Day 25 - Roadworks

Todays mileage: 24
Total mileage: 1,213
End point: Shoshoni, WY

As you can probably tell I have had a change in plan, rather than camping in the middle of no where I have decided to have an easy day before going for the big push tomorrow to make it to Casper. My readers pain in having a day without a blog posting plus my ongoing cold made this the logical decision.

Yesterday I mentioned my wheel was not true; well on further inspection I am one spoke down. This is not good news, but then it is not terrible - its ok to lose 1 or 2 but more than that and you risk wheel collapse. So fingers crossed that the wheel survives tomorrow, I then have the bike booked in for a service first thing on Monday morning to sort my problems.

I'd like to dedicate today to Rick Mick, Pam's younger brother (I think he is 27 / 28, pam never seems to know his age - so how can I be expected to know?) Now Rick without question is the most adventurous of the Mick family, I think I can say this without offending the rest of the family. Fluent in Spanish, he has not only travelled round the West and Mexico but volunteered; helping and teaching those not as fortunate as us. Now I have worked hard to bring out Pam's adventurous side as the stamps in her passport will show, but you wouldn't catch Rick Mick asking if we had to share a bathroom or whether there are hair drying facilities.

The pinnalce of Ricks adventurous side (and I might even go as far to say madness) was shown to me last year. Before I tell the story I need you to know that the Mick's are all over their running, and it has been a right of passage for me to complete a couple of half marathons to make it into the outer orbit of the mick family (Rick and his brother Tony do ultra-marathons to put my tiny 13 miles in perspective). Vince (Pam's dad) will no doubt be disappointed that he only busted out 11 miles today instead of his planned 14... So they are running mad, you get the picture......

Last year the New York marathon is on, Rick is sitting in his room in New York, not running. Vince phones him and is suprised he isn't out there watching or seeing what's going on. In a flash of genius (we'll call it that) Rick decides to head over to the finish where he will run the marathon backwards - WTF! How do you run a marathon backwards? Well you leap over the barricade near the end and then just run in the opposite direction, with people screaming at you that you are running in the wrong direction. You continue to do this for 3 to 4 hours until you find a very sad soul at the end of the race being followed by a street cleaner.. then you have completed your backwards marathon. I, with my love of numbers over words, have massacred this story - Rick wrote a proper short story for his masters which was hilarious, maybe we can get him to share it.

So how does Rick Mick tie into todays blog. Well Wind River Indian reservation was his first proper adventure away from the mid-west... He volunteered out here to help paint indian homes. Now I must say its probably time he came back to paint them again, or even better bring a construction crew and start quite a few of them again!

Last night I did not have a great nights sleep, the person above me decided it was time to do an exercise routine till 1 in the morning, what was he doing up there? To be fair the situation was made worst by squeaky floorboards which I can't hold him responsible for.

I left Riverton on what I hoped would be the most gentle of bikerides. I was in for a nasty suprise, 8 miles of roadworks. Busy roadworks with no shoulder, not fun at all. When the road was empty cycled on it, but if I saw trucks on it i'd just quit the road and start cycling through gravel in the construction site to the side which no one seemed to care about. No point risking life or limb and I was in no rush. The construction finished and the road opened up to some great scenery. Mainy scrubland, with mountains to the north.

I came to Boysen Reservoir and state park which was an impressive expanse, and at the moment hardly filled with water. I guess it will be filling up soon. Oh and before I forget its been perfect riding weather - sunny, 20c with gentle wind from the west.

The last point of interest before entering Shoshoni was Poison Creek. Now this is an understable name, someone at some point got poisoned down there. But the next sign was 'Poison Creek Recreation Area' - surely there has to be a better name for a recreation area, what kind of message does this send to children?!!

Anyway I'm off for some food, relaxation and time to do some stocking up for the big ride tomorrow.