July 19, Stage 13

July 19 (I got confused talking to Marsha and thought that this was Friday, the 13th. It felt like a Friday, the 13th. Just Stage 13.) Sheridan, WY to Gillette, WY (population 29,000). 110 miles, 3,500 climbing ft. Remember when I suggested last night that today should be an easier day, with 13 fewer miles and 3,000 fewer climbing feet? During the night, I began to wonder about the possibility of a headwind. 15-20 mph out of the east and south, the directions that we were headed all day. Temperature quickly rose above 90, and bounced around 100 off and on. (My bike computer has a thermometer built in, along with an altimeter.) So, it was a long, miserable day. The saving grace was that Fredrico, a thirties-something young guy from Italy, and I rode together about 60 of the miles, taking turns leading into the wind, switching after about 1-2 miles. As I said earlier, that made a big difference. Quite a few riders got into Gillette after we did--around 5 p.m. Terrain was a lot like eastern Colorado, with foothills, some irrigation, range pasture, abandoned houses, and businessesoccasional oil and gas installations, some cattle, one corn field--about waist-high, rare water in the form of creeks, rivers. Long 1-3% inclines and declines. For about 5 minutes, we had a slight tailwind. Staying at a new, huge Best Western. Ate at their restaurant since it was an all you can eat buffet. Got to pack in the protein. Lon Haldeman and Susan Notorangelo are the owners of PACTour, which they started more than 25 years ago (I may be repeating myself--the days all run into each other. The ride is very disorienting. Since my cell phone stopped picking up email, I have no idea what is going on in the world most of the time. There are advantages. Anyhow, each day, Lon and Susan provide a route sheet and a cue sheet, which shows any turns we make during the day. Some days, like today and yesterday, we were on US Route 14 the whole day. One couple on a tandem, made a wrong turn, adding 7 miles to their day. The hope tomorrow is for less headwind, and even a little tailwind. That would not seem too much to ask of the weather gods after two weeks of riding. If we can get into Custer, SD, tomorrow, we have a short, 70 mile day on Sunday, to give time to visit Mount Rushmore. Marsha says that Iowa should get a break in its hot weather in the next day or so. Usually, cooler weather in Iowa is accompanied with a wind out of the east and rain. The ride is having some "war of attrition" quality. Several riders have colds. Lon and Susan require us to wash our hands every time we stop for a food or liquid break.