Day 53: Jackson, WY, over Teton Pass, to Swan Valley, ID (50 miles)

May, Sometime in 2007 - I was going on one of my first rides after buying Trixie with my then roommate Tim, my now roommate Jim, and my friend Gwen. We did a ride to Mt. Horeb, which is what I'd classify at "Wisconsin Climbing"... not too steep, but the occasional climb or so mixed in with some flats. Coming back from Mt. Horeb, right after one of the little climbs right after the Riley Tavern, I felt weak and tried to slow down to take a break. Not understanding my toe clip pedals, and some combination of exhaustion and being out of shape, I just kind of fell over. Everyone kinda got a laugh, I drank some water and everything was a bit better. This was the first time I remember getting beat up on a climb, but I've tried since to avoid the repeat process.

Flash Forward to this Monday: We woke up and had another pleasant morning of conversation and coffee at Molly's place. Molly is a saint for taking in Jon and me and letting us crash for 4 days. At the end of this, I felt well-rested and ready to tackle the rest of our trip. We packed up our things, bid our goodbyes, and rode down to meet up with Dustin and Em Sue before tackling Teton Pass. Everyone told us Teton was steep, but gave us the vote of confidence that we'd be OK. We waited a bit longer after reuniting since we heard there was lightning and quarter-inch hail at the top. Everything seemed clear enough, so we started jamming on our way to Idaho over the pass.

The first 8 or so miles to Wilson and to the base of Teton felt great. We were zooming along at 18 mph on flats and generally felt super well-rested. At the base of Teton, we started a 2208 foot climb that we'd hit quickly over the course of a few miles over a 10% grade. So, while I was tougher and more well-rested than any climb to date, I was still grinding up the hill at a super-pedantic 4 mph, sometimes even dropping to 3.7. Standing didn't help because it made me breathe harder; breathing harder started to make me feel light-headed. The pouring rain started coming down. Part of me wondered if I was, in fact, going to get my ass kicked by Teton Pass. I thought some about the day I was riding I wrote about above and then thought "Look at you now!" It helped me keep going. Around the turn, the path started to flatten out a bit and I stopped to turn around and take a picture... and also to catch my breath some.

Jon coming up over the bend in the rain. It's blurry because of the rain and the fact that my hand was shaking a bit at this point. Still looks awesome.

After this break and the improved grade, I felt awesome, even with the rain pouring down. Mark 1, Teton Pass 0. We powered through, and finished the climb (which had some scenic views of Jackson and the valley below).

The downhill, again, wasn't super fun because of the rain and cold. Finally, we were down and in Idaho. We stopped in Victor to wait out the rain, but we also stopped there because there was a brewery conveniently located there. Cask-conditioned APA after a climb? Yes, yes I will.

Another climb over a pass put us into Swan Valley, Idaho. We were finally out of the snow and dead of the plains in Wyoming and into green hills again. Looked good, felt good. We were able to camp behind the Saddlesore Tavern and shower and grab a beer. Another climb down and into the plains again for a little while.