Day 69 West Yellowstone to Ennis

Last night we had a close encounter with a Grizzly bear. About 3AM Joel heard a noise by the garbage, looked out of bis tent and there it was. The reaction of the campsite staff the next morni.g was a rather unconcerned 'Oh not again'. Joel by the way is Cathy's  nephew who lives locally and will be ridiing with us for a few days. I am beginning to wonder if he is really an Englishman in disguise as unlike most Americans he understands me first take most of the time and has a  pretty dry sense of bumour which I like. In fact he would make a good Greg replacement especially if he were to grow a beard.

The ride today was a cinch. Downhill all the way with a tailwind through the big open spaces  and beautiful scenery of Montana. I averaged 15.2 mph which for me is not bad loaded up. Elsewhere Ellen has become a Tour De France addict and has a girlie crush on one of the Schleck brothers even though they are without facial growth. Rumour has it that she has a poster on the wall of her tent.

After our little detour in Yellowstone it was good to be back on the route proper today.

Miles Today  71
Total           3483

Day 68 Yellowstone Loop Part 2

After a very heavy thunderstorm last night we woke up to a very soggy campsite. We started the day with two modest ascents up to the Great  Divide then a massive ten mile descent to Old Faithful. 

It fires off roughly every 96 minutes and I luckily arrived to join the crowds ten minutes before lift off. The heavens then opened and the last 30 miles of the day on a very busy road were unpleasant to say the least. It was so cold that I could not turn on my Dell to take photographs as it operates by a heat sensitive screen.

Great thing  about the weather here though is that when it strikes it tends to be ferocious but when it stops the sun comes out and you dry off very quickly.

Unfortunately Dolo had a spot of bother  with the weather today. She was badly affected by the cold, fell off her bike, got disorientated and was delivered to the campsite by ambulance.

However she swiftly recovered and didn't miss her regular Mcdonalds ice  cream fix, after a telling off from our leader about the importance of wearing watetproofs when it's cold and raining.

Miles Today 51
Total          3407

Day 67 Yellowstone Park Loop Part 1

As I suspected this park is something special. Hot springs, geysers, elk, moose,  bison, bears, snow capped peaks, it's got the blooming lot, apart from PIE!  From a cycling perspective it was a long hard day and no wonder as it was all between 7500' and 8000'.

Hope the photos bring it over. Tomorrow we pass by Old Faithful.

Miles Today 71
Total         3353

Day 66 Warm River to Madison, Yellowstone Park

I had a long stretch cycling alone this morning on a quite road and all I could think about was bears. Should I buy some bear spray at 50$. What would I do if I confronted a bear. Would I have the bottle to follow the advice a.d stand my ground if it charged or run or cycle like hell. I really dont know but there is a real danger here so I feel that I must stay vigilant.

By midday I hooked up with Don and Ellen and we rode into West Yellowstone town at a brisk pace, where due to no showets again tonight, we all took showers at the launderette, as we dont like to smell too badly.

After meeting up with the rest of the group we sbopped, ate pizza and then cycled into the park to begin our 2 day loop. I have to say that after the Tetons I was somewhat underwhelmed and may ride back to West Yellowstone, take a rest day and do the tourist  bus tour to Old Faithful.

However I am sure that we have entered the park by the tradesman's entrance so I am POSITIVE things will get better.

Miles Today   71
Total            3282

Day 65 Jackson to Warm River

Today is my birthday a.d what better way to start than a Mcdonalds  breakfast and a 10 mile ascent over the very STEEP Teton Pass, on a  bike  decorated with blue birthday ribbon. We are going this way  because cycling groups are not allowed to enter Yellowstone Park by the South entrance so we have to take a 140 mile detour to get in by the west entrance. Cars rule over here!

The day was not without incident. Hubert had a puncture at the start of the climb. Always diffiicult to repair with his Rohloff hub. The coupling on Dolores' Bike Friday trailer broke AGAIN halfway up the hill. Between us  Greg and I managed to make a temporary repair. At the top of the hill Greg announced that for personal reasons he was quitti.g the tour. Sad to see you go mate, have really enjoyed your company and if I dont see you in San Francisco at the end of the tour then somewhere on the slopes next season.

Ten miles from the end our Q sheets diverted us onto 5 miles of gravel track that was supposed to be a shortcut. Unfortunately we got totally lost due to errors in the instructions and ended up in camp very late at 8PM. No showers also meant that I finished the day bathing in the very COLD inappropriately named 'Warm River'

I alzo got some birthday presents. All in all a good day with some great riding.

Miles Today  75
Total