105.64 miles, 3,307 feet of climbing
After yesterday, my legs were pretty tired and not wanting to do their thing today. Right after I left the campground, there was a construction sign. The road was pretty rough for the first 10 miles, but since it was early on a Saturday morning, there wasn’t too much traffic. After I made it through the construction zone, the scenery was great.
I know that Star Valley has a bad reputation among cyclists, but everyone was very courteous. I had to use the bathroom but as I was going through Afton, I was trying to find a gas station on the right side of the road. I want to avoid left turns. It’s a safety thing. The only problem is that there was only one gas station on the west side of the road in Afton, and a tour bus full of senior citizens had pulled up just before I got there. It was a long wait.
I was going past a field full of cows. A few mooed at me. I mooed back. A few more looked up and mooed at me. So I continued mooing at cows as I went by.
A few minutes later, I went past another field. A cow had stuck its head through the fence and was eating grass. I mooed. The cow jerked its head back up and stared indignantly at me.
I pondered all this and realized that I was trying to speak another language and I have no idea what I was saying. I’m sure that as I passed the first field and mooed, the cows were saying, “Thank you, and good morning to you.”
I must have somehow changed my pronunciation in the second field and that cow was saying something more along the lines of: “Oh, no you didn’t just say that about my mother! You are so lucky that this fence here!”
So yeah, I’ve spent an awful lot of time in my own head lately and maybe that’s not a great idea.
I climbed Salt River Pass, very slowly because my legs were quite tired. But I have to say that it’s an easier climb from the north. But I really enjoyed the descent.
After the long days I’ve been putting in, it felt weird to reach the halfway point so early in the day, then it was a long slow descent into Idaho and to Geneva. That’s where the next climb started. By now, my legs were feeling better, and I went up it more easily.
I made my way through Montpelier and turned toward Bear Lake. I was feeling pretty good so instead of stopping in St. Charles, as I was planning, Kelly and I decided to push a few more miles and end at the Utah border. It was about seven more miles, but that means we have now gone through three states this week. I have gone 703 miles and as of this moment, I feel better than I usually after a through hike. I have some pain behind my knees today. My feet are also slightly swollen. But I feel pretty good.
Tomorrow is a rest day. I’m looking forward to a quiet day after all the riding this week. Then Monday we start our way through Utah.