My leg felt OK after a solid 9 (!) hours of sleep, so I decided to get back on the road to Cody. In hindsight this was probably a mistake. The winds were really good to me today, which is to say I didn’t notice them at all. The pain in my right thigh gradually returned/worsened as the day progressed. Eventually, it felt nearly as bad as the day before, and I had to slog my way into town again.

I’d like to a take a moment to briefly talk shit about Nebraska’s highway shoulders. I would consider them to be possibly the most frustrating shoulders to ride on this whole trip. It’s really sad, since they happen to also be some of the widest - on par with Wyoming. The problem is that every few feet there is a wide, unavoidable joint/crack in the shoulder that rattles every bone in my body and bolt on my bike. Imagine getting kicked in the ass every 5 seconds for 52 miles. That’s what riding on the shoulders here feels like. I ended up riding in the road itself for some portions when I seriously couldn’t take it any more, which wasn’t fun either since I was constantly watching my mirror. The roads aren’t immune to the cracks, but they are consistently less shatteringly painful than the ones in the shoulder. I really don’t know what’s up with the roads here since the concrete is in good condition and seems well maintained.

Anyway, based on the condition of my leg, I’ll be taking a rest day. It’s been 9 consecutive days of fairly hard riding (thanks, headwinds), so I’m overdue anyway. Excellent dinner at the local bar & grill in Cody.


I camped in the city park again for $10, this time with a dingy but functional shower. Unfortunately the day ended on an exceptionally sour note, as the sprinklers came on while I was taking journal notes for the day. At first this wasn’t a problem - it seemed I had chosen a good spot for my tent, and it was out of reach of the sprinklers. But just as I was noting my good luck, a hidden sprinkler popped up directly in front of my tent. I had foolishly left my rainfly half open (since it seemed the sprinklers were out of reach), so the sprinkler directly blasted the interior of my tent through the insect mesh. The sprinkler was positioned such that it perfect shot through the 2 foot opening I had left. I ran over to pull down my rainfly and got fairly wet in the process.

The saddest part is that I had actually found the sprinkler controls in the shower room when I was showering. For some inexplicable reason, I felt that I shouldn’t touch the controls, even though it would have just taken a single click to set it from “auto” to “off”. I turned them off after all, but only after getting destroyed. Sprinklers are now my #1 enemy and I will be seeking out the controls at any park that offers “tent camping” with green grass. How you are meant to camp with active sprinklers is beyond me.