I'm not sure if that was sweat or tears rolling down my face. Maybe it was both.
What a climb! Up and over the Big Horn Pass we went. I don't think I ever want to do it again by bike, but I'm glad I did it once. I made it the 20 miles and 6000 ft without walking. There were definitely times when I wanted to walk (or get in the van), especially when the 10%+ grade just kept going, and going, and going, and... I did stop at two aid stations, one because I needed to switch gloves and the other because I needed more water. But other than that, up, up, I went. And it was beautiful. One of the reasons that I like to bike is because you see and sense things differently than in a car. For one you're going slower (sometimes a lot slower) so you see more, but you also feel, smell, and hear the surroundings. And sometimes you get chased by sheep herding dogs. Like today. Oh, and one person saw a moose. I wasn't so lucky.
It was an equally beautiful descent. It wasn't too technical and there weren't many cars so I was able to look around a bit and take a few photos (I stopped to take the photos).
We did have one downer today. When we rolled into the hotel one of our guides was waiting for us and said, "I have some bad news." We all guessed that we didn't have dinner again tonight, but he said, "no worse." We then all guessed that we didn't have hotel rooms. We were wrong again. Turns out one of our guides tested positive for Covid today (all guides and guests are vaccinated). As of right now, he is the only one. They offered tests to all of us. So far I feel okay and according to my Whoop strap my respiratory rate is still normal so I opted not to take a test. The Whoop respiratory rate statistic has been shown to be a pretty good early indicator of Covid, so I've been watching mine carefully on this trip. I've also tried to keep up the precautions that I took at home, like wearing a mask, but not everyone is being as careful and we do interact with each other without masks at times. If we test positive we have to quarantine for 10 days and test negative before we're allowed to rejoin the trip. I'm really hoping I can make it through without that happening.
Day 16 stats:
distance: 99.6 miles
elevation gain: 7303 ft
nutrition:
breakfast: eggs, hash browns, sourdough toast
lunch: grilled cheese, coleslaw
post-ride: 1 recovery drink, Kate's chocolate cherry bar, 1 small coke, 1 orange
gels: 4
bloks: 1
52 oz skratch superfuel, 78 oz zym
Day 17 details - Sheridan to Gillette
planned distance: 108 miles
planned elevation gain: 4779 ft