October 21st, 2015
It’s pretty straightforward with Hwy#30 being the only option. Almost 400 foot of elevation gain after leaving town, and with rolling hills the rest of the way, and a headwind (for us at least), don’t expect to get to Laramie in a hurry.
Cycling Stats
Start Point: Rock River, Wyoming, United States of America
Destination: Laramie, Wyoming, United States of America
66.34 km trip, 5:50 time, 30.6 km/h maximum speed, 11.3 km/h average speed
What happened…
Andrew writes: It rained on and off last night, and when the alarm went off at 0630hrs this morning, it was also COLD! I expected it to be snowing outside, but it ended up being just a light rain.
Knowing that the one and only restaurant in Rock River was open on Wednesdays, I found myself really looking forward to a) eating inside where it was warm and b) not having to cook breakfast. So we rolled out of the school yard and headed down the street to the Longhorn Cafe, which was closed. It doesn’t open until 1100hrs on Wednesdays. Weird. So Amanda and I took shelter at a covered picnic table in the park and made breakfast. I wouldn’t say we enjoyed breakfast because it was pretty cold and miserable.
The ride itself today seemed to take forever. First it seemed like it was all uphill, all the way today. Second, we had a headwind all day too. Thirdly, Amanda’s back was really bothering her, and I felt compelled to let her draft me, which meant I was crawling along at turtle speed. At one point, a pair of antelope leapt out of the grass right beside us and bounded off, and I thought to myself how nice it would be to just ride on the back of one of them, because they were going so much faster than us.
Arriving in Laramie, quite near our 6-hour cutoff, I was happy that we found somewhere to warm up and use wi-fi to confirm our Warmshowers stay tonight. We did some food shopping at the Safeway and then headed to Laurel’s house. Laurel and her room mates are all really great, everyone in the house is studying for a master’s or PhD or something, so they’re all pretty smart and nice to talk with. It seems like the “thing to do” here in Laramie is dumpster dive behind the Safeway for food, and there was ample evidence of it here at Laurel’s. It’s made Amanda and I re-consider our “no binning” policy that we implemented right at the start of our trip. We can still afford food, and the thought of diving in to a garbage can to get at perfectly good, free food makes me think that it’s crossing the line in to true homeless behaviour. Seeing this household full to the brim with fruit, veg, baked goods and ice cream, all from the back of the Safeway though makes me think that maybe one day I’ll give it a try.
We’re going to take a rest day tomorrow due to weather, and hopefully Amanda’s back improves too. Then we’ll head south towards Colorado.