Wedding Adventures - Part 3 Mother Trucker

Wednesday morning, we pack up our bikes with our worldly possessions and FINALLY start our tour.  It never ceases to amazing me anytime I go backpacking or biking in this instance, how little we really need to get by.  We are always hearing about bigger, better, and newer gadgets.  In the end, they are generally totally unnecessary.


23June10-
Start: Grant Village
End: Canyon Village
Miles: 38

Well, this was the start of our first tour on the mother truckers and it quickly became evident that the limiting factor would not be the bikes... The were a couple of steep hills but nothing compared to what we were expecting to see on the last day.  Day 3 has us peddling over the Continental Divide, not once, but two times.  Back to the day at hand...  We saw a lot of geezers, lots and lots of geezers.  We also decided that seeing the park by bike is the best way to do it.  We spent  most of the day touring the area with the same group of cars.  Sure, the cars may be able to go 45 mph, but that doesnt' really happen in Yellowstone.  Have you ever been to Yellowstone?  Traffic is AWFUL!! 

24June10-
Start: Canyon Village
End: Madison
Miles: 26

 We finally ran into another group of cyclist, they personify what we want to be like when we grow up.  The group is comprised of 4 people (3 men and 1 woman) and there are an amazing group of people.  All of them are retired and over 60, they started their ride in Portland, OR and were ending on the east coast (upstate NY for some, Virginia for others).   They didn't know each other prior to the start of their adventure, they met through www.adventurecycle.com, think of it as a matchmaking site for cyclists.  I think for both of us meeting this group of folks proved to be both the most enjoyable and memorable part of our trip.

25June10-
Start:Madison
End: Grant Village
Miles: 34

The day we both were dreading finally arrived, we had to climb over the Continental Divide.  For a bit of perspective Yellowstone is at and average of ~5000', we had to climb to over ~8000 on two separate occasions.  Keep in mind it was not just us and our bikes that had to make it, we were also carrying all our gear with us.  We figure each of our bikes weighed approximately 50lbs, this went towards making the uphills slower and the downhills faster.  The nice thing - the actually process of doing it was much easier that either of us had made out in our head.  That isn't to say it was easy, just not as painful as we had anticipated.  It was very satisfying to get to each elevation sign and know that we had peddled there. 

All in all the bike tour was great and we were sad it had to come to an end.  We will definitely be planning another one soon!  Below is a list of things we will bring/do before out next trip:

1. chain lube
2. extra brake pads
3. degreaser
4. fishing stuff 
5. 2 presta valve adapters
6. calling card (good luck with cell phone reception)
7. learn how to use hand pump
8. laundry line
9. clothes  pins
10. sun shirt (bugs/sun)
11. repair kit x 2