Day 20 - Casper to Lusk Wyoming - Day of Sevens

Day – 20 – Casper WY to Lusk WY
Wicked 107 miles at 107 degrees on 7/7/07 … is that lucky or what?

“Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope play.”

Euphoria Meter (1-10): 4

One of the few big towns we passed today.

Ride Stats:
Distance: 107 miles
Riding Time: 6:00
Max Speed: 36.5
Average Speed: 17.5

Most of the six hour ride looked like this.

Weather:
I started at Seven am and the temperature was Sixty SEVEN degrees. When the ride ended, the temperature was One Hundred and Seven degrees! It was really hot and we were all trying to get off the road as soon as possible. I made it in by 1:00.

Incidents and Rider Report
The tri-motor was looking strong today. Little Jennifer was literally running on her pedals as the 70lb bike roared by me on one of the long downhill grades that we did today. They don’t go quite as fast up. Their intent was to finish today, I don’t know yet if they made it or not. I think everyone else made it. Fortunately the ride ended with a little tail wind.

How I Feel (1-10) : 8
I had a pretty good night’s sleep. Yesterday was a good day of rest along with a nap yesterday. My seat felt pretty good for the first 85 miles or so. After that I was ready to get off the bike. I did try wearing two pairs of shorts today along with my collection of balms. I think the two shorts helped.

Stuff happens:

Yesterday Rich and I had a day off in Casper. We slept in, caught up on emails a bit, rode our bikes to the mall (11 miles), visited the bike shop for some adjustments, had ice cream, took a nap, had a nice dinner and went to bed after we cleaned our bikes.

Me, Gerard, Sarah and Gerard's roomate, Lenny from Lepsig OH in front of the river in Casper after a great meal at "Poor Boys" on our day off.

Tonight my wife Cindy and daughter Lindsay are together tonight going to the play “Wicked” in Columbus as a treat from me for Cindy’s upcoming birthday. I miss them and hope they have a great time.

Today was one of those days we just have to do to get across America. The scenery is best explained as vast. Besides the cars that whizzed by us, we did not see much in the way of signs of civilizations. Due to perhaps the heat and the sense of urgency to get off the road asap, I wasn’t inspired to take many photos.

There were some early morning wildlife observations. There were gopher holes and gophers everywhere for a long stretch. Many folks missed them; they do blend in with dirt pretty good. I also spotted an antelope, deer, a few head of cattle.

We did go by a drag strip on the outskirts of Douglas WY. They were in full operation. While I rode by I was able to watch 3 sets of cars drag race each other. It made me wonder where my buddy Tom Dimond is this weekend racing his car?!

In Douglas Wyoming we passed a very scenic entrance to the State of Wyoming Fairgrounds.

We also went down long lonely stretches of railroad tracks. There were at least four trains in relatively quick succession that were longer than any other train or trains I think I’ve ever seen. What is interesting out here in the rolling terrain is our ability to see the trains in the distance. I am sure there were portions of the ride where we could see for 50 miles or so. In Ohio 10 mile visibility is considered a good day. I finally counted the cars of one of the trains and came up with One Hundred and Sixty SEVEN cars!

Max rode with me today for a section of the ride. He’s really become much smoother and more powerful as a cyclist. Nice to be 20 years old. The above picture of Max and I is in front of one of the many signs we have started seeing for Wall Drug. We'll be there on July 10th for Cindy's birthday. I'm planning a party for her, hope she shows up!

Rich rode with Sarah for the entire ride and averaged 17.2 mph for the ride. He’s really getting this bicycling thing down.

No, these aren't the ruby slippes from the Wizard of Oz, they are my new favorite bike shoes. They are so comfortable I've not been wearing socks. The air flowing through keeps my toes cool and the custom formed carbon fiber soles really fit my feet better than any pair of shoes I own. Check out Rocket7.com for more info.

While Cindy and Lindsay had a nice evening of dinner and theatre, tonight our group had dinner at Lusk's finest eatery. Pictured here is one of the locals who volunteers to help maintain the high quality health code standards of eating establishments in Lusk. (Be sure to look close at what is in his right hand). Don't you wish you were here with me honey? The America by Bicycle group were the only folks who didn't smoke while eating.