Today we rode from Pinedale, Wyoming, US to Atlantic City, Wyoming, US. Sunny weather with thunderstorms in the afternoon. Road conditions included paved roads and gravel roads. Highlights of the day include sleeping in a nice cabin.

Riding statistics: on Sunday, August 21, 2022, day 21 on the route, it took 12:18h (09:03h moving time), between 08:10 and 20:29, to cover 142 km (88 miles), including 1304 m (4278 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 16 km/h (10 mph), while reaching a maximum speed of 50 km/h (31 mph). During this ride the average temperature was 22 °C (72 °F) with a minimum of 14 °C (57 °F) and a maximum of 31 °C (88 °F).

Totals: So far, it took 6 days, 6 hours, 25 minutes, and 1 seconds of cycling time to cover 2192 km (1362 miles), including 25618 m (84053 ft) elevation gain, with an average speed of 14.8 km/h (9.2 mph).

After a comfortable night at the Quality Inn, I got out of bed at 6:30am. This gave me time to make the bike ready, clean myself, and have breakfast in the hotel. Anna and I would meet in front of my motel at 8am. I enjoyed the breakfast, although it is about 98% pure sugar I would guess. At 8am I was checked out and stood outside of my motel. No Anna yet, so I called my loved ones to hear their voices. It was good to hear that they enjoyed their holidays as well. During my call I received a text from Anna that she would be a little later. She and John were still working on some last-minute changes to the bike. When I finished my call, I got on my bike and rode the motel of Anna & John, which was only a few minutes away. When I arrived, we said goodbye to John, and we left for our ‘second half’ of our GDMBR. Before getting out of town we stopped at the grocery store to get foot and drinks for the coming days. We will not see any decent grocery store for several days (when we arrive at Rawlins). We bought a lot, and in the grocery store we shortly met another south-bounder, Melvin, we would get to know him a bit better later that day. It turned out to be a bit of a challenge to get all our groceries on the bike, but of course we managed.

We were fortunate to leave town using a beautiful bike path. After several kilometers, the bike path ended, and we had to use the shoulder, which was pretty wide. We followed the road for about 10km (6 miles) before we had to take a turnoff onto a gravel road.

Today would turn out to be a day of rolling hills. We do not have one, or a few, huge passes to climb, but it would go up-and-down all day. For me that is more tiring compared to the longer climbs. Not much later we caught up with another cyclist, which was Melvin we saw in the grocery store earlier today. Melvin is from Newcastle. He saved up some money and quit his job for a sabbatical. He had permission to stay in the US until the end of October. After completing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Ride, he would be renting a car and explore the Utah area. During the day we saw Melvin multiple times.

During the afternoon we saw again thunderstorms developing. During our lunch break we got caught by one. We got our rain gear, but once we got it on, it lasted 1 minute, and then it stopped again. For several hours we have seen a huge thunderstorm in the far distance. It did not seem to move at all, and it was in our path. At a certain moment, it seemed like we were riding right into the thunderstorm. Fortunately, at the moment the rain seemed to get worse, including lightning & thunder, the storm seemed to dissolve.

Not much later we got back on a paved road, which we had to follow for about 10km (6 miles). It was not a fun ride, a small shoulder, and cars passing by with high speeds. We were glad when we reached the turnoff onto another gravel road. From here it was 9km (5.5 miles) to South Pass City, a small settlement before Atlantic City. The road to South Pass City was a though one. Difficult road surfaces and some steep climbs. In South Pass City there was nothing for us. Sunday evening, and not a soul to be seen. Even if we wanted to stay here, there were no options, we had to move on to Atlantic City. Getting out of South Pass City wasn’t easy. It was a very steep climb out of town. Fortunately, the uphill was paved, otherwise it would probably be a hike-a-bike. Sooner than expected we arrived at Atlantic City.

Our first stop was at the Atlantic City Mercantile (which was also a bar, restaurant, etc.) because it was still open (we arrived around 7:30pm). The kitchen had already closed, but we could still order some options from the meu because their deep fryer was still warm. Chicken tender with fries it was. When riding into town we checked Wild Bills B&B for a cabin to rent, but they had no vacancy. Our maps included another option for a cabin, so we called the number to ask for information. It was a bit of a strange call (we called late according to the person at the other side, and we had to come over soon). After our ‘dinner’, we went to the address for the cabin rental. It turned out to be a republican couple (they had huge banners at their fences, one: “Respect our flag or piss off. We will not miss you.”). A woman showed us the cabin. It was a nice one. It had a living room with open kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom. We had a great place to sleep.

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