This morning got off to a great start with breakfast sandwiches and yogurt parfaits made by the Lion’s Den volunteers at lodging. After our routine morning circle up where we review the route and schedule for the day, we mixed into different pace lines and set out towards West Yellowstone. About 20 miles in, it became clear that the road’s shoulder was narrowing and traffic was flowing at a constant rate so we decided our safest option was an “all team rack” to our sponsored lunch at Gallatin Riverhouse Grill.
The restaurant backed up alongside the river and had a huge outdoor patio for us to enjoy the sun, play some cornhole, and catch up on sleep! We welcomed this afternoon full of pulled pork and cornbread as we are preparing for our 135 mile ride over the Tetons in two days. Near the end of lunch, the Red Bull girls showed up with free Red Bulls for the team to kickstart the second half of our day.
We rolled into tonight’s lodging at West Yellowstone High School around 3:00 P.M. and situated our stuff in the cafeteria (yes, we did take showers too if you’re doubting our cleanliness) before heading to dinner at West Yellowstone Pizzeria sponsored by Mountaingate Capital. With very full stomachs, most of the team then wandered around like tourists and shopped for souvenirs. A few guys tried their hand at the local gun range, and Layton Rogers even fired off some rounds from a Gatlin gun! After getting our fill of fun (and enjoying watching my TCU Horned Frogs advance to play David Hicks’ Florida Gators tomorrow in the College World Series!!), we finally hit the hay to rest up for our visit to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow!
Author: Zane Gardener, Cyclist (Eta Chi Chapter, Texas Christian University)