Day 16 - 86 miles from Jackson to Dubois, WY

Anne and Michael rode the tandem the first 32 miles. The first 12 miles was on a bike path from Jackson. It was another beautiful ride as the pictures below depict.

Those are the Grand Tetons in the background.  We saw a herd of buffalo and more of the Tetons along the way.

Anne is sharing her Teton with you in this picture. What a ham!

At the first SAG stop after the 32 miles, we traded the tandem for Michael and the single bike. The reason for making the switch was having to climb over the Continental Divide at 9,854'.

The ride to the CD was challenging like the Teton Summit with the difference being the climb to the CD was longer at ~23 miles but with lesser grades ranging from 2 to 7% but mostly around 5%. It was just one of those grinder days where it is best to focus mostly 10-20' in front of you and the scenery to the either side rather than the distance you have in front of you. 

After the CD, it was a descent for most of the remaining 31 miles to Dubois. However, due to a 5-10 mph headwind, it could have been a much more enjoyable ride. I really hope we don't see any more headwinds going across WY.

WY has some interesting dichotomies in land formations as these pictures depict. See the green grassy area on the left side of the road compared to the painted rock formations on the right side. It was like this for miles.

Dubois, WY has a population of 972. Here is a panoramic view of Dubois' downtown. 

Cowboys and cowgirls are everywhere and even a Jackalope!

We were fortunate to have lunch with a self-contained rider who started in New Mexico, and going to Bath, Canada via Yellowstone and Montana. He carries ~ 75 pounds, camps, bathes in mountain streams and had to carry 2 gallons of water while crossing the NM desert. One trip he told us about was going over a mountain pass in Peru at over 16,000'. It took him 3 days. He has also crossed Europe. He is 49 and a HS math teacher in Denver. 

One item they do have in Dubois are pies. Some 15 different kinds and all homemade. Better than any pie stop I have experienced on RAGBRAI!

Remember that I bought a compact crank last week. (Good thing, because I would have done a lot of walking to make over the Teton Summit with the 53-39 crank.) Turns out had to loan the 53-39 to a fellow rider because his crank arm came off and was not repairable and there are no bike shops until we reach Casper on Thr. Fortunately, he has a 30 on the rear cassette.

Tomorrow, we go 79 miles to Riverton, WY.