As hard as it can be, sometimes you just have to ignore your heart and listen to your head. And if that doesn’t work for you, there is always Kenny Rogers:

“You got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em, know when to walk away…”

So, it’s with a heavy heart and a bruised ego that I share with you that today my (and Pea Soup Green’s) journey has come to an end. No accident and no injuries, just the realization that I was not fully prepared for what lies ahead as I traverse across the rest of Wyoming and into South Dakota and beyond.

I did a lot right in planning and prepping for this journey. Pea Soup Green was in tip top shape having just been to the shop and I had done plenty of cycling and was physically ready. I planned the route, the daily mileage, and the towns or at least general areas where I could stay. The optimistic me had a number of big days with mid 90’s up to 111 miles per day. Optimistically doable since I had just finished the Santa FE Century in under 6 hours and felt great doing it with no issues driving 6 hours home right afterwards. So why am I ending my journey.

Where I went wrong was not really understanding or focusing on the geography of the route. As I stated in an earlier post, support services are quite sparse on the route. If not for Mrs G, I might have ended the journey sooner. With her sagging for me, I always had water, food and someone to talk to. As she was scheduled to leave today, we used the last few days and nights to try and figure a safe and supported way for me to make it to Michigan. In the end, logic prevailed, and I realized I wasn’t ready to go on. I needed to have planned many shorter days (not my style) or trained for riding with little to no services.

Thanks to you all for participating in and/or following my truncated journey. It was short but lots of positives came from it. I got to take Mrs G to the Tetons and through Yellowstone. Mrs G got to see part of the TransAmerica Route in reverse (and see why I rave about the Cowboy Café’s chocolate chip pancakes). Mrs G also got to see first-hand what it takes to do a bike trip (ehh, well that may have reinforced her thinking that I am totally nuts). And I learned that I have to be more thoughtful in my preparation and maybe, just maybe plan to do my next journey as part of a group instead of solo.

So, bye for now but only until my next adventure!