Day 20: Jeffrey City to Lander WY

55.4 miles, 2099 ft ascent / 3029 descent , 12.4% max grade, 6:08 saddle time.  Starting elevation 5981 ft, max 6764 ft, min 5332, final 5357 ft.
The weather forecast predicted that today would be windy, so I got up at 4:45 and headed out of Jeffrey City at 5:30.  I was not sad to leave.  

An early start

The wind started to pick up right away.  I was going roughly NW with the road alternating between west and north, and the wind shifted back and forth from SW to W all day long.  By 0730 the wind speed was up to 10 mph from the W, and it kept increasing as the day went on:  15, 17, 22, 27 mph.  It is hard to ride into a strong headwind, but when it is also gusting to 30 or 40 mph, you cannot get into a rhythm and are constantly shifting gears.  At times a strong headwind gust would bring me nearly to a standstill.  Gusting crosswinds are even more challenging.  I would lean into the steady W wind, then a gust would come along and blow the bike to the right. I would lean in more, and then it would stop, causing the bike to go left.  If a truck drove by during a gust, the effect was magnified.  I had to brace myself each time I heard a truck coming.  This went on for hours as the wind steadily increased.  My arms and shoulders got fatigued from the constant corrections to maintain a straight line, or just stay on the shoulder (which was thankfully about 8 ft wide).  I had to stop frequently to take breaks.  It took me almost 9 hours to go 55 miles.  At times I was barely making 5 mph headway.  It is difficult enough to maintain a straight line at low speeds, without gusting winds.  
As I went further into WY the scenery changed.  In the Beaver Ridge area I came across these red rock formations.



About 6 miles south of Lander the road was heading west and made a right turn to go north.  The headwind became a crosswind. At this point it was about 2:00 pm, so I had been traveling for 8.5 hours.  The wind had been steadily increasing all day.

Wind forecast for Jeffrey City/Lander area.

The wind was gusting up to 45 mph from the WSW.  I got blown off the shoulder into the gravel about 5 times in the next 3 miles.  I finally decided that continuing on would be dangerous, so I texted Brian in Lander to ask for a ride.  He was staying with WarmShowers host Danine.  Without hesitation she drove her van to come pick me up from the side of the road.  I was never so happy to see friendly faces.  They were actually concerned that they had not heard from me and were planning to come looking.  I am exhausted!  Here is Danine’s house in Lander where I am staying. 

WarmShowers host Danine’s house





 

Comments

  1. JennaJune 9, 2026 at 10:42 PM

    Wow, sounds like an intense day!! Very glad to hear you had some people to help you! Hope you got some nice rest after that day.

    ReplyDelete

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