Today’s ride was short and easy as we arrived in Dayton around 1:00 p.m. with a one-hour stop at Starbucks in Sheridan along the way. We departed Buffalo this morning shortly after 7:15 a.m. and rode on the shoulder of I-90 for awhile until exiting onto Rt-87 where we met up with Nick and the van alongside a creek for our first water stop. After departing the water stop we followed 87 through rolling hills until things flattened out around Sheridan where Nick was stopped outside a grocery store for water stop number two. By this point it was about 10:30 a.m. and we had already covered 40 of our approximately 60 miles for the day so Andrew, Dana, Yiming, Stephe and I decided to make a detour to Starbucks in Sheridan for tea and coffee iced drinks. We spent about an hour at Starbucks sitting outside on the patio in front of the shop drinking our iced drinks. A kind woman noticed our jerseys and gave us a small donation and before we left we strategically left a few business cards on the tables hoping someone will pick them up and check us out and donate! Everyone else had gone onto Dayton by this point so the five of us made our way out of town along 338 before crossing train tracks onto 339 and climbing a rather steep hill that led us to I-90 again. The time our ride along I-90 was brief as we descended down a hill getting off after only about two miles and riding 345 into Ranchester and then turning onto 14 that led us to Dayton. About five miles before reaching Dayton, Dana and Yiming decided to switch bikes. Because they both have smaller bikes the change worked out fine until about a mile left when Dana got a flat on Yiming’s bike. As we were fixing the flat it started to pour leaving us soaked as we didn’t have our rain gear on us. As we were getting back on our bikes after changing Yiming/Dana’s flat my chain decided to fall off my bike just as I was standing up to pedal causing me to come crashing down onto the crossbar. It was a rather painful experience and left me thankful not to be a guy as that would have hurt a bit more. When we pulled into Dayton the directions I’d been given were go to the end of town and the school would be the last building on our right. As Randall who I’d set the stay over up with told me “if you don’t see anything else, you’ve gone too far!” Dayton was indeed small as we quickly passed through it and came to the last thing before vast nothingness - the high school. When we arrived we found a number of our teammates resting in front of the school, some on the school roof and finishing lunch. We quickly ate lunch as well and then a group of us headed back to the other side of town to go for a swim in the creek as we couldn’t get into the building until 3:00 p.m. The creek was cold and fast moving but felt very good on my somewhat sore legs. After cooling off Matt, Yiming and I walked our bikes back to the school where we waited around for the doors to open at three as they were supposedly set on timers to open at that time. When the doors did not open at 3:00 I called Randall who then called the school secretary Toni to come and let us into the building. Apparently the switchboard in the main office was down causing the doors not to open. Toni let us in and gave me a tour of the building showing us where both the refrigerator and locker rooms were. We then chilled in the building for awhile, took showers and waited for dinner. Amy and Dana made a wonderful dinner of chili and rice along with garlic bread. After dinner as the football/track coach was leaving the school from his summer practice sessions he told me that we were welcome to use the school laundry facilities and showed me where they were. After dinner I rode my bike to the gas station/grocery store to buy crackers for tomorrows ride as my stash is getting low. It started raining as I was riding back to the school and when I got back I found everyone inside doing various things. I sat outside under the small overhang in front of the entrance to the school and ate my rather melted Fastbreak chocolate bar that I’d bought in Rapid City while talking to my sister on the phone for about and hour. It’s rather late and I’m now waiting for the laundry to get done so I can head to bed. I think I’ll give it about five more minute and then hang dry it if it’s not dry as I’m beginning to get rather sleepy. Tomorrow we climb a VERY large mountain!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Dayton, Wyoming
We are currently in the small town of Dayton, Wyoming where we are spending the night in the high school cafeteria. 
Today’s ride was short and easy as we arrived in Dayton around 1:00 p.m. with a one-hour stop at Starbucks in Sheridan along the way. We departed Buffalo this morning shortly after 7:15 a.m. and rode on the shoulder of I-90 for awhile until exiting onto Rt-87 where we met up with Nick and the van alongside a creek for our first water stop. After departing the water stop we followed 87 through rolling hills until things flattened out around Sheridan where Nick was stopped outside a grocery store for water stop number two. By this point it was about 10:30 a.m. and we had already covered 40 of our approximately 60 miles for the day so Andrew, Dana, Yiming, Stephe and I decided to make a detour to Starbucks in Sheridan for tea and coffee iced drinks. We spent about an hour at Starbucks sitting outside on the patio in front of the shop drinking our iced drinks. A kind woman noticed our jerseys and gave us a small donation and before we left we strategically left a few business cards on the tables hoping someone will pick them up and check us out and donate! Everyone else had gone onto Dayton by this point so the five of us made our way out of town along 338 before crossing train tracks onto 339 and climbing a rather steep hill that led us to I-90 again. The time our ride along I-90 was brief as we descended down a hill getting off after only about two miles and riding 345 into Ranchester and then turning onto 14 that led us to Dayton. About five miles before reaching Dayton, Dana and Yiming decided to switch bikes. Because they both have smaller bikes the change worked out fine until about a mile left when Dana got a flat on Yiming’s bike. As we were fixing the flat it started to pour leaving us soaked as we didn’t have our rain gear on us. As we were getting back on our bikes after changing Yiming/Dana’s flat my chain decided to fall off my bike just as I was standing up to pedal causing me to come crashing down onto the crossbar. It was a rather painful experience and left me thankful not to be a guy as that would have hurt a bit more. When we pulled into Dayton the directions I’d been given were go to