Day 26: Cody to Yellowstone National Park

We woke up early again, this time to make it the church by 6:45 for breakfast. I think the team was a little loathe to leave the gym knowing that the next three or four days would be camping. Really I think the team had become a little too used to the hospitality, so a little camping would be a good thing for us. Plus it's in Yellowstone so not a bad place to pitch a tent anyways.

It was pretty cold out, but that suited BJ just fine since the day before he had bought a bunch of stuff at the local outfitters. I had bought some stuff as well, but I was saving it until it was a little bit cooler. And after just 30 minutes the sun had come out enough to warm the air to a couple notches above ‘too cold for me to want to get on the bike’.

The team was running a little late and some of the team was getting impatient waiting for the slower people so took off for the church. The church was a few miles in the right direction, which was a good thing, but the mile that was in the wrong direction was up a steep incline, which was a bad thing. But it did warm me up and got me good and hungry for breakfast.

Breakfast was pastries, fruits and juices, which I thought was perfect. After taking our time eating breakfast and chatting with our hosts, the team slowly made their way outside, where it seemed to have cooled off a little bit. It was probably due to being much warmer inside, but we weren't feeling too keen to bike down the steep hill and pick up the strong convective cooling that comes with it.

But since Cody sits at the base of the mountain pass that leads to Yellowstone and we were on top of a hill, I could see where we were going and I was getting a little excited. We did group dedications for the day and I offered my grandma Tandy who, for as long as I knew her, lived in the mountains in northern California. As I approached Yellowstone she was increasingly on my mind and since she died from emphysema (caused by my grandfather's smoking) I figured it would be appropriate to ride for her that day.

Going down the hill was indeed quite frigid, but I was so excited that I didn't mind so much. After the hill, we immediately started climbing. Still, heading up the canyon was so satisfying that I didn't mind at all. A short time up the scenic road we came across some tunnels, with one that was supposed to be three quarters a mile long.

So we grouped together again as in the previous tunnels and went on (after the group pics in the canyon). The last tunnel was indeed quite long and a lot of us whooped, hollered, whistled and sang. But the tunnel kept going and we pretty much went silent, biking along in formation and trying not to get high off the contained car exhaust.

I was thinking as we neared the end of the tunnel that it was like stepping out into a whole new world. And indeed it seemed to be. Where we had come up a narrow, winding canyon we were now in a very large valley with a very large reservoir. The contrast was quite noticeable and I enjoyed the sudden change. Unfortunately, this now meant there was nothing to block the wind.

We all dropped a good ten mph and, after splitting up to take pictures of the group as it biked through the valley, many of us got together in a pace line to the rest stop. Not only was it windy, but it was cold and windy. We went along, though, and made it to the rest stop, which we were all glad to see.

The problem with the pace line, though, is that in order to avoid crashing you need to remain vigilant on what's going on directly in front of you, specifically the back tire. So instead of checking out the sights you're focused on watching a tire go around and around and around. Not a good thing when you're surrounded by so much beauty.

With this in mind, I left the rest stop after just a little bit to head out on my own. I biked along at my pace, fighting the wind as I went, but enjoying myself more. Brenna had taken off not too long after me and we stopped and took pictures of each other.

After a little while it became apparent that the mountain valley was closing in. The walls kept getting closer and closer. At the next rest stop, I could see that the valley was going to become a canyon in a very short amount of time. I looked forward to it since the headwind was getting old fast and I figured the canyon would help.

Taking off into the canyon I noticed two things. First, the canyon didn't stop the wind much at all, and in fact intensified it in some areas, and second, the scenery kept getting better and better. So I kept pushing, the whole time looking around with my jaw open, both for the scenery and for the heavy breathing I was doing to get myself up the hills.

Up to this point, the team had been extraordinarily fortunate with the weather. We had never been rained on in any significance, either by missing the heavy storms by one day or getting inside just in time for the sheets of rain to come down. But now with a good distance remaining and the clouds dark and gray, we knew we were going to finally get rained on.

