Tour Divide Update: Days 13 & 14

Pinedale to The Great Basin, and The Great Basin to Brush Mountain Lodge

Day 13 - 218km

After a short day the previous day, I was keen to make up some time after leaving Pinedale. I set my alarm early and headed out from Pinedale toward Atlantic City.

The first couple of hours were very easy. Paved roads, no wind and cool weather as the sun was still rising. After a few kilometres I passed through the small town of Boulder headed toward the Great Basin.

As I got closer and closer to Atlantic City, the terrain became more rugged. Roads turned into dirt roads and grew hillier. Still, I made good time and was in good spirits.

After passing through the tiny town of South Pass, I arrived in Atlantic City at around lunchtime.

Atlantic City is certainly a grandiose term for the very small town it represents. It’s really just a few streets, one bar, one small, grocery store and a couple of other businesses. However, the people were friendly, and I exchanged stories with locals in the bar as I grabbed lunch. After resupplying at the store (up a steep hill at the top of town), I headed up the steep climb out of the other end of town and into the Basin.

For those who aren’t familiar, the Basin is essentially a high altitude desert in Wyoming, whose name I believe derives from the fact that it is essentially a bowl with minimal drainage. If it rains, the trails there are notorious for turning into peanut butter mud that becomes completely impassable. It’s also well known for strong headwinds for unlucky souls.

Fortunately, for me, the weather forecast was good and, after managing 140 km before lunch, I continued to make good time.

Toward the end of the day, headwinds did pick up, and the last couple of hours were a bit of a grind.

Late in the day, I once again caught up with Alan who had started out ahead of me and was powering through to reach his 100 mile goal for the day. We rode together for a few minutes until he hit that target, at which point I was perfectly happy to call it a day as I’d ridden nearly 220km for the day. We set up our tents at the side of the trail and hunkered down for the night.

Alan had been needling me (in a good natured way) about the fact that I was lugging a drone around with me, so I took pleasure in putting it up in the air and capturing some footage of the sunset before unpacking my new sleep pad for the first time and getting a good nights sleep.

Total distance: 218km

Day 14 - 207km

Day 14 mixed another big ride with some real drama.

After a good night sleep in the basin, I was up and at it early the next morning. Leaving Alan, who wad cooking his breakfast at the time I left, I headed out to complete the final 70 km also of wilderness to cross the basin and reach the town of Wamsutter. The remainder of the crossing was uneventful. I rolled into Wamsutter in good spirits, resupplied and ate a hefty amount of food.

While in town, I also replenished my fluids, taking with me about 5 L for the remainder of the day. In hindsight, I should have taken less food and more water, as became clear later.

Heading out from Wamsutter, I resumed riding on dirt roads with a goal of reaching Brush Mountain Lodge that evening. While the weather was scorching, the riding was good to start with, and after being caught by another rider named Diego (from Oklahoma) we chatted for a while, before he continued on past me and into the distance.

Along the way, I had started to become a bit concerned about hydration. The weather was extremely hot, there was a headwind, and there was zero shade or shelter along the route. The distance to the next town was about 120 km, and after about 50 km I started to worry that I may not have enough fluids to make it comfortably.

That reality became acutely apparent about 20km later, when I realized I was just about out of water, with 50km still to go to the next settlement - the tiny town of Savery.

Over the next while my concerns increased, as streams marked on the map proved to all be dry and I started to show signs of dehydration.

With about 30 km to go, I was dehydrated to the point that I had stopped sweating. At that point, I messaged my wife and asked her to keep an eye on position on the Track Leaders website, and told that if I stopped moving for long and she didn’t hear from me, she knew I would need help.

I was, on my end, seriously, considering hitting the SOS button on my satellite tracker, as I was fearful of getting heatstroke in the desert.

I took a look at the remaining route to Savery and realized that if I could finish one last long climb, I would be able to coast down the last 15km out so into the town, even if I was feeling weak. So, I resolved to push up that one less climb, and make one last bid to make it to water before having to call for help and pull the chute on my trip.

It felt like that climb would never end. Every time I thought I was at the top, I’d look up and there was another mound ahead. This went on for ages.

Eventually, I finished the climb and began the long descent as fast as I could. Thinking I was almost at the town, I was in good spirits, only to come over one little mound and see a huge hill in front of me. This hill was something like a 13% gradient on loose gravel, and I was forced to walk about a kilometre which took me nearly 20 minutes in my condition.

Finally, I hit the final descent, and was completely overcome with emotion, bawling my eyes out as I descended into the town and rolled up to the museum there which is known as being friendly to cyclists. It had a tap with filtered water outside, which I used to pour a couple of litres of electrolytes and water down my throat, and to refill all of my bottles and hydration vest. After a tearful call home to my wife to reassure her (and convince myself) that I was OK, I decided that rather than end the day there at about 180 km, I deserved a little bit of luxury that night, so decided to ride a final 28 km into Colorado and up a climb to Brush Mountain Lodge.

Boy, was I glad I did. Every part of me was absolute jelly by this point, from my legs, which had no energy, to my mental state, which was still caught up in the emotion of almost having to bail on the trip.

I rolled into Brush Mountain Lodge as the sun went down, and what an oasis it is.

Within a few minutes of me arriving, Kristen the owner had a freshly made pizza in front of me, a beer in my hand, and made me feel right at home. There were a few other riders also at the lodge that night, and several of us all took a room in a bunk house there.

What a day. The closest I’ve come so far to bailing on this trip, and I came a hair’s breadth away from it and what could’ve been a life or death situation.

All told, I managed about 210 km that day and despite the challenges and the important lessons learned, I felt good having managed to double centuries in two days.

Total distance:207km