[Road Brief] Day 50 — Medicine Bow, WY

Day #50
Miles Covered Today: 61
Hours on The Road: 4.50 (plus time spent on a breakdown)
Miles Traveled Since Beginning: 2,496
Where We Are: Medicine Bow, WY

Day Overview: Hearing loud popping sounds when you’re riding a bike rarely means something good. When the pop came from Anna’s bike about 40 minutes into our ride, we quickly came to a halt and got off the bikes to find the problem.

It turned out to be the tire on her trailer. We’ve been lucky so far with flats – we’ve had none on the bikes in the last 2,500 miles, but this was the third one on the trailers.

Something took a big bite out of Anna's trailer's tire

Somehow, it didn’t simply get punctured, but rather a chunk of it was simply ripped out. Replacing the tube wouldn’t fix the issue, as the gash on the outer tire was just too wide. And, while normally a piece of tape could fix a smaller hole, this time it looked like a new tire would be in order.

Fortunately, we were still fairly close to Laramie, so we figured that the simplest option would be to hitchhike back there to a bike shop and pick up a replacement tire. Based on our past traveling experience, Anna has always had better luck hitchhiking than I do, so we decided that she’d go and I’d stay and watch over the bikes.

Thanks to a few very helpful people, we were back in business in less than 2 hours and making our way further into Wyoming.

The Believe It Or Not fossil museum

Although closed for now, the Drive-In Bar must have been a challenge for the local police

Would you like a Glock 17 with your Welcome To Wyoming Tshirt?

Impressive piece of machinery

With a bit of a tailwind, we zoomed the remaining 54 miles in just about 4 hours. What a difference that strong Wyoming wind can make when it’s in the right direction!

Next Scheduled Event: We’ll be in Salt Lake City on June 2nd and hope to have a coffee meeting with local bike enthusiasts. See full schedule of future stops.