Riding up to the Snowy Range in Wyoming

Snuk away from work on Thursday, and drove west out of Laramie to Centenial, population 100.  The starting point for my accent up the Snowy Range, starting at 8000ft.  Part of the Dead Dog ride out of Laramie.

The sign said, "wild horses".  I rode slow, not being sure what I was going to encounter.  I was curious to see how I would react to the elevation. 

One of the mountains I climbed past.  I had the road to myself.  You'll see why at the end (hint:  it's white).

This was not a small boulder in the road.  Easy enough for a bike to go around, but I did look up a few times.

I always get a kick out of this sign, "Open Range"  watch for livestock.  I seemed to breath hard, but I didn't bonk or anything.  So, I could have ridden harder.

Beautiful little trout stream.  I ran into folks fishing for brook trout.  I'll be back.

Passed by this ski resort, and kept on climbing. The sun was shining, and then it started raining a bit.

As I rode higher, I began to wonder if those road closed signs were really real,  because the snow kept getting deeper.

Sure enough, about a mile from the top, and at 10,000 feet, the road was closed because of 3 feet of snow covering the road.  The S-Works hadn't ridden through snow before.  It didn't this time either.

 

Back down at the bottom, this little grocery store/bar was a great.  I asked the bartender if he would let someone in wearing bike clothes, and he said, you bet, have a seat.  So I joined a guy named Jerry and Ted, and pretty soon Maria showed up.  We had a great time drinking beer, and talking about fishing and why I was riding up the mountain.  I couldn't explain it, but they could see the big smile on my face!

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