106 miles ridden – 2497 feet climbed.

Today was hot – the sign at the hotel said 102F/39C when I arrived and it had been hotter out on the road. My Garmin reckons the hottest ‘road’ temperature was 52C. Whatever these mean I can conform it was hot.

It was a later than preferred start from Casper and Darin was still too sick to ride today so Heather, Murray and I left as a sad threesome. The main problem is that I am not a good morning communicator, or as it turns out Garmin navigator, so normally Darin leads us out – today it was me but we made it out of downtown Casper OK.

The landscape seemed a bit greener that we had seen over the last few days but still a vast emptiness. Lots of birdsong and sweet smells early in the day before it heats up which is a great way to start the day. Having had a day off most of us were trying to reconcile the fact that we felt better riding after a day off but actually wanted another day off. For those who are interested, my backside certainly benefitted from the day off.

Fellow riders who are used to riding in heat have been very helpful with ways to work around the temperature. I bought a neckband containing absorbent crystals which swell up when soaked in water making it like a large sausage and then it is left in the fridge overnight. Once the heat hits – 11am ish – sitting the cold neckband on the back of your neck gives a really good cooling effect. Also a helmet liner – a bit like a fabric swimming cap – soaked in cold water will cooling for at least 30 mins and just squirting water through my helmet easily tops it up. I am told that if I am brave and either shave my head or at least have a number 4 buzz-cut all over it will work even better. I will think about that!

Our biggest problem today was road or pitch snakes. This is where seams between sections of road, or cracks caused by subsidence are filled with pitch to smooth out the surface. Well it works well (and is appreciated) at low temperatures but when it gets hot like this the pitch softens and if you hit a line running parallel to the bike the wheels get sucked in. Worst case it can cause the rider to come off which fortunately didn’t happen to anyone today but it means the level of concentration required is high and you can’t look at the scenery – fortunately there weren’t any herds of wildebeast or Hanging Gardens of Babylon for us to miss.

In the town of Douglas – 55 miles in – we came across a steam train museum and most of us stopped to have a quick look around. There are still a lot of cargo trains running through this part of America and later in the day we came across a couple of half-mile long trains hauling coal and running on some very old tracks with wooden bridges just like in the movies. The fun bit was that because of the incline we could cycle up the slope quicker than the train. Simple things….

And so to Lusk – population about 1600. This afternoon there was a parade which started with folks on horses dressed as US cavalry,followed by families in horse drawn wagons, followed by hot rods cars, ambulances, and a fire engine, all being ‘chased’ by about 10 red Indians. I don’t think the red skin make-up  was waterproof……. It was shall we say ‘quaint’ .

However highlight of the day was 106 miles at 16.9mph average. Simple things please simple minds and I am pleased! The hotel welcomed us with fresh lemonade, iced water and two huge trays of cookies which is real old-fashioned hospitality. It’s a real piece of Americana motel although strangely enough it has three Tesla charging points in the car park and one even had a Tesla charging on it. There is more to it than meets the eye.

I can’t upload any pictures at the moment – I’ll try and do them later. Meanwhile we are having a pizza party by the pool.