Rained Out ... June 10, 2009

And here I thought some of those 70 to 75 mile riding days were long. Today has been nothing but frustration and boredom.

It was raining all morning, so I decided to spend another day here in Tremonton, UT, at a hotel that advertises WiFi ... either my computer or their equipment is not working right. Can’t even do cross-word puzzles on-line … what’s a guy to do without the internet (other than head over to the McDonalds across the street where you can purchase WiFi time). I can only read for so long, or watch the news reports of the shooting at the Holocaust Museum for so long. Loooooooooong day.

So what's my the plan?

Tomorrow, rain or shine, I am heading towards Pocatello, ID, then westward to Twin Falls and Boise. From there, I will be heading up to the Columbia River and across Oregon to either Portland or the coast, depending on how the schedule goes. The end goal is to be in Eugene on the 29th of June. Depending on my state-of-mind at that point, I hope to then head across country towards the East Coast. We shall see …

So why am I doing this?

Still have not found a strong reason, other than I felt I needed to get out of the daily rut I had fallen into since retiring … coffee and newspaper, Internet, cross-word puzzle, avoid cleaning, run errands (bank, grocery stores, library, whatever) on my bike, read, nap … not much was getting done, but it was terribly comfortable. So I decided that I needed to do something to get out of my comfort zone … this trip has indeed successfully done that!

I am hoping that I will have some sort of epiphany, one of these days, which will bring some new energy to my life … after all, I figure I have another 20 to 30 years left on this earth. Best make those years productive.

Having said all that, I sure hope it isn’t raining tomorrow morning.

Four Days to Northern Utah ... June 9, 2009

The last four days have brought a wide variety of terrain … extremely rural to big city.

The early stages of last Saturday’s ride found me riding through mostly flat agricultural areas. Still plenty of mountain views and still plenty of tail wind. The usual pattern seems to be nice weather in the mornings … not so nice weather in the afternoons. My destination was the Painted Rock Campground at the Yuba State Park. The State of Utah Park Administration had decided that one small sign reading “Yuba Reservoir” would suffice to alert travelers of the turn-off for the campground. It was insufficient notice for me … I rode on for an additional 5 miles, or so, before determining (guessing) that I had missed the turn. The return trip was into a very strong headwind. After making the turn into the Reservoir, and riding about an eighth of a mile, there was quite a nice big sign indicating that the Painted Rock Campground was just to right. Nice. Indeed, the campground was nice … once the wind finally died down.

Sunday’s ride was really quite pleasant. Pretty country and light winds … no rain. In the small town of Levan, I asked a guy for directions to a good local café. As the conversation went on, we discovered that he knew Sue Fassett, who leads the Saturday morning group ride in Tempe. He had gone to high school with Sue, and his dad had been a teacher at the same school. Small world.

The remainder of the ride was rather uneventful, but enjoyable. It was quite strange riding into the urban area south of Salt Lake City. Not having been in a predominately Mormon area before, I was unaware that everything is closed on Sundays. There were very few people outside of their houses, very few people driving on the roads … it was ghost town. I was to stay at Mary Lou and Randall Thackerey’s house, so I called Mary Lou for directions. She gave me the street names, etc., and mentioned that they were located at the top of a hill. I think this “hill” is used by automotive designers as a “test hill” to see if their four-wheel vehicles can climb the most severe mountains.

It had been probably 20 years since I had last seen Mary Lou and Randall. It is funny how, even though quite a bit life has happened to us all, the personalities and characters have not changed. They live, as I mentioned earlier, high up on the side of a mountain … the views all around their house are amazingly beautiful. My too short stay was very enjoyable.

Monday found me working my way through Salt Lake City, up to Bountiful. Rather than ride through SLC, I chose to take advantage of the public transit system (Ride the Yellow Line). SLC has two rail lines, one (TRAX) that runs from Sandy to downtown SLC, then the other (FrontRunner) that runs up to Ogden. You access the TRAX rail cars by climbing up four fairly steep steps … keep in mind that my bike/panniers weigh around 80 pounds. It was not a scene of great agility and grace. The transit system did work, however, and I eliminated a lot of riding in heavy traffic.

Heather Fowler’s favorite aunt, who lives in Bountiful, graciously offered to house me for the night. This lady was a real treat to spend time with … she is a self-described “old lady”. This “old lady” is one of the most interesting people I have met in a long time. At 70 (I think that is what she said), she has an ongoing massage therapy practice, she plays wonderful piano, she gave birth to 16 children … on and on the interesting facets of her life were disclosed. Lest you think she is just an old frail elderly lady … recently she was clocked by a policeman doing approximately 105 mph. Her excuse … she had the sun roof open on her car and her Springsteen music playing. Amazing lady.

