Continental Divide - TETONS - Jackon, WY

I ran off of adrenaline all morning because I wanted to get to the Grand Tetons National Park Visitor Center asap. These days, people had been somewhat reluctant to take the lead (several people have gotten very lost on occasion), but I didn't care today. Bohlin Cywinski Jackson was calling.

And then as I hit the first climb, my muscles reminded me that I had already climbed about 2000 ft to Dubois yesterday. It's alright, I told myself. I'll just do it in my granny gear (on my double compact ...), go steady, and it'll go downhill eventually. The funny thing is, it would dip every so often, but in fact, it went uphill for about 30 miles. I'd missed the fact that we were crossing the Continental Divide today because I was messing around trying to get my backpack lighter. In the morning, we climbed from 6900 to 9700 ft !!!!!!!!!!

At lunch, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. That was the one low point of the day. There was also snow! That's how high we were ...

I sped out of lunch as soon as I could, and after getting past the first construction site, I spotted Shira looking sad and lonely on the side of the road. She had gotten ahead of Chad and Eric who found a good lunch spot around mile 30. So we rode together for the 6% downhill for 17 miles !!! The most welcome road sign any cyclist will ever see. I hit 35 mph at my fastest, but I was afraid to go too fast because of all the road construction. Shira and I weren't shuttled in the truck, but apparently many of the riders after us were.

The road wrapped around the mountains rather than go straight down, and as we came around the bend, we finally saw the Tetons looming up ahead of us. Snow covered, and above the clouds: clearly something much higher than anything we'd seen previously. Pine trees all around. I stopped at one point to take a picture, and a really nice German couple offered to take my picture for me. So we traded, and I took one for them too.

We found a decent spot for second lunch, but I felt antsy and kept going. Hana and Jake Schorr joined me until we found the Visitor's Center. The road we took after lunch went through a valley of sorts between the Tetons and some other mountain ranges. We were surrounded by mountains.

And then I saw the visitor's center and screamed. You can't see it from the road. The approach winds around to a U-shaped courtyard, which creates an intimate, introspective and quiet entryway. The construction style is very Asian influenced timber style with a modern aesthetic. The roofline is angular and somewhat jagged: architectural language that clearly draws influences from the Tetons themselves. The joints and edges of the wood are all detailed with beautifully machined metal fittings or reinforcements. As soon as you step in, you see the Tetons framed in the angular floor to ceiling glass panes. I sketched like crazy, but I'm really rusty. I figured as much. I haven't really sketched in over a year, because I was so sick of sketching after 9 months in Versailles. I'm finally getting back into it.

Anyway, unfortunately, the sweeps missed the turn off, so I sprinted as best as I could to catch up. It didn't take too long, fortunately. I think I was running off of endorphins from seeing the Visitor's Center at that point. We caught up to Michael who had a flat, and Joe who was helping him. Afterwards, Joe was FLYING, and I got a great draft into town.

We're staying at this one place, and it feels slightly strange because we're surrounded by tourists. It almost feels like I'm back in Europe or something. I even heard quite a few French speakers.

Katharine, Michael, Jeff and I ate Mexican for dinner, and then we rushed off to the movie theater to see "The Dark Knight" at last. It was excellent, but not particularly uplifting. I'm not sure if I want to get it for myself when it comes out on DVD.

Bed time.