I got on the road shortly before 7:00am. The first 50 miles were the toughest of the trip thus far. A stubborn 14mph-20mph headwind for first 50 miles made for a slow first five hours. Conditions like this were a test on mental toughness. Music definitely helped me push through this. In fact, music from simpler times such as high school. Credit must be given where it's due: my older brother, Luke, drove myself and Ben (my younger brother) to and from soccer practice during the fall of 2004. During these drives, Luke usually controlled the music that was playing. Two albums in particular are engrained into my mind as a result: Weezer's Green Album and the album By the Way by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the latter of which I listened to. These are both albums that I know front to back. For me, music that goes back decades in memory has a great capability of taking the mind elsewhere. Mentally blocking out the wind was now a minor thing. I stopped at a rest area for a break and a meal of sorts. During this stop, I noticed that the wind had begun to shift, and fortunately this shift favored the south-eastward direction of the route. About eight miles down US-20 from the rest stop was one of the most unusual landforms of the trip: Hell's Half Acre, which is quite a misnomer as the landform occupies 320 acres! Gnarled rock formations were carved out by an ancient offshoot of the Powder River through land that is otherwise gently rolling prairie. It's a place that seems extraterrestrial; enough so that scenes from the 1997 film Starship Troopers were filmed here. The shift in the direction of the wind made for a significantly easier and quicker ride after leaving Hell's Half Acre. Shortly after arriving at Sean and Michelle's (the generous family that hosted me), Sean drove me to the local bike shop that they go to. During the ride, he shared that he and Michelle have complete trust in the quality of the work done at Zeelo's Bike Shop, and this was extremely reassuring to hear. I was lucky that no spokes broke during today's ride. Tyler, the bike mechanic at Zeelo's, was confident that he could rebuild the wheel. Sean and I chatted about topics far and wide while Michelle was doing triathalon training. Even though we had just met, it felt like picking up where things had left off with an old friend. I also had a great time becoming familiar with their Great Danes: Sinbad and Siri; they were gentle giants! When Michelle wrapped up training, we had a great dinner. Sean had smoked a chicken which paired well with a variety of sides. The three of us continued to chat for quite some time. Before and over the course of this conversation, I gathered that Michelle is a highly accomplished triathlete. She has participated in several Ironman events, and a variety of other 70.30 triathlon events. I was surprised when she shared that she had participated and won an event in Iowa. What's more, a group of cyclists I recently began to ride with weekly in Cedar Rapids train and participate in this same event where Michelle was the top female finisher in 2014 (the Pigman Triathalon)! Here we are in Wyoming: I'm amazed at how interconnected lives can be! While we could have likely spent the entire evening in conversation, a good night's sleep was in order. The following day would be the first rest day of the trip. After 14 consecutive days of riding, I'm thoroughly convinced I couldn't have met better people in town to spend this rest day with than Sean and Michelle.
