Greyfox2

Does anyone have any experience with this event? Their route next summer looks interesting.

https://www.cyclewyoming.org/tour.htm

Thanks.

jamawani 

Haven't done the tour since I am big group phobic.
But I've lived in Wyoming 20 years and cycled practically every mile of the route - and driven the others.

Day 1 - Eeks! You start with a pretty good climb out of Cody. Given that you are at altitude (5100 ft) you will need to be in good shape from the git go. It's a great ride thru high sagebrush country with badlands and mountains on the horizon. Meeteetse is a nice Western town - very few turistas. The ride along the Greybull River is pleasant - nuttin spectacular - very light traffic. After Burlington it turns into farm country. Greybull is a funky little farm/ranch town.

Day 2 - This day's ride is entirely in the Bighorn Basin - hot (remember - July), dry, no shade, and pretty barren. No big climbs - a steady one out of Greybull. Moderate traffic. Bighorn Canyon is magnificant IF you can get out on the water. Lovell is more than funky.

Day 3 - Again, kinda boring terrain - plus you head into Montana - bad, bad, bad. Traffic picks up even more in this stretch. No climbing to the point of boring except for the ridge between Belfry and Red Lodge. Belfry is a cool little town. Red Lodge is a touristy ski town - quite nice. Why they don't have you ride the Beartooth Highway is beyond me. Brutal and awesome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beartooth_Highway

Day 4 - Much more scenic - Beartooth Mtns off to the west, but riding not too difficult. Cody is super touristy - still, you MUST visit the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The art is world class - including some 175 year old Karl Bodmer watercolors of Plains Indians - some of the earliest and most authentic.

Day 5 - Killer climbs on Chief Joseph Highway over Dead Indian Pass (not the greatest name). If you can stay an extra night at the NW College camp. The hiking in Sunlight Basin is some of the finest in the Greater Yellowstone region.

Day 6 - Ditto.

Overall Rating - B minus.

I think the committee could do a lot better. Especially making it a circuit.
One thing you could do would be to take the Beartooth from Red Lodge
to the NW College camp. E-mail them and ask if they are going to provide that option.
They will tell you it is brutal - tell them you know already.

Best - J

Greyfox2

Thanks, I appreciate it. Sounds like its not as mountainous as I thought it would be looking at the map.

lrzipris

If I recall, it had odd scheduling this year--the off-day was the last day. I also have been told that it's hard to get in, limited to 125 riders, booked within minutes.

valygrl

Thanks for the post jamawani... you confirmed my suspicions that this route is not the best WY has to offer.

velo2000

On the topic of bike tours in the Rockies next summer, I'm thinking about riding the Colorado Rocky Mountain Bike Tour. I like their proposed route better than the BTC's 2008 route. I talked to a couple of the CRMBT organizers at Velo Swap and it sounds like they run a good tour.

valygrl

Both routes look excellent. I'm doing BTC, might have to do CRMBT as well. And what about RTR?

velo2000

I've never done Ride The Rockies, but I hear it's crowded and the food at the aid stations is lousy (usually just oranges, bananas and bagels?). The BTC has great aid station food and the CRMBT guys said they'd have good food as well. And the CRMBT only had like 50 people last year (their first year), so it might be nice to do such a small ride. I feel like I get lost in the crowd at the BTC.

marco polo

Velo2000 and Valygrl: That CRMBT third day century will be hard. The climb over Independence Pass, (12,095), will just soften you up for the cold headwind up the Arkansas River to Leadville. I did the first Ride the Rockies which had an optional century from Aspen to Leadville. I have never been so happy to get off a bike. I have ridden up the Arkansas many times - always into that icy headwind.

I don't want to highjack this thread, maybe a new thread discussing CRMBT, BTC, and RTR?

velo2000

Aww, don't let a little headwind scare ya! Yeah, that will be a long day, but at least you'll sleep well that night.

valygrl

I've ridden into that headwind before, and yeah, it's... character building.