Day 2/4 on CHC 1200k took us into WY! My first biking in WY. I was looking forward to this to bag another state and to see Laramie for the first time ever. The big climb today was Snowy Range. Mike said these were his favorite! Turns out that David and I started out together, as we thought Mimo would join us but he started 30 minutes earlier. We started at 5 am Walen time ( 4am Phx time). Sunrise was coming around 540am so it was a great morning, until mile 33.5. Turns out the tandem and a couple of others caught David and myself. I was a bit tired and could keep up, but David did. So I was alone. Then a rider from the tandem group had a bathroom break so I sucked wheel until we got close and then bang - clank - he looked back and I yelled it was not anything from his bike! Then instantly I realized my right shoe would NOT reclip! I tried and tried to clip-in. No luck. Finally I stopped and could see my right cleat had broke out the plastic of the Quattro adapeter it was mounted into and it was left behind on the highway somewhere. I quickly ran through my options in my head. I could still pedal. With concentration, I was able to locate a couple positions that would keep my right foot on the pedal, yet at any time I knew it could fly off and my shin could hit the pedal and get bruised or cut. Of course my foot did slip of a number of times, yet nothing serious, I was immediately in a state of despair wondering how in the world will I make it over Snowy pass at mile 101.5, which was a 30 mile climb to 10,850 ft! Yet I just continued. Get to Riverside at mile 49. Just before Riverside I saw my first antelope sighting of 1 crossing the road! Nice. Then to Saratoga at mile 66 and see how I was doing! Ok. It had taken 4 hrs moving time ( 4:22 total) to Saratoga. Then backtrack down to the Snowy Range turn at mile 73. Still Ok, so here starts the 30 miles to Snowy Pass, gorgeous climb with low traffic and good road. Of course I was riding solo now ever since the cleat mishap. From Saratoga to Snowy Pass, It took 4:24 moving time ( 4:49 total) during which I was stopped for 20 minutes at 1 time and I am not sure why. Maybe to eat and rest a bit? As I approaced Snowy Pass I could see another rando rider. We remained in touch all the way over the pass. Then the descent! Fast again on new road but this was the road they warned us about in pre-talks about how they were laying a new chip seal layer and some gravel could exist. Turns out as I was descending, I approached another cyclist. I didn't know it but that was Dan Driscoll, so I sort of followed his line down the hill, staying about 100 yards behind. When we reached Centennial at the bottom at Friendly's Store I was amazed to see Mimo and about 4 other cyclists! Turns out they were stuck for about 20 minutes at the flagman up on the descent as they waited on uphill traffic. Dan and I did not have to wait! I had a Klondike bar, refilled water, called 1 of the 2 bike shops in Laramie and Mimo and researched earlier. NO answer. I realized that bike shop was my best chance to get a fix. They would close at 5pm and it was 2:50 and I was 30 miles away. So off I went hoping the group would catch me and help me get there in time. Of course there was a head wind and of course there were climbs! They did NOT catch me and I arrived at the bike store 'Link Cyling' at 4:55pm. There was Aaron the nicest, most knowledgeable bike repair man I know. We talked options and he did not have a Quattro adapter, did not have mountain cleats. We decided that to leave the cleats as mid foot as possible and not mess up my position on the bike that SPD-SL cleats would have to be used as that was what he had. So I bought SPD-SL pedals and cleats ( 0 float, so he said,but turns out they are SM-SH11 and those are 6degree (3 each way) float) as that was all he had. Took 40 minutes to do all that. Of course the unclip was really hard to do and I was concerned it might hurt my ankle again. I wear a road shoe with a metal extender plate to get more to mid-foot position. Then I added a plastic adapter from Crankbrothers, to convert from road to mountain bike cleat. To that plastic adapter, I attached the Crankbrothers cleat for my Crankbrothers egg beater pedals. This year that plastic adapter broke and the cleat and piece of attached plastic is somewhere on the road near mile 32. The bike shop 'Link Cycling' in Laramie was fantastic. Aaron Ross worked for 40 minutes past his closing time to help me get on the road with a new pedal/cleat system. We removed the plastic adapter and changed from Crankbrothers to Shimano SPD-SL (cleats and pedals). Aaron was very conscious to keep my cycling foot position as close to what it was when I rode into his shop. It was a pleasure working with him to devise a solution that ultimately got me back to Louisville. He insisted to set the angle pretty neutral rather than how I like the left be heal in and right be toe in. He also insisted that the unclip level NOT be set to easiest as they will get easier over time. Turns out the 4th day I changed that setting to be as easy as possible, which is still hard for me to do. Aaron also marked by seat on how far I should move it forward due to changes in cleats. The 4th day I moved the seat forward at same time I changed the cleat clip-in, at Rustic on descent of the Poudre. Of course the bike shop was across town and that added 5.5 slow miles! The Mimi group was at the control in Laramie while I was about ready to leave the shop. But when I got to the control, they were long gone. So it was me once again to slog away again into a headwind, which by the way had changed direction after a brief storm had crossed Laramie while I was in the shop. The sun was getting low as it was now 6pm. I made a bargain with myself that every 5 miles I would stop and rest a bit by eating some dates. I was going between 11 - 13mph! UGH. Then up ahead I thought I saw a cyclist! After another 5 miles or so I was sure I saw a cyclist. It was Mimo. He had been struggling and was sort of waiting for me. We rode together a few miles and he begged me to let him go. So I did with about 7 miles to get to Wood's Landing. Turns out he pulled into there about 5 minutes after I did. Took me 2:06 moving to get to Wood's ( 2:21 total) for that 25 miles, for 11.7 mph avg. Ugh. We were met by the owner, a nice lady who felt sorry for me as I was getting off my bike and walking to the spigot to fill my water botte. She invited me to go with her over to the other building, the general store, where she had Gatorade and other food. That's when Mimo arrived so we both walked in. I quickly drank the gatorade and got going sinc it was a 9 mile climb and I wanted to get to the top in daylight, plus the mosquitoes were eating my up at Woods Landing. BTW - the dance hall at Wood's Landing is unique with 23 springs unnder the floor. Need to learn more about that. Turns out I got close to the top or what I thought was the top and had to put on extra clothes and lights. It was mile 178 and 182 was real top 249 ft higher! Took 1:41 moving for climb and a few extra miles to WY-CO border. Then the descent and ride back to Walden. My lap marker shows the last 22 miles which is from the WY-CO border, at 1:34, avg 14.1 mph and elevation gain of 617ft. Of course this is all in the dark, but the road was good. I finished just before midnight! All in all I was happy with that, considering what had happened and that I saw an antelope. There was a burrito waiting for me! Again by the CHC volunteers. Then a cold walk to our room, a shower, quick batteries charge and bed. UGH.