Day 14 Ashton, ID to Jackson, WY

Every evening after dinner, we have a meeting to go over the events of the day, then to hear about the next day's route.  Last night we learned some details about today's ride.  For example, for today's ride we found out that the pass we were going over was 8,431 feet above sea level.  Also, on the way to the pass, the grades went from 6 to 10%!  So, that struck fear in my heart!  Trying to climb steep hills in thin air?  Yikes!

I asked Tony, who had done the same ride 6 years ago, how it was.  "Oh, you can do it.  I only stopped once to wipe sweat out of my eyes.  You can do it."

Kind words.

Anyway, we left little Ashton and rode along rolling hills of wheat and potato fields.  We could see the Tetons far in the distance.  Those were the mountains we had to get over.

Along the way, my odometer hit the 1,000 mile mark!  I'm almost a quarter of the way done.

This is the view at the exact spot that I took the previous picture.  The Tetons were so beautiful.  There were so many farmhouses along the route that had that view out their front door!

After we left the little town of Victor, ID, we got on the Old Jackson Highway.  It was nice, because there was almost no traffic, and the sign was encouraging:  If you don't ride your bike to the summit, you can hike or rollerblade.  Or, maybe borrow a horse.  Good advice!

Wyoming!  It's the fourth state on our trip.

Uh oh.  Right behind the "Wyoming" sign, there's the warning of the dreaded 10% grade up ahead.

I pedaled as far as I could, but then my "Cycle America" trip became "Bike and Hike America."  I walked the last bit of the way up to the summit.  Kelly was walking ahead of me, and Terry was walking behind me.  For me, it was difficult even walking.  In the thin air, my heart was "beeping," as Erin and Halla used to say.  So, I failed Tony, but I still reached the top under my own power.

I saw some great views on my hike to the summit.

Finally, I made it to 8,431 feet, and there were amazing views of the valley below.

The descent down the other side of the pass was very fast and quite scary.  I was very happy to have disc brakes, but even then, I stopped a few times to rest my hands from all the braking I was having to do.  The views were still spectacular.

The Jackson area has a great bike path that took us all the way from the little town of Wilson to Jackson, nearly 10 miles away.  Here's a view from a bridge along the bike path.  That's the back side of the mountains we had been seeing all morning.

We reached Jackson, our home for two nights!

We have our second rest day here.  Barb and I, along with many other riders, are staying at the Virginian Lodge.  After checking in, Barb, Pam, Ken, and I had a great Mexican dinner, then gelato.  Yum.

The rest of this Saturday night is going to be spent doing a week's worth of laundry.  That's my life this summer:  ride all day, eat as much as I can, try to sleep, do laundry on Saturday, and rest on Sunday.  Oh, and blog.

Some people have asked me what I think about all day while I'm riding.  I thought about that today as I was riding.  I guess that riding is a little like meditation.  Most of the time, I'm focused on the task at hand, whether it's getting up that hill or staying to the right of the white line.  I might think about what I can add to my blog.  Little snippets of random songs will run through my head.  Most of the time I am, as they say, in the moment.