the trigger, and by the time I even made it to my bike, it was gone. Worth it.

With only 18 miles to go, we figured we had it in the bag. The first lesson you learn in Wyoming, wind is not your friend. We immediately entered a crosswind, which to our benefit still allows you to keep a somewhat normal pace. However, you are pushed either into the road or off it. Today, we were being blown towards pits to our right. As long as you stay strong and focus, you’ll be okay.

18 miles later, I was ready to be off the bike. I only cursed once or twice on the ride into town, I consider that a win. Our first stop was the grocery store, where I loaded up on the usual items, and splurged on some new ones. Fresh foods are hard to come by, so when a town is large enough to have a grocery store, you take advantage. We had heard Saratoga offered a free hot spring as well, so our second stop was checking into this. I’m extremely glad we did. Turns out the sulfur hot spring was available, so I immediately changed into my only other pair of shorts and tiptoe my way into a scalding hot pool. When I got laughed at from the locals for having to get out two seconds after I got in, they graciously shared the secret of the cooler spot. There, I was able to gently lower my legs into the sulfer-smelling pool, and eventually submerge my whole sore body. It felt amazing, but after a few minutes the heat became too much for me. I popped out, grabbed my towel, with pruned fingers, and hit the showers. I’m hopeful my farmers tan didn’t scare anyone away.

With that being done, we had some time to kill, so we chose the town library. The librarian was extremely kind, and pointed us into the direction of a charging station. I attempted to do some journaling, but slacked because I was roughly planning the next day’s ride, which was looking like a huge day. Libraries are a sanctuary for cyclists, if I could bike library to library through the country, I would.

Eventually, we rolled to Karim’s, our warmshowers host while in Saratoga. For those unaware, warmshowers.org is a community of people who offer a home for traveling cyclists to stay in. Karim welcomed us, and 3 other bikers, into his home, and offered laundry and kitchen amenities. He was extremely hospitable and a professional host, he even had the wifi written on a post-it note on the coffee table. The seven of us hung out all night, sharing stories about the trail and advice on what’s to come. I can’t thank Karim enough for having us. The night ended on a great note, I finished a pint of ice cream by myself. I laid on my noisy sleeping pAd with my sweet tooth satisfied, and set an alarm clock for 3 AM. Tomorrow will be a huge day, 111 miles through the Great Divide Basin. Let’s see how this unfolds.

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