Coast to Coast 2022 Adventure Day 13: DuBois, WY to Lander, WY
This post is part of a series detailing my 2022 coast to coast cycling adventure.
Different format today…
As mentioned in a previous posting, on our off day in Jackson, where Dave and I were both experiencing symptoms of exhaustion, we decided that we would be better off skipping a day (riding the SAG wagon) if one or both of us is unable to ride. We decided that, though it would be a big concession, it would be preferable to pushing the itinerary out and rescheduling all of the downstream reservations (and eating nonrefundable deposits). Fortunately, we came back strong yesterday and it was a nonissue.
But today is another story. After a strong ride yesterday I woke up today with fatigue, nausea, and other significant digestive issues (I won’t use the “D” word but you get the idea). After about an hour of telling myself “you can power through it” and trying to will myself to feel better I finally had to concede that I can’t ride today. And even if I did somehow pull it off, today is followed by four very challenging days through the Rockies into Estes Park. My symptoms have continued throughout the day, plus I later learned that I am running a fever, all of which validated my decision.
Being sidelined and skipping a day is a very bitter pill to swallow — an asterisk on my perfect plan. And it has me wondering what’s going on. Something I ate? A virus? Exhaustion? Altitude? Dehydration? Some or all of the above? Maybe, despite all of the preparation and training, 880 miles in the first 10 days was too much? It also didn’t help that I was up half the night due to July 4th revelry and fireworks. It turns out that DuBois is quite the party town, at least on July 4th. It has me scared and I’m thinking about what adjustments I can make. So, for now all I can do is take it easy today and hope to be back on the road at full strength in the next day or two.
I suppose this is a good life lesson. Despite our best efforts and intentions, shit happens. Sometimes you can power through it and other times you have to take a step back and give up a battle to win the war. My grandmother had an expression, “we make plans and God laughs.”
In the mean time, Dave soldiered on and rode solo today 💪🏽🚴. Here are his stats:
