| GO! FIGHT! DIG!?!?? |
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Got started in Rexburg at about 8:30am and linked up with Mike near a town called Tetonia in the Teton Valley. He said the climb was going to be a doozy - he had parked his car at the top of Teton Pass and buzzed down into Idaho to link up with me. Was cool to be riding with Mike again after all of these years.
| Hey JC!!! |
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| Again - me taking advantage of another opportunity to do some drafting. Mike hauled me most of the way up to the base of the climb |
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The climb started easily but soon ramped up considerably - I found my way into my 36x25 and would stay there for the remainder of the climb. Mike had only a 39x23 in his bag of tricks and pretty much smoked me on the climb.
| I have a new appreciation for the seriousness of a 10% grade over 10miles. |
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Have to say that the climb was the hardest of the trip and was basically pure suffering. Just before I reached the top Amy passed by in the truck pulling the camper - boy was that thing sounding like it was laboring! We all joined together at the summit for some pictures and cold drinks and then Mike and I pushed off for the absolutely SCREAMING descent.
We both tried to stay off the brakes as much as we could stomach and hit 55mph several times and stayed above 45 for pretty much the entire down-run (nearly 10 miles). Total insanity but a total blast
We dropped into Jackson Hole and Amy went on the hunt for overnight accommodations for all of us. Hoback Junction (South of Jackson) sounded like a promising place but Amy returned as Mike and I headed down that way on our bikes with news that every campground was full along the Snake River. There were some possible spots along the Hoback River instead so we backtracked and Amy did some recon. She returned with news that she had found a beautiful spot about 8 miles down the road. Mike and I slogged our way to the campground - Mike at one point ran over the set of rumble strips that had been planted in the shoulder - to great effect! I almost fell over from laughing so hard on top of being 100-miles-in punchy. Good times.
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Mike and I doing a critical repair on the camper.
Mike was in shock that the Campagnolo cycling cap I'm wearing is one that Jim Randall wore all through High School with us and that I still had it and it was still in decent condition. |
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After a bit of cleanup we headed back to Jackson - Mike and I headed back up to the pass to pick up his 4-Runner that was still parked up there. Felt like returning to the scene of the crime. We returned to Jackson and had a big feed at Mountain High Pizza Pie before returning to our campground.
Since the decision had been made to bail on the Togwatee Pass route - we were now committed to traveling down 191 Southward to Farson and then back NE to Lander. On the map it sure looks like this is going to place us into some severe wasteland country. We'll see.
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