Yellowstone yesterday (above) proved a difficult day for all the riders, due to the weather, relentless climbing and altitude Brian ‘only’ managed to clock up 150 miles distance wise….
The Garmin shot gives an idea of what has been going on and at one point I saw Brian was riding at an altitude of over 7,000ft. The high point of the race in a few 100 miles is over 11,000ft.
There was time to push on but he chose to stop early for the night as the next town and facilities were just over 100 miles away.
Mr Welsh has enjoyed what he has seen of the stunning Yellowstone Scenery and even spotted a couple of bear cubs but chose not to hang around as lunch for mum.
At (10:00BST Sunday) Brian has been stopped for 5 hours at Dubois in Wyoming (yes, that’s another state line crossed) again at an altitude of 7000ft.
Dubois (pop 972) above is best known for a fire on December 30, 2014, several businesses burned to the ground in the downtown area. The air temperatures at the time of the blaze were hovering near -35 degrees with wind chills in the 50 below zero range. Firefighters battled freezing equipment and gear throughout the night to get the fire under control.
Next place up (above) is Crowheart (pop141); According to legend, following a five-day battle for rights to the hunting grounds in the Wind River Range, Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and Chief Big Robber of the Crow agreed to a duel, with the winner gaining the rights to the Wind River hunting grounds. Chief Washakie eventually prevailed, but he was so impressed with the courage of his opponent, that rather than scalp him, he instead cut out his heart and placed it on the end of his lance….
Meanwhile having now crossed the Continental Divide the route ahead looks sparse and difficult but Brian is aiming to get back to the 200 miles a day target. (The Continental Divide extends from the Bering Strait to the Strait of Magellan, and separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic Ocean).
