Ride Preview: National Elk Refuge Road

This week's ride came about one day at work during a lunch hour ride with Bike Pimp. Basically it happened the way many things do with her - I walked up and said "I want to go on a bike ride and you should go with me and by the way where's a good place to go?" You'll notice I haven't included pauses in that sentence. This is in the interest of accuracy.

Bike Pimp has lived in Jackson much, much longer than I have and is very patient when it comes to pointing at things on maps until I understand. She's also a pretty kick-ass biking companion. Neither of us had too much time and we both had to be back at work that afternoon, but it was the last nice day the weathermen were predicting for the rest of the week.

So Bike Pimp suggested that we take a jaunt partway down the road running through the National Elk Refuge. "Partway down" ended up meaning about a mile because getting there ate up a fair amount of our lunch hour - our office is on the other side of town.

This is more or less where Bike Pimp and I stopped

Broadway, the main road through Jackson, ends at the Refuge, but I'd never been out that far. So when Bike Pimp and I turned off onto an unpaved road, I realized this was a good chance to work on my skills riding on a rough surface. I figure what's the use of having a mountain bike if you never go out on the trails? However, prior to this abbreviated ride, I'd only ever ridden on pavement. Who knew a dirt road would have the kind of potholes you suspect could lead to Wonderland if you fell into them?

We rode as far as the Miller House, where the first superintendent of Grand Teton National Park - then Teton National Monument - lived. During the summer season, the house is a museum/interpretive center, but during this ride it was still closed. It looks like it could be a neat place to check out when things get going in town though, so I suspect I'll be back.

The day of this ride, I planned to be back much sooner than that, though, so that I could ride the whole road on a day when I had a little less pressure to be back in town and looking presentable when the ride was done. That would have to wait for the weekend.

My route : Snow King Avenue to Broadway to National Elk Refuge Road to Twin Creek Ranch

Surface: Dirt and gravel, not including the town streets

Incline: Mild to moderate ups and downs most of the way

Distance: About 4 miles one way, give or take

What you'll see: The National Elk Refuge, obviously; various forms of wildlife including elk (more likely in the winter), bighorn sheep, the occasional wolf and the omnipresent tiny burrowing rodent whose name escapes me just now; if it's clear, a pretty unparalleled vista view of the Tetons.

I rode back to work mentally crossing my fingers - doing it physically would have been tougher because of the whole handlebar thing - the weather would be nice enough at some point during the weekend to let me get back to finish the ride. It did rain a little as we left the Refuge, so that wasn't really a guarantee. Stupid April showers.