The Wind in Wyoming

We’d been warned about all kinds of things before starting our ride.  We’d been told that we’d be riding uphill through Kansas; that it would be impossible to climb mountain passes with 75 pounds of bike and gear; or that the winds on the midwestern plains would blow us back to St. Louis.

While none of these challenges have been as great as feared, the single toughest obstacle has been the winds of Colorado and Wyoming.  For the last week, the wind has been against us at almost every turn, contrary to the forecasts and conventional wisdom about prevailing summer weather patterns.

While climbing a mountain pass road isn’t easy, it lets us build our own steady rhythm and rewards us at the top with a view and a thrilling downhill ride.

The wind gives us nothing to look forward to.  It is only an invisible, punishing foe that robs you of your momentum and promises only to get worse as the afternoon wears on.  The video above was taken between Rawlins and Lander, Wyoming, one of two days where we rode into a 20+ mph headwind.

If bike touring teaches us anything, it’s the necessity of improvisation, and we’ve picked up a few ways to beat the wind.  Here’s what we’ve done so far:

• Rise early:  The wind has picked up as early as 10:30 AM, so we’ve gone back to rising around dawn to get in as many miles as possible while the air is still.
• Draft: I’m the bigger of the two and the stronger rider (just barely nowadays), so I’ll get in a low gear and ride just a couple feet in front of Robin to shield her from the wind. It really makes a huge difference for the person in back.
• Hitch a ride: Every now and then, fortune smiles upon you. The day the video was taken, the wind had slowed us to a crawl and was only getting worse when we happened upon an RV being driven by the Wyoming highway patrol.  They offered to give us a lift for the final thirteen miles–and then to our next day’s destination. While we felt a little unethical about skipping a day ahead, we missed staying in Jeffrey City, Wyoming–and trust me, you wouldn’t want to stay there.