I put my rain jacket on, but I don't own a pair of rain pants (too expensive for what you get). I headed through the canyon, gradually climbing, but also going downhill sometimes. Each corner provided a new vista. One of the treats of winding through a tight canyon is you can never know what you're going to see next. I rounded one bend and there was the rain waiting for me.

The rain was cold, not like Texas rain at all. It also came with cooler weather and the good old wind. But really, the rain wasn't that unpleasant. My waterproof nylon jacket it kept the water out, but the heat and sweat in, which was pretty much the worst part. My legs were soaked, but as long as I kept moving they stayed warm enough without too much discomfort.

I made my way through the canyon, in the rain, up to Channing's rest stop. He stopped at a scenic overlook of a very large mountain and the vista was quite picturesque. Mario and Brett were the only other riders around and we ate and talked while waiting for the rain to let up. Brett and Mario decided to head out without waiting it all out, but I was content to eat and look at the mountains in the comfort of the van.

After a little, while it became apparent that the clouds were going to keep rolling over the mountains and that there wouldn't be a break for a long time so I headed out as well. Better to keep warm through exercise than wait for the legs to tighten up too much.

Biking along I kept thinking I would start seeing wildlife. With such a tight canyon and so many stories from the locals about the abundance of wildlife, I figured it would be a virtual bike ride through a zoo. Talking with the team later, it seems that most of them had impressions along the same lines. I think we were all a little disappointed that we didn't see anything at all the whole time. I did see one deer when I looked over my shoulder for a car, but one deer doesn't make a zoo.

The rain kept coming and I kept plugging along in mostly high spirits despite the weather and the lack of animal life. After some time, I made it up to the gates of Yellowstone and I pulled over to the shoulder where the van was waiting for the team to meet so we could be ferried into the park. Brett and Mario decided to go ahead anyway and they were able to get through the gates for free by Channing's previous work in alerting the staff that we were coming.

I figured I'd be waiting for 15 minutes for everybody else, but Channing said that most of the rest of the team decided to stay in the van after I had left and they waited out the storm for an hour or so. Since it was cold outside I jumped in the van to wait for the team. Managed to get some good food in me and a good nap going before people started showing up. As they came in, they would start piling in the van until I was pushed to the very back and surrounded by teammates.

Not too much later I was sleeping when the van started moving forward. I was planning on biking the last 25 miles or so to the campsite, but while I was sleeping Channing had loaded up my bike and, because of heavy construction, decided to ferry the team up what would have been the steepest, most dangerous hill we would have climbed. Making it past the construction after a good amount of time, we decided to just drive the last little part since it would have been a lot of work to unpack all the bikes for just a few miles of riding.

As expected, the scenery in one of the most famous parks in the world was magnificent. I thought that some of the terrain in the canyon was better, but at such a high level I'm really just taking points off for style and not technical merit.

We pulled into camp, and (finally) saw a bison after almost 30 miles of driving through the park. The bison had found a camper's site to be the perfect resting place and had plopped himself down right in the middle of it. The gentleman was just standing there staring at it wondering what he was supposed to do. At our camp, we had a chipmunk, which was a start anyway. We all unloaded the trailer as fast as possible so Channing could go back to the entrance and pick up BJ, Nick Bangia, and Natalie who had to be left behind due to lack of space in the van. In all, they sat outside the park for I believe just over two hours.

The team was camping for the first time in almost a month, but people were very excited about camping, and especially in the park. Tents went up quickly and it wasn't long before I was messing with the propane stoves to get dinner ready. It took a long time to boil enough water to make enough spaghetti for 19 people. Almost an hour. When the water was finally ready, we were able to offend some Italians (according to Mario) by breaking the noodles in half so they would fit in the pot. I mention this because Mario was so adamant that the noodles never be broken again that it was funny. I love his intensity and his perspectives that he brings to the team.

After dinner, with everybody on high alert for bears, we cleaned the camp almost spotless. With the rain coming back after taking a break for a few hours, we scrambled to get things under cover and I made a quick retreat to the tent. Being tired and excited about touring the park on our day off, I went to bed shortly thereafter with the rain beating against the tent walls.