July 2, 1998 - Cooke City - Joliet

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 21.44 Miles

TIME: 3 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 12.1 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny in the morning and early afternoon turning into thundershowers with some hail. At the top of the pass there was a large amount of fog making it very difficult to see. Around 6:00 it once again cleared up and turned to a great day once again.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Great roads with a large shoulder for the beginning and end of the trip. However in the middle around the actual climb and descent of the Beartooth summit(about 35 miles) the roads were narrow with no shoulder and had some sand along them.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: An overall very difficult and strenuous day. The climb to the pass was very long and tiring however the downhill helps to counteract this part of the trip.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS: I woke up at 6:30 to go to breakfast with a few other riders early in the morning. I didn't get out of my sleeping bag until 7:00 and ended up leaving and pedaling down the hill at 7:05. We went down to the nearest cafe where I got a breakfast of two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of bacon, and hashbrowns. It was much better than the typical breakfast of granola or peanut butter and jelly. After this, we went back up the hill for the fourth time in the past two days and packed up our gear so that we could finally be on our way up the Beartooth Highway. The day was beautiful and we climbed for about 3 miles before a great 4 mile descent where I was able to coast the entire way in my aerobars reaching a top speed of 40 miles an hour. After this long descent(Picture45) we began our main ascent of about 20 miles up to the summit of the Beartooth Highway at around 10,500 feet. We were all going very slow due to the steepness of the terrain. Finally we came to the turnoff to Cody where we stopped(Picture46) and climbed up onto a rock to eat a lunch of Stoker bars and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. About a half of an hour later, we continued again and went about another 5 miles before crossing a raging stream that was completely made up of waterfalls and cascades.(Picture47) We crossed the bridge and about five miles later stopped again so that Brad could fill up his waterbottles at a nearby stream, using iodine tablets to purify the water. We stopped for a few minutes and we then got ready to leave so I hopped onto my bike while still in the grass on the side of the road. I was going fine through the grass when I suddenly lost my balance and fell to my left, causing me to gash me right leg on the front cogs of my chain ring. I looked down and saw that I had made a gash about 1.5 inches long and about a quarter of an inch wide and deep, exposing the white flesh under the skin. After about 10 seconds the inital pain of the gash went away, and surprisingly, after that, it didn't hurt at all. It didn't bleed too much to begin with so I used some gauze from Brad and a bandana from Heather to quickly wrapped it up.(Picture48) We stood along the side of the road for a few minutes before we were able to stop one of the few cars that went by. The driver took me to a nearby lodge where I could phone the nearest hospital. Fortunately and unexpectidly, the owner of the lodge was a nurse so she put hydrogen peroxide onto it and tried to clean out the cut as well as possible before putting on some fresh gauze Unfortunately the doctor that was normally only five minutes away, was on vacation so I couldn't see him. Brad called the SAG from the lodge (along with the Bike-Aid office) and told them to come and pick me up. The owners of the lodge started to drive me towards Red Lodge where there was a hospital and about 10 minutes into the ride, the SAG came by. I transferred to the SAG and we began to go back to where we had left our bikes hidden and locked behind some trees along the side of the road. We stopped and I picked up my bike and dropped off Brad so that he could finish the ride for the day. It ended up that he was the last person in that night, being behind all the other riders by about 6 miles! We next stopped at a small general store, about 10 miles from the top of the pass, where some people stopped to get some food. We stayed there for about a half an hour before continuing on after a rain storm had passed over. Pinky came along with us since she felt sick due the the altitude. This was the first time that she had seen real snow other than on the TV! Finally we came to a place which appeared to be the top since there was so much fog that we couldn't see 100 feet in front of us. It ended up that we descended for a little while and then ascended again to the summit. We were just able to see the peaks around us under the clouds which looked incredible with all of the black rock, white snow, and waterfalls going down them.(Picture49) There were numerous lakes all around some of which still had ice covering them.(Picture50,Picture51) We then started the 16 mile downhill which I had been looking forward to for such a long time. I still wanted to hop onto my bike and go down even with my leg having a gash in it. We drove down the switchback road into an incredible valley before traveling to Red Lodge where I was finally able to get to a hospital --- about 4 hours after the accident. I went in and the doctor put novocane around the cut so that I wouldn't feel anthing that he was doing. He cleaned out the cut so that I would only have a scar, not a tattoo, and stitched up the gash, giving me not only my first stitch but my first seven stitches! He had some trouble getting the needle through my skin because it was so tough. One of the needles actually bent! Jade, who had been driving the SAG, said that the needle wouldn't go through my skin until it had pushed the skin about ¾ of an inch higher than the level of the normal skin around the area! About 45 minutes later I walked out once again, feeling no pain. We drove on into Joliet and unloaded all of our gear at the school where we were to stay for the night. I once again hoped onto my bike and went a few miles before stopping to try to call my parents to tell them about the day. Unfortunately the phone was busy so I went back and ate some almond granola for dinner since the cooking crew didn't finish until 10:30! I went back out and made another phone call and this time I was able to get through. I got back and went to bed around 11:30 after eating a little more food to try to fill me up for the night.

TRIP ROUTE:
Take Beartooth Highway to Joliet (212).

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws