Journal Entry #4
3 July 2001
After attempting to dive into the tent to
avoid the plague of mosquitoes that attacked us as we tried to camp in
Twin Bridges, Steve, Tim, and I talked with our new friends John and
Marilyn in the tent next door as we all fell asleep to the relaxing
sound of mosquitoes facing the wonderful end due to a bug zapper....
Two days ago when we were staying in
Jackson Montana we ran into a couple who is touring on a tandem bike
on the Northern Tier/TransAmerican Route. After chatting with them
in the Jackson Hot Spring Lodge where we were both camping we headed to
sleep looking forward to running into them again. Turns out that
in Dillon as Steve was getting his bike fixed they came past us and said
hi. We hoped to meet up in Twin Bridges where we both planned on
spending the night but our paths crossed sooner. To get away from
the heat the 5 of us slept outside a movie theater for several hours.
Just as we were about to leave we ran into John and Marilyn again and
decided to work as a team to bust out the last 28 miles to Twin Bridges.
Little did the 5 of us know that this was going to be one of the fastest
rides we have been on.
After our 3 mile stretch we got in a
draft line with John and Marilyn leading. Despite the headwind the
two of them pushed out six miles of 17mph plus. As I was following
I dreaded the time when they fell back as I knew that I would never be
able to keep that speed up. But surprisingly I did, along with
everyone else. About after an hour of this we stopped to enjoy
some pizza that the Pizza Hut in Dillon let us take after we ate the
lunch buffet and then headed into town. Dan had us clocked at
averaging 15.9 mph from Dillon to Twin Bridges. For them that was
typical -- for us it was unreal.
When we left this morning we planned on
leaving together, but unfortunately Dan is not feeling well currently.
He thinks it might be from the altitude as we have not seen the
underside of 5,000 ft for two days now and have been exerting ourselves
hard. Who knows, but we didn't leave Twin Bridges till after 9:30
because he couldn't keep any food down. Currently he is asleep in
the lounge of an office building in "downtown" Sheridan.
Hopefully he will feel better soon and we can make it to Cambridge
tonight to remain ahead of schedule.
We are planning to arrive in West
Yellowstone on the Fourth so we can enjoy the festivities and
fireworks. If things go well we should be able to pound out
the 60 miles scheduled by 2:00 and enjoy the rest of the day.
The country is still beautiful, the
people we meet are always nice, and the time we are having
can't get much better. Till next time...
Ride On...
Jason, Tim, Paul, Steve, Sick
Dan