Day 39, Shoshone Rose Casino, Lander to Jeffrey City, WY

Miles – 67

Ave Riding Speed – 3-27 mph

Hours Start to Finish – 8.25

Weather – Partly Cloudy and 88

Bedtime last night was 9:30pm, after snacking on the pizza we purchased earlier in the casino snack bar. Kim I were up at 7:30am. I ran down to the casino for our morning coffees and then we got to the business of showering and repacking our gear. We’re getting pretty good at knowing which items go in which pack. It’s somewhat important for the weight distribution on the bike. We rolled our bikes to the elevator on the second floor, then rolled them through the casino floor and out the front door at 8:45am.

Our first order of business was to pickup a light breakfast and biking snacks for the day. 5-miles southeast on Hwy 287 we came into Lander, WY and stopped at the first grocery store we could find and picked up some yogurt, bananas, jerky and water. From the looks of our map today, finding any food, and possibly water, for 67 miles, between Lander and our destination, Jeffrey City, was doubtful. We packed the water, 7 bottles between us, and continued through town with the hopes of finding the bike shop open.

6 blocks down we found The Bike Mill and it was open. We wanted to get some spare tire tubes, some electrolyte tablets, Nuun Tabs, for our water bottles and see if they could give our bikes a once over. Rusty, the bike mechanic was happy to take a look right away and was very knowledgeable. I told Rusty I was losing a little faith in my bike, with all the flat tires lately, and wanted him to check my rear tire, my break adjustments I made to both our bikes, our chain wear and adjusting my front derailer so I could get in super low. He put our bikes on his rack and ran it through the paces while we ate our breakfast. He also adjusted Kim’s seat, adjusting the front of it a little higher and he adjusted my handlebar angle, tilting it up slightly because my left hand, specifically my left pinky, goes numb and it’s working so well now. We spent about an hour there and rolled out of town at 10am.

Initially during the ride across the wide-open range country, we had a little headwind to slow our pace, but we were feeling pretty strong today and moving well. 23-miles in we had our big test for the day. It was 1,000 feet climb with up to 6.5% grades. We managed to ride almost all of the climb today and that in itself was rewarding. At this point we had less than a bottle of water left. At the top of the climb, we met a young family at the pass overlook and I said that I’d be happy to take their picture. We learned that they were from Columbus, Ohio and heading to Yellowstone. I asked them if there were any services, like water or food between here and Jeffrey City. They said they hadn’t paid attention, but offered us a bottle of water. We slammed it down in a few second and we parted ways.

The nice downhill for the next 16 miles into Sweatwater Station, felt good with the wind in our face. Our map said there was a rest area there, but nothing else. We don’t really trust if anything will be open ahead of us, but the rest area was open. We used the bathroom and filled up all our water bottles while slamming a couple at the same time to quench our thirst.

While I we were standing outside the rest area building, I went for a piece of jerky, but was quickly admonished as Kim was rationing our food supply, thinking that we would have to make it last until tomorrow, about 30 miles into our ride, when we would roll into Muddy Gap, WY. Our remaining food supply was a can of tuna, half a bag of jerky, a packet and a half of almonds, a Clif Bar, a packet of Mott’s assorted fruit snacks and our Eniva, Vibe and UltraShot, supplements.   

The remainder of the road into Jeffrey City was light with traffic and we had a shoulder. The sun was out fulltime now and I could see the pink of my legs, even though I slapped on the sunscreen this morning. That’s not saying much for me, as I’m general pink or pale.

Jeffrey City has about 50 residents and prior to the 80’s, was a booming uranium mining town. There was supposed to be a bar with a place to eat, based on our map, and sure enough it was open. Kim and I sat down in the Split Rack Bar & Cafe, at the bar, split a beer and ordered water, burger and fries, steak sandwich and fries and a house salad to split. It was delicious! We met Bill at the bar, who gave a little history of the town and said the fire department was having a picnic at the firehouse this evening and doing the July 4^th fireworks later tonight. It was kind of sad to see a once booming town going to dust, but the current residents seem proud to be from Jeffrey City.

We rode our bikes a half mile south out of town on the dirt road out to the church where they welcome hiker/bikers. The deal is to use the back door which leads to the basement. There’s a ramp upon entering so we could roll our bike in. They have a full kitchen, his and her bathrooms with showers, a concrete floor gym with a hoop and a ping-pong table. We parked ourselves in one of the open rooms with carpet and will sleep on our camping air mattresses in sleeping bags. There isn’t wi-fi so I’m loading up todays post using my phone, with service, as a hotspot.