Wyoming - Day #4



It was nice to have a bed to sleep in for the night at the Nobel Hotel in Lander, although camping in the fresh air of Wyoming had been fantastic.  Greg headed out to get some coffee and found a great shop on the corner that brewed individual cups.  Delicious.

En route to an 11 am meeting with NOLS, we took the opportunity to check out Sinks Canyon in hopes of getting ideas for future races.  The goal of the Cowboy Tough AR is to highlight different parts of the state of Wyoming over the next 5 years in a series of 3.5-day races each July.  Wyoming has so much to offer with regard to outdoor recreation we are going to be spoiled with future route choices. We had been considering starting the race in Lander or Pinedale, so while in the area we wanted to see what was available.
Sinks Canyon and the areas to the west of Lander are very different from the rest of the state we had currently explored. As we climbed the steep mountain canyon, passing alpine vegetation and thick aspen groves, we noticed a stark contrast to the high desert plains we had traveled in the previous two days.


Sinks Canyon



After exploring the canyon we headed back to Lander and grabbed some breakfast and some more delicious coffee from The Coffee Shop.  We then met up with Aaron and Darren at NOLS to go over any support that they could help provide for the Cowboy Tough AR. You probably know that NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) is an excellent organization that helps develop leadership skills through wilderness training. They have some of the most experienced outdoorsmen in the world taking 10- to 14-day trips into the wilderness, so the philosophy and mission blend well with helping support a multi-day race.



Hell Half Acre



After the NOLS meeting we headed out of Lander and back toward Casper to meet back up with Mike that following evening at a mountain bike race on Casper Mountain.  Mike had been meeting with the governor and had taken part in a press conference in the morning to officially announce the Cowboy Tough AR. Media had picked up the story, and it was exciting to see news of the race on the Internet.

On the way back we stopped at Hell’s Half Acre, an odd geological feature that was used in the movie Starship Troopers.  The "sci-fi" moon-scape was surreal. This scarp could be a nice location for a future Cowboy Tough AR. Or a future REV3 Adventure sci-fi flick.

 As we got closer to Casper we contacted Bruce Lamberson from Mountain Sports.  Bruce was hosting the mountain bike race that evening and was kind enough to hook us up with some bikes to race with. Susan, one of our contacts on the ground in Casper, was also wrangling a bike for the race. When we arrived in Casper we swung by Bruce's outdoor shop, Mountain Sports, to get directions to the race.  It is a great store with everything from bikes to ski gear. When we found out the race was at a local ski resort, Greg and I had thoughts of steep climbs and tight technical single track.  We wouldn't be disappointed.

We fueled up by grabbing a burger at the Wonder Bar, then headed to Hogadon's ski area to meet with Bruce and Susan to get our bikes.  Unfortunately, Mike was still heading up to Casper from Cheyenne and would not be able to make the race start.  He also had Greg's and my SPD peddles so we ended up having to race with flats, which made the three laps on the 3-mile course even more challenging.

The growing mountain bike scene in Casper warmly welcomed us, and it was fun racing alongside the local team Fat Fish who really tore up the course. Bruce put on an excellent event and it was nice to get with the folks who feel as passionately about the outdoors as the rest of the REV3Adventure crew.

Mike and Vanessa made it for the end of the race, and it was nice to have a small cheering section as I crossed the finish line. Post race we headed back to the Wonder Bar for some well-earned refreshment and then to our hotel to catch up on some sleep after another long and enjoyable day in Wyoming.