Day 10 – Colter Bay to a Wyoming rest area, 108.75 miles appx

I awoke early knowing I had a long day ahead of me to get to Lander about 150 miles away, the mystical city of bicycle pumps. I had only one flat and it was due to going off on a sidewalk leading into a hotel, so I was a little pensive but thought to myself, “what’s the worst that could happen?” I left east out of Teton after saying my goodbyes to Adam, the college student who returned my bibs. I had a big climb ahead of me and looked forward to it.
Along the climb on US-287 there was yet more road construction but nothing I felt completely destructive to the bike, and it looked like I was about 200 feet from the tree line this time. Once at the top some tourists were out of their RV taking pictures of the snow covered vistas and congratulated me as I came over Togwotee Pass. Mountain passes are much easier now after Mt Ranier, I keep thinking about that day and how hard it was, maybe my legs are stronger…
The descent was effortless, no roadwork made the encroaching storm clouds a little less painful to watch roll in from the south. They did make a short spit at me which sent me to the first gas station for some coffee and trail mix. I met a couple guys there who explained to me the sounds of when the snow bowls break and it’s usually out of towners who cause them. One was from eastern Colorado said I would miss hail season when riding across Kansas in late June. I wasn’t aware of such a season and would be glad I missed it. He also said the rain in Wyoming was similar to what had just passed and any rain would last just a few minutes.
I came across some more roadwork in the valley about 10 miles west of Dubois, WY. They were tarring some asphalt which I avoided, or thought I did. I flatted and instantly was aware of my surroundings, no working pump to fix the flat. In the distance there was a very worn looking building with a yellow and black lettered sign saying “Store Gas”, with evidence of neither.

I walked the mile to get there and fortunately there was an open sign. It was around lunch time so I was conveniently hungry. I walked in and their wares were haphazardly arranged on old metal shelving and behind glass cases, no one was around. I was interested to see where this would go so I hunted for someone with my most unaccented voice. I found a middle aged woman doing something in the back but couldn’t quite tell what was of import. She was quite helpful, they had a freezer full of microwave food which I had the lasagna and a root beer for about $5. There was a workshop out back with someone trying to change a transmission in a truck. I went through the motions of trying to fix the flat and this time the compressed air could only manage about 60 lbs of pressure. Another employee came in and was a mountain biker, he called his girlfriend in town 10 miles away to let her know I was coming to use his adapter for the presta valve. I set off and about a mile and a half down the road I heard the awful hiss again. I walked back to the store while a rain started to set in on the area. Nothing is more frustrating than to have to walk the ground covered you had just rode over so quickly. I fixed the flat again and was off, this time it was about 3pm and I knew it was going to be a hard ride into Lander if I were to make it by 9ish. I made it to Dubois and stopped where the mountain biker said his girlfriend lived, there were several bikes strewn about the area so I felt good… but no answer. It was starting to rain harder so I decided to head out of town thinking that the rain would last a few minutes like the fellow earlier up the mountain had said. The rain only came harder, and then the wind followed, making the rain bite and sting at my lips. I saw folks drive by with road bikes attached to the roof and imagined asking if I could buy their pump from them, I didn’t care what it would cost me. I lost my 27 gear which made hills a little more challenging than they should have been, and my speedometer went out for a few miles. I don’t have a lot of pictures of the area because it rained so hard and the clouds hung so low as if they wanted to scoop me up, there was nothing to see but grey.
I was feeling really for sorry for myself and then the anger started to set in so I had some good miles in the rain. I was very bitter, wet, cold, and pondering if there was such a thing as a tropical rain desert. The sun started to go down after hours in the rain and I saw a rest area sign ahead in 2 miles coming up, I needed water so I thought I’d stop. Then I started to fishtail – I was in instant denial. I kept pedaling, but curiosity drew my head down to watch my top tube move off axis from my headset. I started screaming, 3 flats in one day, soaking wet, and I was 30 miles from the closest town.
The rest area would be a somber refuge, I thought I would just call a cab to pick me up even though there probably wasn’t one in Lander 30 miles away. As I walked along the highway unable to see anything because of the clouds and rain, I felt very alone, stupid, defeated, ridiculous, but mostly stupid. It was about 8:30 by the time I stumbled into the rest area. There were signs saying “No open flames” and “No overnight camping”, I thought it would be nice to have some fire and a tent but mostly something just dry. And then I started to laugh, there were bicycles under the roofs of the picnic areas with a couple tents in the grassy areas. My search for a full 100 psi was in a rest area miles from any civilization. I had been looking for a pump for a long time… Victory!
I met the three individuals. One European gentleman had been on the road for a month and planned to make the grand tour of Yellowstone before heading west. The other 2 at the stop were on their way to Vancouver from Lubbock. They had graduated from school and decided to make the best of it. We were all tired and wet.
Seeing the tent as useless, I bundled up in the sleeping bag with my wet clothes and wrapped myself in the tarp like a burrito… Tomorrow I would hopefully get to Lander, land of pumps. Since it was 30 miles I considered it walking distance, I felt a little easier going to sleep. Plus, it wouldn’t be raining in the morning as it usually just rains in the afternoon.