Rainy Days and Saturdays…

After making it to Rawlins, and our spectacular dinner last night (recall we GOT to stand in the McDonald’s drive thru in our CROCS!!) , we awoke to a beautiful morning and ready to ride!

Our PLAN for the day was to try to make it to Brush Mountain Lodge, about 95 miles or so away. That was the PLAN…

After rolling through Rawlins, and discovering that there were much better places to eat than McDonald’s (who knew), we were soon out of town and on our way. It was about 0900 with nary a cloud in the sky. We had a slight tail-pressure differential as we rolled along on a rare section of pavement. The first hour and a half were flawless, with rolling hills, the aforementioned pushing air, and smooth pavement. (A welcome change after a day in the Basin). We briefly stopped on the side of the road for what many cyclists refer to as a “nature break” and as we started rolling again, we noticed them. Dark clouds. Lots of them. On the horizon. Apparently that is where our pusher was originating.

After about another 15 minutes on the road we started to get some light sprinkles. Nothing to worry about. We had successfully dodged storms several days on the TD and figures with our pace, we could outrun or out maneuver these. And we did…for about another 10 minutes.

It finally became obvious that our luck was about to run out. I suggested to Ray that we stop and put on our rain gear before it was too late. We quickly stopped, and it was already too late. We stood on the side of the road donning our gear in a driving rain, when an RV slowed almost to a stop. We figured they were stopping to ask us if we needed any help. Yay!! Nope! They were just slowing down to look at the two idiots standing on the shoulder of the road in the middle of nowhere, putting on rain gear, and then they quickly sped away.

We rode for about 15 minutes in the rain, when it started to ease off and the skies began to clear. Off comes the rain gear. Not 5 minutes later, here comes the rain again. It was at this point that the rain was getting more intense.

Now, there are a great number of things that Ray and I discussed about this race. One of them was making sure we were always moving forward, but the second was making sure we didn’t take any more unnecessary risks than was demanded. We decided that with the rain, thunder, and lightning, perhaps this was one of the undemanded risks we didn’t need to take. The problem is, in this part of Wyoming, there were no trees for miles and no form of shelter…except one. I’m not sure who’s idea it was, but we both agreed that the best option was to try to find a large culvert under the road we were riding, in which to take shelter. It wasn’t long before we had identified a candidate and were pushing or riding our bikes off the shoulder and down an embankment to our new home!

As it turned out, our culvert wasn’t quite as large in diameter as it would first have appeared. It was about 4-5 feet at best. But there were two, so we had that going for us! We quickly pushed our bikes into the second opening and ducked into the first to sit down.

One of our concerns was that we had decided to sit in a surface water culvert, during a rainstorm! So it was apparent that we would have to monitor things to make sure we didn’t get caught in and swept away by water if it REALLY rained. It didn’t.

As we were sitting in the culvert, relatively warm and dry, the thought occured. Why don’t we make some coffee and warm up. That led to, “Why don’t we have lunch too?”. So it was that on the 26th of June 2021, at about 1300 in the afternoon, Ray Johnson and I fixed lunch and coffee and dined in a 4-5’ culvert, 30 miles outside Rawlins Wyoming!

It was actually fairly good accommodations (particularly if you consider that we slept on a cold tile floor at a rest area with no food or coffee).

Soon the rain stopped and we decided it was time to get back on the road. As we loaded up and headed back up the embankment, it started to rain again. In the 5 minutes since we decided to leave under blue skies, a new storm had rolled in. Back into the culvert we went.

This time, we didn’t need to drink or eat, so we decided to just sit and rest. A nap ensued.

We were dozing with our backs to the culvert walls when I first felt it. Nothing much at first, just an annoying little scratching on my arm. As I was in and out of sleep, I kind of just scratched and kept my eyes closed. Then it happened again on my other arm (or leg..I’m not sure because, as I said, I was sleeping). All I know is that I finally opened my eyes to see the source of my itching. I turned to Ray and said, “Does that look like a tick to you?”. One word answer…YEP! Both of us were now fully awake!! See, that wasn’t the only tick we had on us! We quickly decided that our stop in the culvert was over and we got our bikes and scampered up the embankment. Luckily it had stopped raining.

Back on the road, we did a quick buddy check to make sure we didn’t have any hitchhikers on us. There were some areas neither of us was willing to check on the other, so at least we left with our dignity.

We were now back on the pavement and headed for Brush Mountain Lodge. The road quickly went up at about a 10% grade for a significant amount of time. It then turned into a series of 1/2 mile climbs with incredibly fast (and yes, fun) descents. We were still dodging storms, but at least the roads were good and we were making good time. This continued for the next hour or so.

Finally, the pavement ended and we were on a good dirt road.

For those that have never experienced them, I’ll explain what a good dirt road is IMO. In some states, and in Colorado particularly, the State applies a chemical called Magnesium Chloride to dirt roads. It makes dirt roads into almost paved roads. They are spectacular!! This was a Mag’d road!

We road the dirt for several miles as it slowly turned into steeper and steeper grades and entered, first pinon/juniper country, then climbed into mixed conifer altitudes.

Ray and I continued on our journey to Brush Mountain Lodge, even as the day started into the late afternoon/evening.

Rain again!!

It cannot be overstated how many times we put on, then took off rain gear. It might have been 10 cycles that day. This time the rain was more severe., and we were completely without a tick infested culvert to climb into! So we did the next best thing we could. We started searching for some dense trees to hide under.

Now one could ask, “If you have rain gear, why don’t you just keep riding"?”

Great question!! Here’s the answer. You see, riding in the rain is not an issue, riding in the rain late in the evening at 9000’ is the issue. One of the biggest concerns we had on the TD, and one that Governor Gary Johnson warned us of, was hypothermia. One doesn’t want to get wet, AND cold. It is a recipe for disaster, particularly as evening draws near and you might have to shelter for the evening. We clothes and wet sleeping gear can be not just uncomfortable, but might prove life threatening. (Remember, there are some unnecessary risks we are unwilling to take in the interest of finishing quickly).

So here we were, standing under trees, removing wet rain gear and trying our best to dry off, even as it rained, outside of our sheltered area. Finally the rain moved on and we were able to as well.

Unfortunately, our push for the Colorado border, and Brush mountain only 20 or so miles beyond that had become an impossibility, without riding well into the night in still damp clothes. We decided discretion was the better part of valor, and chose to find a camp site while there was still an hour or two of daylight left.

It didn’t take too long to find a spot, set up camp, have a Ramen and Spam dinner, and some other goodies, and hit the hay.

Brush Mountain Lodge will still be there tomorrow. Maybe for breakfast??