Martin in Colorado
New Member
I just returned from our family camping trip from Golden, Colorado to Yellowstone National Park. I took along my Silvio 2 so I could do some superb ~20 mile stretches along the route and twice in the park. (Note: fits well on the inner slot of a Thule hitch mounted bike carrier as the holding arm captures the frame safely just above the front of the seat.)
The first bike stint was from Shoshoni to our Boysen state park campground in the Wind River Canyon, the next morning from there down the canyon to Thermopolis, and later the last 20 miles to Cody. Also an easy downhill ride from our next two night stop into Lamar Valley where my wife picked me up, as well as a short but steep route near Madison camp ground. On the way home from the Grand Tetons I had hoped to be let out of the car on top of Togwotee Pass (almost 10.000 feet) and roll down to Dubois but the afternoon was late. But I my chance for some unearned down hill when we had packed up our tents up in Sinks Canyon and headed home via Lander.
Admittedly, I had scouted the route on Google maps which gives you the terrain profile when you switch to bike directions, so I could tell the pleasant parts from the arduous ones.
(The trip map is from last September when I did it with my mom but essentially the same).
I would not consider the park good riding territory (huge inclines, rain and low temperatures, and most importantly overwhelming traffic) but this year was different with perhaps only a quarter of the usual visitors, no congestion and fairly easy parking at the hot spots. No tour busses, no hotels or restaurants open inside the park, not all camp grounds open. It was glorious and the animals were briefly duped into thinking it was their park. Lots and lots of bears!
Wyoming has some epic and varied landscapes but bike touring there can be pretty hard core, not just because frequent strong headwinds are truly crushing but also because the distances between habitations can be at the limit of what fully loaded bike tourists can cover in a day in hot weather. And it’s not exactly flat, so I really did savor my Wyoming ’tasting menu’.
Just before the trip I had converted the Silvio to 1x12 (11-50 with a 48 front) using an XShifter electronic shifter with a 12 speed Shimano Deore XT Rear Derailleur. The 12 speed cassette, a SunRace MZ90, looks huge and is much much heavier that my old 10-34 but the new gearing did get me up some massive hills. Also, I managed to install the superior Mirrcycle mirror by using parts of their MTB mounting kit and a bracket from a light which happened to fit. Extremely stable. My Schwalbe One Tubular tires proved quite luxurious with their 30mm width (but I had to grind out the fork a little).
The first bike stint was from Shoshoni to our Boysen state park campground in the Wind River Canyon, the next morning from there down the canyon to Thermopolis, and later the last 20 miles to Cody. Also an easy downhill ride from our next two night stop into Lamar Valley where my wife picked me up, as well as a short but steep route near Madison camp ground. On the way home from the Grand Tetons I had hoped to be let out of the car on top of Togwotee Pass (almost 10.000 feet) and roll down to Dubois but the afternoon was late. But I my chance for some unearned down hill when we had packed up our tents up in Sinks Canyon and headed home via Lander.
Admittedly, I had scouted the route on Google maps which gives you the terrain profile when you switch to bike directions, so I could tell the pleasant parts from the arduous ones.
(The trip map is from last September when I did it with my mom but essentially the same).
I would not consider the park good riding territory (huge inclines, rain and low temperatures, and most importantly overwhelming traffic) but this year was different with perhaps only a quarter of the usual visitors, no congestion and fairly easy parking at the hot spots. No tour busses, no hotels or restaurants open inside the park, not all camp grounds open. It was glorious and the animals were briefly duped into thinking it was their park. Lots and lots of bears!
Wyoming has some epic and varied landscapes but bike touring there can be pretty hard core, not just because frequent strong headwinds are truly crushing but also because the distances between habitations can be at the limit of what fully loaded bike tourists can cover in a day in hot weather. And it’s not exactly flat, so I really did savor my Wyoming ’tasting menu’.
Just before the trip I had converted the Silvio to 1x12 (11-50 with a 48 front) using an XShifter electronic shifter with a 12 speed Shimano Deore XT Rear Derailleur. The 12 speed cassette, a SunRace MZ90, looks huge and is much much heavier that my old 10-34 but the new gearing did get me up some massive hills. Also, I managed to install the superior Mirrcycle mirror by using parts of their MTB mounting kit and a bracket from a light which happened to fit. Extremely stable. My Schwalbe One Tubular tires proved quite luxurious with their 30mm width (but I had to grind out the fork a little).
