Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Bridger, MT to Cody, WY

June 12, 2006
Distance 61.4 Miles
Climbing Elevation: 2,820 feet

We woke up this morning about 7:30 AM. We gathered everything together and went out to eat breakfast at the same restaurant where we ate supper the night before. The restaurant was so cold at last nights supper that I had goose bumps on my arms. This morning the air conditioner was not turned on and it was comfortable eating. This restaurant was located in an old car garage. The auto hoist was converted to a salad bar and all around the restaurant were old oil company a signs, old adds for automobiles, old auto hubcaps, etc. The food was good and plentiful.

We left Bridger about 8:30 AM heading south to Cody. For the first 20 miles we clipped along at 13 to 15 mph even though we were continually climbing. We stopped when we entered Wyoming for a picture. Our thirtieth state we have cycled in.

We crossed the Clark Fork of the Yellowstone River several times. After crossing the river for the last time we climbed a hill and started on what looked to be a long flat run. However, we could only get up to 11 mph no matter how hard we worked and the altimeter was showing that we were indeed going up hill on a steady 2% grade. From that point until we were within 10 miles of Cody, we never rode on the level or went downhill. The worst was the last 3 miles when we were going up a 6 to 7 % grade at 4 mph. We traveled at least 20 miles without going downhill once.

For the last 10 miles we seldom went less than 20 mph and it was almost all downhill. The only problem was we were on the shoulder and the shoulder was very rough. This is not a nice feeling at 30 mph which we hit several times.

The scenery was great. We were traveling in a valley with bluffs to the west of us with the remains of snow still on the top and high hills to the east. Today we only passed one filling station/restaurant and it was in the first 10 miles so we stopped several times in the middle of no where to rest and have a snack. We couldn't even find a tree for shade.

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