Today, I took the FrontRunner train up to Ogden, then rode the 48 miles up to Tremonton. Very pleasant ride along the foothills just east of the Great Salt Lake. This road is lightly traveled, and there were a steady supply of beautiful old homes. I did have a race with a storm that hit Tremonton about 30 minutes after I arrived.

Which brings me to great nervousness about the coming days. Weather reports call for thunderstorms through the end of the week ... these storms are coming from the northwest, which means headwinds. The next town of any size is about 105 miles from Tremonton. The next few days are going to be a challenge, to say the least.

Land Speed Record ... (June 5,2009)

What a ride I had today. For the second day in a row, I have had down hills and tailwinds. Spectacular wind today. The ride from Circleville to Richfield is 52 miles, and I did it in just over 3 hours riding time. That's around 16.6 mph average ... on a 30 pound bike with 45 to 50 pounds of gear.

The last 5 miles was quite flat ... I was cruising at around 30 mph! What a way to finish up a day's ride. Ahhhhh, what fun ... but I am tired of the camping in the wind.

I think tomorrow will be more of the same.

The area between Circleville and Marysvale looks as though it would be a great place to spend a week ... white water rafting, riding, and for those who enjoy such activities, hiking, fishing and ATVing. I have never seen so many ATVs in my life. It seems as though every member of every family has their own ATV. Consumerism lives.

Finding a rhythm ... (June 4, 2009)

Three more days have passed, and I feel as though I am finding a very comfortable rhythm ... a rhythm in the daily "camp breakdown", a rhythm in the riding, and a rhythm in eating. I am feeling much more comfortable about this whole adventure.

Tuesday's ride was partially fun, and partially alot of work. Leaving Jacob Lake, there is a tremendous downhill run into Fredonia (Fredonia is an Irish word for "the wind does blow, but not at your back). The downhill was payback for the 14 mile climb the previous day. Heading north out of Fredonia, I entered Kanab,Utah. This whole area is a geoligist's dream. Once again my "C" student background allowed me to utter such gems as "Look at that rock!"Oh yes, the hard work mentioned earlier was a very serious climb between Kanab and Mt. Carmel Junction. Fortunately, following that climb was a very exhilarating downhill run. The RV/Campground at Mt. Carmel Junction is associated with the Best Western Hotel, which has a pool and jacuzzi ... very nice indeed.

This section of Utah is just amazingly beautiful. There are rivers that actually have water running in them. The mountains are a variety of colors, and there are the most visually stunning meadows (horses, cattle, bison, green grass, yellow flowers (weeds) and the previosly mentioned rivers).

In Kanab I met a fellow bike-tourer that I had been told about back in Cameron. Albert, a 62 year-old guy from the Netherlands, is doing a tour of National Parks in Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and north to Banff/Jasper, then over to Vancouver, British Columbia. Albert first did this ride 35 years ago, and has toured extensively throughout Europe and the U.S. Interesting fellow. We crossed paths several times in the next two days, but he headed off to Bryce Canyon, so I do not know if I will be seeing again.

Not alot happened on Wednesday, just one serious climb. Spent the night in Panguitch ... a real town, as opposed to the majority of the places noted on the map (which are little more than a gas station). Panguitch is a town of maybe 2,ooo people, and the downtown area is being redeveloped. Looks to be a nice place to live.

Today's ride was a dream. Instead of taking a complete "non-riding" rest day, I have decided to just do a short ride (20 - 25 miles) at an easy pace. Today's ride was 28 miles ... almost all of which was downhill, and ... are you ready ... a strong wind at my back. Hooooooooray, a biker's dream. Tonight I am camping at an RV/campground in Circleville. This place is the nicest park I have seen so far. It is a very good evening.

Backing away from my previous post where I attacked people in cars ... I have decided that if a person is doing an extended road trip, it would probably be very nice to be in a small RV. You would not be sleeping on the ground, you would not be hauling suitcases into hotels every night, and your butt would be on a very comfortable seat/chair, as opposed to a few square inches of bicycle saddle.

As stated in an earlier post ... life is good

Will Ferrell ... (June 1, 2009)

As I mentioned to my brother last week, some of these long climbs remind me of Will Ferrell movies … they are extremely painful, but you know that at some point they will end. Today was a Will Farrell movie marathon.
Although today’s ride was fairly short (38 miles), it closed out with a 14 mile climb, with an elevation gain from approximately 4800 feet to 7921 feet. Average speed for the day was 7.7 mph. I’m cooked!
If it were not for the spectacular views there would be no reason for this area to exist, as far as I am concerned. I am spending the night in Jacob Lake, AZ. Jacob Lake is at the junction of 89A and the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It is quite beautiful … pine trees, yellow flowers, and lots of naturally growing grass. But the most striking view was about 3 miles up the climb, looking back at the Vermilion Cliffs, and the plateau from which the easterly portion of the Grand Canyon is cut. At that point I was only half cooked, but I did not think to take a picture. I am confident my little “point and shoot” digital camera would not have captured the beauty. This area, called the Arizona Strip, is captivating in it’s beauty and it’s lack of human occupation … wide open spaces to say the least.
Talking with a couple, from England, at the view point mentioned above. They were planning on driving to Las Vegas today. Made me realize the difference in “time/distance” thinking between travel by car or by bicycle. It may sound elitist, but I somewhat feel sad for the car travelers, it looks as though they are not really seeing what is to be seen.
I was thinking today, “I wonder what the news of the past several days is?” Oh well, it will all be waiting for me at some point.

