26: Wyoming!
Yesterday (day 25) began with the unfortunate discovery that my rear carbon wheel was damaged in a manner that would be unwise to trust into the rugged and remote reaches of the Wyoming Range.
Fortunately, Dan at The Wheel Wrangler managed to make time to built up a new wheel for me, and also service my suspension and dropper post (both about 200 hours overdue on their 50 hour service interval) and quiet down my creaking headset, though this meant a whole day hanging around in Victor.
By uncanny luck, Victor also has a great gear repair shop, Needle & Shred, where Tim put a new slider on my triangle bag zipper which lately was bursting open and threatening to become a problem.
I had a delightful mimosa brunch at Butter and visited the Grand Teton Brewing Company—a favorite of mine (their Bitch Creek ESB has been permanently discontinued 😩).
By happy coincidence, my coworker Damon and his two delightful children were passing through the area yesterday and met up with me for an early dinner. It was delightful to see a familiar face!
By another happy coincidence, a ska band was playing the last of Victor’s Music on Main series. I stuck around and enjoyed the show—and was blown away by the huge community turnout for the event.
My resupply box arrived in Victor early this morning, which I picked up when the post office opened. By 9 AM I was on the trail climbing up into the Palisades, with a repaired bike, triangle bag, full batteries, and full supplies.
I crossed into Wyoming today around noon, marking the crossing into a new state with a celebratory swig of whiskey.
The Pole Canyon and Mikesell trails get ridden frequently, offering pleasant (if sometimes steep and rocky) climbing. In Wyoming the trail (“sheep driveway”) became more of an adventure ride—slower, but not painful.
I finished the day with a long soak at Astoria Hot Springs, camping nearby to keep open the possibility of a quick return in the morning.
I’ll be starting into the Wyoming range tomorrow—reputed to be the most challenging riding of the route. I expect the crossing to take three days.