Today was a long climb up to Dobois, which sits right before Togwotee Pass and then Grand Teton National Park. The fun started as Tyler and I entered the "Wind River" range in the mid-morning. We were facing a decent head & cross wind probably due to the area's terrain, but kept chugging along. Eric and Will rode up on us and we all rode together in a line and I was more than happy to draft someone.
But as we were pedaling though this, a storm had developed right in front of us, and all of a sudden we got slammed with some crazy crosswind. It was gusting pretty bad and I was treated to the sight of everyone in front of me leaning their bikes to the left a good 20 degrees into the wind just to stay on the road! I stopped and took out my camera and tried to record some video of it, but the fierce wind gusts kept pushing me off the road so I had to put it away and focus all of my energy on staying on the road.
We all fought through this for a few miles until we came to a rest stop and gladly pulled off the road and into one of the reinforced brick picnic shelters for some protection. A sign at the rest stop noted the area was known for very strong winds. We ate lunch and hung out for about an hour while it rained a bit and the storm ahead of us passed and the wind died down to a more manageable level.
We left the safety of our shelter and went back to the uphill grind and eventually made it into Dobois. The only real place to camp in this town was the KOA, which is expensive for a single cyclist but when you have 4 to split the cost of 1 site, it brought the cost down to a more reasonable $10/each.
Tyler and I set up our tents then jumped in the pool, took showers, and did our laundry (At least KOA have decent services.) As we made our way back to our tents it had gotten seriously windy again and Eric & Will's 4-man tent was being bent by the wind and they were afraid the poles would snap. I helped Eric position a picnic table on its side in front of their tent to try and block some of the wind.
By this time was getting late and I was hungry. Tyler got a call from a reporter from his hometown and was stuck talking to him, so I ventured into town alone to find a place to eat. It was after 9pm at this point so only 2 restaurants were still open and I picked the steak house. Tyler eventually joined me and again we both ordered $10 burritos and were hoping they would not disappoint like yesterday, but they were big and tasty and filled me up quite nicely! Afterwards we walked back to the KOA, which was surprisingly quite for a packed campsite, and fell asleep. Another pass to cross tomorrow!
Start: Lander, WY
End: Dobios, WY
Distance: 76.76 miles
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