Easy Days ... (May 30, 2009)

Days 4 and 5 were relatively easy days. The three previous days had been long and hard days on the bike. I decided to slow things down a bit, and give my legs a rest. So I spent the morning in Flagstaff doing some shopping … heavy weight tubes were high on my list and not to be easily found. Flagstaff is a very pleasant place, and the “off bike” time was greatly enjoyed.
After the previous day’s ride into Flagstaff, I came to the conclusion that riding in the rain really chaps my ass … literally … quite a rash and the beginning, I think, of a saddle sore. My solution to minimize the possible irritation of the sore spot, was to purchase a package of the little donut shaped pads sold for when you have corns on your foot. Worked great, except for one thing. The adhesive they use is one step stronger than super glue. Word to the wise, place a band aid over the sore, then the little pad … saves a lot of skin.
Mid-day, I rode twenty miles out to Sunset Crater National Park and set up camp. Nice place. This is how much my world has been turned upside down … I sat in on a presentation about woodpeckers, and found it to be very interesting. Did you know that woodpeckers have a small bone mass in their eye socket that increases the amount of blood (in the bone mass) just prior to the bird’s beak striking the tree? By doing this, it increases the pressure in the eye socket, thereby keeping the eye from being destroyed by the impact of hitting the tree … or something like that. Once a “C” student, always a “C” student.
Day 5 was another easy day … rode 40 miles to Cameron, AZ, mostly downhill. Cameron is an old English word meaning “not much here.” I set up the tent in a small “campsite/RV” area behind the gas station/convenience store/laundromat. Fifteen minutes after setting up the tent, a dust storm hit that went on for about four hours … with occasional rain. Finally, the storm subsided, and the sun set. Once it got dark, I discovered that the spot I where I placed the tent was almost directly under a security light placed on the wall of the adjacent building. I could have used this light as a reading light in my tent, but thought it might be somewhat of a distraction when it came time to try to sleep. So, in the relative darkness, I dragged my tent to an area where there was a fence shading the light. One draw back … that fence housed a gas powered generator that kicked in every hour or so. A good night’s sleep was not to be had in Cameron.

Three days in ... (May 28, 2009)

Three days in, and I am feeling the pain.

Day One (May 26) was a good start. Rode from Fountain Hills to Payson. Heather Fowler rode with me for the first 24 miles or so. Was a beautiful day and the ride was very enjoyable. It was quite appropriate that Heather was there for the start of this trip as she is the person who taught me the joys of riding. Back in the spring of 2000, Heather was the assistant coach of the Team in Training group in Tucson. As a result of the riding during the TNT training, we became good friends.

The road took a definate "up-turn" after Heather put her bike on her van and returned to New River. Three serious climbs were waiting for me. My guess is that there was approximately 5,000 to 6,000 feet of climbing ... of course there were a few spectacular downhills as well.

Day Two also presented some serious climbs and some "Woo-Hoo" downhills (as Heather calls them). The route of the second day was Payson-to-Cornville. Beautiful country up in the Pine/Strawberry areas. The road from SR 87 to Camp Verde, which is 35 miles long, provided some great downhill runs ... 6 and 9 mile runs. Unfortunately, the weather turned very wet ... rain and hail. The 9 mile run started dry, but then it started raining again. When you are doing 35 mph, the rain drops are quite painful on your face (I speak from experience). Long day ... 79 miles, 7 hours of riding.

Day Three (today) was just miserable. The Cornville-to-McGuireville run was okay, but McGuireville-to-Flagstaff was simply not a lot of fun. Cornville-to-Flagstaff is only 56 miles, but there are two serious climbs on I-17 ... the first is a 6 mile climb, then shortly thereafter, there is a 5 mile climb. Grind it out. I was planning on stopping at Munds Park (mile 38 of today's ride) to have lunch. At mile 36.5 it started pouring ... at mile 36.6 the back tire went flat. Changing a tire in the rain is not a lot of fun, particularly if you create a pinch-flat in the spare tube while putting the tire back on the rim. The rain fell two more times getting into Flagstaff. I had planned on camping, but I decided to hotel-it instead. Oh, the comfort of a dry and warm hotel room.

I am planning to stop at a bike shop tomorrow and buy some heavyweight tubes ... flats are not good.

But all-in-all, life is good.