Bob Dylan must have been on a bicycle tour* when he wrote "they say the darkest hour is always just before the dawn". Every day is different. Yesterday was a very dark day, despite our riding through a beautiful place. The route was almost all uphill, we had to cross two tough passes, Penny strained her knee, the road was narrow and packed with traffic and we ended the day camping in subfreezing weather. We were pretty discouraged and weren't sure how we'd manage today.
But today turned out to be a good day, despite some hiccups. As we were packing up the tent, etc., in the cold morning air, one of the Backroads crew members from the site next to us brought over a huge plate of leftover eggs and hash browns and a large coffee. The food was cold but it tasted SO good to us, and the coffee was a treat. We got going on the bike very late (10:30) as we waited for the temperature to rise. We started off very slowly, deliberately testing Penny's knee and letting our muscles warm up. About 15 miles in, we had a flat - this time on the front tire for a change. It is a lot easier to fix than the rear, but by the time we found a place to pull off, unload everything and do the repair we spent a good 45 minutes on the side of the road taking care of that. Still, we were upbeat. The weather kept improving, the traffic lightened up and the scenery was gorgeous as we exited Yellowstone and headed toward Grand Teton.
We ran into a major road construction project soon after we entered the Tetons, which we had been forewarned about. The road over a small pass has been completely torn up for 9 miles, down to dirt. Traffic was reduced to one-way travel by means of a series of flagmen (no cute women this time). It is possible to ride through it with wide (mountain bike) tires but it would be an ugly in a big way experience, with the potholes, dust and a parade of RVs and other traffic literally breathing down your neck. We had already decided we were not going to even attempt it, so we pulled over as we reached the start of the project to look for someone to give us a lift. I thought that would be fairly easy, since we had been passed yesterday by what seems like thousands of pickup trucks (along with every other kind of motorized vehicle). But it ended up taking over an hour because it took that long to find someone driving the right sized pickup truck that: (a) was not already loaded down; or (b) did not have a topper over the truck bed. So while we waited we chatted up the flag guy, who unintentionally kept us in stitches. He worked for the contractor handling the project, living in a trailer near the site during the week and driving home to Montana over the weekends in his pickup truck that would only work in second gear ("that's what I get for loaning it to my 16 year old son one evening."). He was on his second marriage but the relationship was doing fine ("I just tune her out"). He was hoping the project would not be finished on time ("I get 10 bucks an hour more if I have to stand here in freezing temperatures"). In between such nonstop commentary he was working the two-way radio trying to get the pilot car to come pick us up, as we were having such a tough time finding a ride. At one point his radio erupted with the sound of the pilot car talking to someone else. The driver of the pilot car was explaining that he was headed "to pick up two people on a bicycle who are TOO OLD to ride anymore today." That made us laugh even more!
By the time we got a lift** and got back on the road again it was after 5 pm. We decided to pull into Coulter Bay (a Forest Service "resort" similar to Grant Village) and call it a day. We felt good despite only making 33 miles - we're back in the saddle so to speak.
*Or possibly on an illegal substance.
**The ride was a bit hairy. We were in the bed of the pickup with the tailgate down, hanging on to each other and the tandem over a very bumpy, rough road. I was sitting on a partial case of bottled water, which was a stimulating experience.
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