A grand bike ride

Wednesday morning, after waking early, completing my morning work load and grabbing a quick breakfast, I jumped on my bike to go for a ride. Instead of the normal dirt road or trail, I opted for asphalt this trip.

Hwy 191 runs North and South through the Grand Teton Nation Park. Since I am parked about 1 mile off the highway, and I know the scenery from the road is amazing, I did not want to pass up the opportunity to ride this road. I had no real destination other than the road itself, but after completing more than 10 miles, I was only a few more miles from the Moose entrance to the National Park. There, I relaxed with a sugary-drink and a granola bar to regain the energy to ride the 14-15 miles back to camp.

The scenery made all the pain worthwhile.

Needless to say, I did make it back, but only just. The ride was much easier going South, and even though there were two small hills to climb over, the majority of the ride was flat… or at least that is what I had thought. Going North, it was clear that I was going to spend 10 miles of a continual incline of 1.5%. It doesn’t sound like much, but it hurt… bad. By the time I finished the 30 miles of riding, my thigh’s were cramping and my butt hurt beyond belief.

That was my entire day… I was done by 11:30 am, but feeling better later in the evening while I write this post.