South pass city to a&m reservoir

Biking is so easy. I met up with the bike packers at the restaurant in town. We all had the same idea of eating a big breakfast before heading out. We wouldn't be riding together for long, they were riding 15 miles then taking a nap and doing the whole basin overnight. After a few miles I caught up with handstands, machine gun and iceman and talked with them for a bit. It was silly how quickly I caught them and how fast they were out of sight.

I stayed on the bike route for almost the whole day. I tried following the CDT but the trail was either deep soft sand or big rocky jeep track instead of the nice packed gravel that the bike route followed. I had to do an extra 20 miles by following the bike route but considering how much easier it was I think I made the right choice.

There were only two water sources listed on the bike path for the entire basin. The first was 22 miles out where the bike packers were taking their nap and the next was a reservoir 55 miles later. To a hiker these are big numbers. On a bike it was a half days ride.

The basin was amazing. Just this wide open area of nothingness. I got to see the antelope and have wild horses run along next to me for a mile or so. The colts were so cute one kept running with its tail sticking straight out while the other never got more than two steps away from its mother.

I got lucky with the wind. It's supposed to be really crazy out there at times with it changing direction at different times of day. I had a strong wind blowing to the east the whole time and since most of the day I was biking eastward I had it helping me out most of the time. Of course the time I really wanted the wind at my back it wasn't. I had just finished dinner when I notice a thunderstorm rolling in. Not a bad one but when there is no cover except sagebrush and nothing taller than my knee getting caught in a thunderstorm is a bad idea. It looked like if I could bike a few miles south I could avoid the storm. At that point the road was heading in a south westerly direction. It was also heading up hill, not a big hill but enough to slow me down. Then the wind kicked in. Since I was going almost right into it and it was stronger than normal due to being a part of the storm I was struggling. I did make it but my legs were jello after that push. I still had 12 miles to go and less than an hour before it got dark. I was trying to make it to the next water and even a giant black column of thunderstorm to my south pushing me on wasn't enough to get my jello legs moving 12 miles an hour. I eventually just camped by the side of the road about 2 miles from the reservoir when it started to rain. I figured if that thunderstorm was going to catch me I'd prefer to be in my tent. Thankfully the storm stayed south cause I doubt my tent could have withstood that storm.