the tetons on the way down

almost as high as you can get on a road bike

before turning around, the challenge of Togwotee remained. Togwotee Pass (pronounced toe-go-tee) (el. 9658 ft/2944 m) is a mountain pass located on the continental divide in the Absaroka Mountains of the United States, between the towns of Dubois and Moran Junction, Wyoming in the Jackson Hole valley. The grades were not nearly as severe as Teton Pass (5-6 versus 9-10) and the vistas were stunning. This is the most beautiful climb I have ever done ... going up there were enromous rock formations. At the Continental divide lies the Mountain of Two Oceans ... the name is obvious. Going down, the Tetons laid on the horizon.

TRIP ABORTED

June 27 ... we had to abort the trip because we do not have a driver for the SAG wagon. Thanks for watching.

TRIP ABORTED

June 27 ... we had to abort the trip because we do not have a driver for the SAG wagon. Thanks for watching.

Images from Jackson Hole

After the fright of the downhill, we were starving and headed to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar and Steakhouse for some Elk soup and steak. MMMMMMMMMMMMM!

More Pictures Swan Valley to Jackson

June 25th ... this morning at the crack of dawn Emmanuelle headed back to the bay area ... we will miss her greatly as we head east from Jackson to Boston ... we will continue this blog as it has given us such pleasure ... before reporting yesterday's ride, I would like to again thank Emmanuelle for organizing this part of the trip ... it could not have been better.

As for yesterday, it was the best of rides and the worst of rides . First the best, the ride from Swan Valley to Victor was stunningly beautiful ... from Victor up to the pass at 8431 feet was a bit disappointing due to the incessant stream of RVS, campers, trailers and trucks all of which sprayed diesel fumes on the hapless cyclists who were navigating the 10% grades.

The worst part for me was the ride downhill which was more than 5 miles of 10%. About halfway down my carbon rims overheated and warped and my front tube blew out. Happily, I was able to stop without falling and got a ride to Fitzgerald's Bike Shop who were extremely helpful. I will have to send my front wheel back to Reynolds for a new rim but I was not hurt so that is a small price to pay.

Over the next two days, Rita (Nini) and I will visit Yellowstone and Teton National Parks then back on the bike to traverse the Continental Divide at Togwotee Pass (9000 plus feet)

from surf town to ski town... and back to the bay

teton pass lived up to the hype.  consistent 10% grades up and down for miles.  now too tired to update with pics from the last two days but will do so tomorrow... from san francisco... ahh. just in time for pride. 

Yes we have arrived in jackson

Tomorrow's start

rise and shine as we head up 10% grades over Teton pass!

heading to teton pass

over the next two days we will climb the teton pass ... 8,431 feet (2570 m) ... the grades will reach 10 degrees so this is quite a good challenge ... fortunately emmanuelle broke the ride into two segments ... first day (today) over to Swan Valley and then tomorrow we ride over the pass into Jackson .. we will have great weather unlike our ride over the Galena Pass ... will post pictures when we arrive in Jackson.

arco to idaho falls through the nuclear scape

zeke joined us from logan, ut after a grueling bus + bike + support car adventure from his house to arco yesterday.  phil and rita took the day off the explore the moon, while zeke and i rode through the birthplace of nuclear power generation in america... exciting stuff.  we passed the first nuclear power plant ever built, two roadkill rattlesnakes, and lots of sagebrush.  hopefully the gamma rays didn't permeate too deeply.  there were literally no stores or towns on the entire 68+ mile trek, we had lunch on a knoll of sage brush off the side of the road.  here are some highlights:

zeke ready to ride

mr. pickles has a competitor here in arco

we skipped the tour

straight out of the simpsons

one of the buttes

  

hailey to arco... a recap

no "wifi" as they call it in arco so now updating from idaho falls the last couple of days.  yesterday we descended out of the wood river valley past some amazing ranches and modern design and into the northern section of the great basin desert and more irrigated agriculture, and finally passing through the craters of the moon national monument.  no towns to stop at for lunch... but some great moonscape and farm life. 

pics:

apparently rosebud was also a cafe

house on the prairie

stream crossing

filling up the plane at the texaco.  phil thinks we should get one of these for the support team!

some horses have it better than others

craters of the moonscape!

coming into arco

this is phil's 1st entry and rita (nini) and I would like to thank emmanuelle for creating this stunning trip and blog ... it has been good fun to spend nearly two weeks with our niece ... sadly she will be leaving us and the hinterland on June 25th ... we will miss her greatly

red fish lake to hailey through the hailstorm...

last night i was too tired to update the blog after waking up at the unseasonably early hour of 6am, for the sole purpose of avoiding the wind and rain, only to head straight into it (thanks weatherman!).  the first twenty miles out, we hit rain, a strong headwind and hail before we stopped for breakfast at smiley's ranch and to dry out for a bit, hoping the rain would let up.  no such luck as we climbed to the top of galena pass (8768'... not that i'm counting) through the inclimate weather.  the descent from the top was especially challenging since i left my full length gloves in the car... i had to stop every mile to warm up my frozen fingers.  We were able to warm up again at galena lodge at the base of the steep descent, where they had a fire and crowded dinning room full of father's day brunchers.

From there, it kept raining all the way to ketchum.  phil made the rounds at all the bike shops, getting various adjustments and work done on his bike.  When I caught up to him, it was sunny and blue skies.  I stripped my rain gear and we enjoyed the 11 mile slow descending bike bath to hailey, which looked to be straight out of a real estate brochure for multi-million $$$ getaways complete with riverside views and golf courses.  was very lovely.

pics of the day are mostly gray, due to the rain... sadly no great highlights as we traversed incredibly scenic country, but here are a couple:

could not figure out what type of bird this is, but it's cool lookin'

coming up galena pass in the rain

                                              saying goodbye to the salmon river valley

the trees seemed to weather the storm much better than i

self portrait at the top of galena summit.  ready for the freezing cold descent!

coming into ketchum, blue skies over the wood river

today we head through the craters of the moon national monument over to arco, id.  should be a more mellow ride with better weather.  we meet up with my friend zeke tonight, who will join us on to jackson hole.

rest day seems so long ago!

too tired to add anything but pics right now... enjoy the post-rainbow, dusk series

it's tough being so cute

calm water is a bit deceiving

"i thought america was supposed to be warm in the summer! I'll go back to italy next year."