Best Day Yet

(1) Saskia attacking the roads paralleling the Tetons.  (2) Maso and I on the Continental Divide.  (3) Scott, Natalie, and me at a gorgeous lake on Togwotee Pass; (4) Back in the mountains again!!!

Huge two days today and yesterday, both will rank in my top 10 at the end of the summer (for those who don't know me very well, I rank just about everything).  We climbed two passes - Togwotee and Teton Pass - in successive days with about 3,000 feet gains apiece.  Thus, we are all pretty exhausted tonight, but very content with what we completed.  Both days in description:

July 29, Dubois to Jackson

We woke up at 5 AM facing 85 miles with temps in the 40s and a climb early.  I was channeling the energy that got me so jacked up before our failed ride to Mount Vernon in Iowa.  I had to remind myself to pace myself because the climb would last until about mile 30.  Around mile 15-20 we started gaining noticeable elevation into the Absaroka Mountains.  It was so great being back in the mountains after being away for so long.  I used my acclimatization to altitude to make my way up the pass quicker than I thought, and before I knew it Scott, Maso, and I were at the top.  We took some pictures at the Continental Divide sign (9,658 feet) and then started our descent.  Amazingly, no construction interruptions yet.  Unfortunately, that changed pretty quickly.  We were tripped up by an 8-mile stretch and they had to shuttle us to the end of the road work.  Of course it sucked, but because EFI was already done it didn't bother me as much as the previous interruption.  Just another stretch to add to the list that I have to do to complete the trip in the future.  

The rest of the day more than made up for the construction.  Just a mile after lunch we came over a hill and saw the Tetons in the distance.  It was so beautiful.  We spent the next hour approaching the range, which seem to explode out of relatively flat ground surrounding them.  They just dominate the landscape.  We spent $12 and entered the park for the afternoon.  I've camped there before, so it was really cool to see some of that stuff again.  Most of the group hadn't seen the Tetons before, however, so they were very excited.  At the end of the day, most of the people claimed that it was their absolute favorite day of the year.  Pictures don't do those mountains any justice.  The ride was great as well, with a slight tailwind and a small downhill most of the afternoon into Jackson.  We even got to cruise on a winding bike path at about 20-25 mph; probably a little dangerous but a lot of fun.

July 30- Jackson to Ashton, ID 

I loved the ride to Jackson, but it was nothing compared to today's ride this morning.  The ride up Togwotee Pass was fun but it was honestly too short and shallow.  I felt like if we were crossing the Continental Divide, we needed something hardcore to make our efforts worthy of the accomplishment.  Today's climb up Teton Pass took care of that.  

Two things: Natalie was driving the van today, so she woke up really early this morning, unbeknownst to all of us, and did the climb around 4 or 5 AM.  While we were getting ready, somebody noticed that she was missing and her bike was gone.  Remember, she's doing this with a broke wrist and she can't shift out of her second ring or brake with her front hand because of it.  That didn't stop her from wanting to get in on the action.  It set a great tone for the day.

Second really cool tone-setter: Shawn is slowly healing from his car run-in, but he's still nursing a sprained knee and has no bike to ride.  Making the best of the situation, he resolved to carry his busted bike, the one he built on his own, up the pass by walking it while we rode. Again, a great message to the rest of us.  

We left early amidst really cool temps (probably low 40s), but we would quickly shed the Under Armor and limb warmers when we started climbing.  One of my favorite pictures of the day is of us in front of a sign warning of a steep climb at 10% grades (up 10 feet for every 100 feet forward).  It was straight up almost from the very start.  I got into my lowest gear and just cranked for about 40 minutes.  There were some incredible views on the way up, but I didn't want to stop and lose momentum.  I just trusted the view from the top would be worth it.  I did have to stop to remove my Under Armor and pee, but I tried to jump back on the bike asap.  Didn't want my legs to tighten up.  Anyway, after a few switchbacks, I finally saw a sign at the top of the hill warning of a sharp descent in the other direction.  That gave me the last bit of energy I needed and I reached the top on sheer adrenaline.  Jake and Tino were up there waiting, and we shared a bunch of whoops, yells, hugs, and pictures while we waited for the rest of the group.  

They slowly started coming in: Maso, then Trevor, then Jonathan, then Lauren.  For each of them we were yelling like crazy people; the drivers on top of the mountain probably thought we were nuts.  The excitement that we had basically conquered the Rockies sent us over the edge of sanity.  After about half the group made it up, Jake and I were so jacked that we decided to do part of the climb again.  We dropped our camelbacks and started descending.  We made it about 3/4 to 1 mile before turning around and whipping back up.  However, about halfway up we approached Shawn, who was almost to the top while carrying his bike the whole time.  Jake came up with the idea that we should dismount and carry our bikes with him in a show of solidarity.  What was really cool was that other people had the same idea: Eileen, Peter, and Isabel all came tooling down and joined us.  A few more people saw us and joined as well; by the time we reached the top we had about 10 people carrying our bikes, with Shawn in front, in a total replay of Cool Runnings.  It was so awesome (and organic).  

We spent another hour on the hill taking pictures and doing a dance party, and then we descended.  Teton Pass has a mean descent, and it caused some nerves among a few of us, but everybody made it in one piece.  (Tino hit 56 mph, a new group record.)  We took a few pictures by the Idaho stateline sign before moving on.  The rest of the day was pretty ho-hum with about 25 miles of flats and 25 miles of hills before we reached Ashton.  The climb itself made today my favorite day of the trip so far.  What a rush!