Monday 4 June - Preparing for another big ride

Saratoga - Rawlins

43 fast miles
2 hours and 53 minutes in the saddle
30.8 mph max speed
14.7 mph average speed

We left early this morning to avoid the winds that increase through the day and we arrived in Rawlins at 9.30am.

We have had another day of mostly downhill and today the roads have been beautifully smooth. We like Wyoming roads, especially after some of the rough and bumpy roads in Colorado. We have had a short ride today in anticipation of a long ride tomorrow. Wyoming is sparsely populated and without a tent we don't have many choices for places to stay. Tomorrow we may have to do another 120 miles to find a bed for the night. We said we were mad last time we did 120 miles and we are feeling a bit apprehensive about doing it again. This time we are well prepared: we have bought a loaf of bread, a large jar of Nutella and some Vaseline!

Today we met another 3 TransAm'er riding eastwards. Two of them had been riding for 6 months, they had started in San Diego riding north to Canada, before heading south and east. They gave us some good advice on cycling from Oregon to California. Oh, we haven't mentioned that we think we have enough time to ride the Pacific highway down to San Francisco. We have made good progress throughout the trip and without too many rest days we should have a couple of weeks to spare once we hit Oregon.

To date we have cycled for 42 days and we have covered 2677 miles. We are about half way to San Francisco and have completed about 2/3 of the TransAm. Our average distance per day is 64 miles. We have suffered no punctures, and no mechanical problems apart from Mette's rear wheel preferring to be oval rather than round. Physically we are in good shape and probably in a lot better shape than what we were 42 days ago. We have eaten our lifetime fill of hamburgers and we will soon reach our burrito and enchilada limit. We keep cycling past signs saying "Eat Beef" and that's often the only option we have.

Every state we have cycled through has been special and unique in its own way and we have enjoyed every day of our trip so far, apart from possibly the last 10 miles to Canon City. It is hard to distinguish between the highlights, but if we had to choose, then reaching Currant Creek Pass in Colorado was eyewateringly beautiful. We both agree the mountains are special.