the end of town and the school would be the last building on our right. As Randall who I’d set the stay over up with told me “if you don’t see anything else, you’ve gone too far!” Dayton was indeed small as we quickly passed through it and came to the last thing before vast nothingness - the high school. When we arrived we found a number of our teammates resting in front of the school, some on the school roof and finishing lunch. We quickly ate lunch as well and then a group of us headed back to the other side of town to go for a swim in the creek as we couldn’t get into the building until 3:00 p.m. The creek was cold and fast moving but felt very good on my somewhat sore legs. After cooling off Matt, Yiming and I walked our bikes back to the school where we waited around for the doors to open at three as they were supposedly set on timers to open at that time. When the doors did not open at 3:00 I called Randall who then called the school secretary Toni to come and let us into the building. Apparently the switchboard in the main office was down causing the doors not to open. Toni let us in and gave me a tour of the building showing us where both the refrigerator and locker rooms were. We then chilled in the building for awhile, took showers and waited for dinner. Amy and Dana made a wonderful dinner of chili and rice along with garlic bread. After dinner as the football/track coach was leaving the school from his summer practice sessions he told me that we were welcome to use the school laundry facilities and showed me where they were. After dinner I rode my bike to the gas station/grocery store to buy crackers for tomorrows ride as my stash is getting low. It started raining as I was riding back to the school and when I got back I found everyone inside doing various things. I sat outside under the small overhang in front of the entrance to the school and ate my rather melted Fastbreak chocolate bar that I’d bought in Rapid City while talking to my sister on the phone for about and hour. It’s rather late and I’m now waiting for the laundry to get done so I can head to bed. I think I’ll give it about five more minute and then hang dry it if it’s not dry as I’m beginning to get rather sleepy. Tomorrow we climb a VERY large mountain!
Today’s ride was short and easy as we arrived in Dayton around 1:00 p.m. with a one-hour stop at Starbucks in Sheridan along the way. We departed Buffalo this morning shortly after 7:15 a.m. and rode on the shoulder of I-90 for awhile until exiting onto Rt-87 where we met up with Nick and the van alongside a creek for our first water stop. After departing the water stop we followed 87 through rolling hills until things flattened out around Sheridan where Nick was stopped outside a grocery store for water stop number two. By this point it was about 10:30 a.m. and we had already covered 40 of our approximately 60 miles for the day so Andrew, Dana, Yiming, Stephe and I decided to make a detour to Starbucks in Sheridan for tea and coffee iced drinks. We spent about an hour at Starbucks sitting outside on the patio in front of the shop drinking our iced drinks. A kind woman noticed our jerseys and gave us a small donation and before we left we strategically left a few business cards on the tables hoping someone will pick them up and check us out and donate! Everyone else had gone onto Dayton by this point so the five of us made our way out of town along 338 before crossing train tracks onto 339 and climbing a rather steep hill that led us to I-90 again. The time our ride along I-90 was brief as we descended down a hill getting off after only about two miles and riding 345 into Ranchester and then turning onto 14 that led us to Dayton. About five miles before reaching Dayton, Dana and Yiming decided to switch bikes. Because they both have smaller bikes the change worked out fine until about a mile left when Dana got a flat on Yiming’s bike. As we were fixing the flat it started to pour leaving us soaked as we didn’t have our rain gear on us. As we were getting back on our bikes after changing Yiming/Dana’s flat my chain decided to fall off my bike just as I was standing up to pedal causing me to come crashing down onto the crossbar. It was a rather painful experience and left me thankful not to be a guy as that would have hurt a bit more. When we pulled into Dayton the directions I’d been given were go to the end of town and the school would be the last building on our right. As Randall who I’d set the stay over up with told me “if you don’t see anything else, you’ve gone too far!” Dayton was indeed small as we quickly passed through it and came to the last thing before vast nothingness - the high school. When we arrived we found a number of our teammates resting in front of the school, some on the school roof and finishing lunch. We quickly ate lunch as well and then a group of us headed back to the other side of town to go for a swim in the creek as we couldn’t get into the building until 3:00 p.m. The creek was cold and fast moving but felt very good on my somewhat sore legs. After cooling off Matt, Yiming and I walked our bikes back to the school where we waited around for the doors to open at three as they were supposedly set on timers to open at that time. When the doors did not open at 3:00 I called Randall who then called the school secretary Toni to come and let us into the building. Apparently the switchboard in the main office was down causing the doors not to open. Toni let us in and gave me a tour of the building showing us where both the refrigerator and locker rooms were. We then chilled in the building for awhile, took showers and waited for dinner. Amy and Dana made a wonderful dinner of chili and rice along with garlic bread. After dinner as the football/track coach was leaving the school from his summer practice sessions he told me that we were welcome to use the school laundry facilities and showed me where they were. After dinner I rode my bike to the gas station/grocery store to buy crackers for tomorrows ride as my stash is getting low. It started raining as I was riding back to the school and when I got back I found everyone inside doing various things. I sat outside under the small overhang in front of the entrance to the school and ate my rather melted Fastbreak chocolate bar that I’d bought in Rapid City while talking to my sister on the phone for about and hour. It’s rather late and I’m now waiting for the laundry to get done so I can head to bed. I think I’ll give it about five more minute and then hang dry it if it’s not dry as I’m beginning to get rather sleepy. Tomorrow we climb a VERY large mountain!
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