First Half of Utah

Our time in Utah has certainly not been as interesting as Colorado, but it has still been fun! There has been a lot of hot weather, many people getting sick, camping, fly infested buildings, gravel road for miles, and lots of ups and downs. I can't say for sure, but I think the route we've taken through Utah is perhaps my least favorite of the trip!

-Paonia to Grand Junction, Co
Today was my turn to drive again. It was a very short day and the tailwind helped people move along very quickly. We had quite a few flat tires a lot the way, but we all got in around 1pm. We stayed at Mesa State University and had very nice beds to sleep in. A good number of us went out and say the Bruno movie, it was pretty funny. The 4am wake-up the next morning was a bit rough though!

-Grand Jct, to Moab, UT
Welcome to the day from hell. The distance was crazy long, over 100 miles, and it was going to be HOT! Some of the day was actually spent on I-70, but the first 15 miles in Utah were old paved road covered in loose gravel. Not fun to bike on. So after our bikes were given a violent massage, we finally made it back onto paved roads. After lunch was about 50 miles through the desert with nothing around. It was pretty and very desert-like, but it was over 100 degrees. We had some flat tire problems and the last 20 miles crept by. Eventually we made our way to Moab. Our host couldn't let us in until 8pm so we had a little time to kill. Lets just say we found a local brewery and had just a little taste of the local brew. The names were cool because they were named after bike parts and such. Got a good night sleep and slept in a little on our day off the next day!

-Day off Moab
Welcome to the most fun on the 4k yet! Conor, Richard and I rented four wheelers for the afternoon! A little over 4 hours of riding around in the desert, seeing awesome views, dinosaur bones, and no one else was great. The pictures Conor took speak for themselves. We were really out there and it was like nothing else. Plus it was nice to be able to go more than 20 mph and have an engine helping ya along! After we got back all 27 of us went to Arches National Park and celebrated our last day of the second leg! 2/3 of the way done! Crazy!

-Moab to Green River
Not to bad of day. Not a really long distance and rolling hills on alright roads. We got in early and had some time to relax. It was interesting because we stayed at a community center that was also the local food bank. We got put in charge of sorting the food that just came in. 9 pallets of food! After tossing cans and boxes around, and managing to hit a few people in the head it was all sorted. We had dinner and went back to killing the million house flies bugging us during our sleep... They were nice enough to offer us anything we wanted to take with us.

This is where all the fun begins. Never did we really stop to think about where food banks get their food. Lets just say we learned the hard way to look at expiration dates before eating food. The ham they gave us for lunch the next day expired in April of 09. So about half the team has been having problems for the last few days, myself included, and all things point back to the food bank... Dealing with the heat and having mild cases of food poisoning suck.

There is one girl on the team who has not been very lucky. She has fallen a few times, had bathroom problems many times, and wasn't spared by this bug this time. To top that off she also has a bad rash, maybe poison oak? Ha, she is falling apart! But still trucking.

-Green River to Capital Reef National Park
So after people had been up all night due to the food problems, we already had full vans and people dropping like hats. I started the day with 5 people in my group and finished (well was picked up) with only me and Shareef. Caitlin dropped after 4.6 miles and Maddie was done after 30. Mary Lacey made it to lunch but got in the van shortly after that. Shareef and I biked together for a bit and found another group at a coffee shop in the middle of no where. I ate some bread and that's where we formed team 'Shuttle'. Our goal for the day was to get shuttled to the camp site. :)
So the mileage was wrong and actually about 20 miles further than thought. With a pretty good hill at the end of the day there was no way we could make it. About 15 miles from the end the van came and got us! One girl had a badly pulled muscle and the 3 others were just not feeling good at all!
After many discussions with the park rangers about the size of our group we finally pitched out tents. We showered in the river at Capital Reef and went out to some restaurant for Pizza. People were still feeling pretty bad and almost half of our team had had some symptoms. We all just went to bed and hoped tomorrow would be better.

-Capital Reef to Escalante
Welcome to the second day from hell! Last minute last night they decided to change the route for today because of some problems last years group had with the park rangers and the size of the group. Lets just say they thought we were a 'parade' and should pay outrageous fines.

So instead we ended up on a dirt road in the middle of some other forest. The groups were pretty spread out and mine still wasn't feeling too good. After a few big climbs up loose gravel roads, we rested under a tree. There must have been someone watching from above because this awesome sheep farmer named Andy stopped to check and see if we were alright. We said yes and asked about the road. He said it was about 40 more miles of gravel and wasn't going to be fun on a road bike. As he headed away, someone jokingly put out their finger to hitch hike... Not really expecting him to back up and offer us a ride! So the 8 of us put our bikes in the back of his truck and were taken about 9 more miles up the road to where all the rest of our groups were. Originally we thought that the hitch hiking would be looked down upon but in the end everyone was going to get shuttled because of the road conditions. So from there we emptied the vans and shuttled people the rest of the 30 miles on the gravel road. People and still really feeling sick and pretty tired, and I'm no exception, but tomorrow shouldn't be too bad and hopefully everyone will feel better.

Escalante looks like a fun town for outdoors people and the campsite we are staying at is also an outdoors outfitter, so lots of fun things I could spends lots of money on! Luckily we have to pack pretty light and I am broke so I won't buy anything!

A few more days then a day off in Cedar City. I can't believe the trip is almost over, but I'm pretty excited to cross over that bridge and enter real life again! 2 months on the road can really take a told on your mental processing and social function! I miss everyone and can't wait to see you Chels at the bay in a few weeks!

Back to my amazing tent for the night! Talk to you later down the road! Peace, Love, Spandex!

Colorado is a Huge State!

So I haven't written in a while, but don't worry I haven't even crossed into another state! But whoa Colorado is a crazy state.

-Yuma to Wiggins, CO
Pretty flat day today. Lots of corn fields and no sign of the rocky mountains yet! We made it in without much challenge and arrived in the tiny town of Wiggins. The clouds didn't look too inviting and a rain storm was soon to follow. After the rain let up a gorgeous double rainbow appeared. It was so bright I think we could have actually found the beginning of it! We gave a presentation to only about 6 people and quickly went to bed.

-Wiggins to Boulder
Within the first few miles we could already see the rocky mountains in the distance. Just little snow covered peaks to begin with but as the day continued they got much bigger! The ride wasn't to bad into boulder, no crazy climbs but we knew what was coming!

We had the day off the next day in boulder and it was an awesome town. Just a few crazy people and some people with a little fixation on drugs, but all and all pretty outdoorsy people. I certainly fit in with the outdoors attitude. We walked around pearl street and explored the local bike shop. A few of us went to a Denver Rockies baseball game that night. Caitlin managed to get some free tickets and after some confusion about what day the tickets were for, we managed to get in. Seats were awesome and the fireworks after the game were even cooler! We got home late and went to bed! The next day we start conquering the mountains.

-Boulder to Estes Park
I love to climb! I was very sick of the flat roads and same exact scenery every day. We started the day off with a 17 mile climb up Ward. I was extremely happy to be climbing and even managed to pass some of the locals doing it. Not saying I was a crazy fast climber, but once I got my iPod going and found my rhythm I was set. We made it to the top and had some snacks. Got a free Gatorade at the general store there. Kept going until lunch and had some ups and downs. Would get pretty warm on the climbs and freeze on the descents. Couldn't figure out the right amount of layers. After lunch the weather turned for the worse. Our awesome descent into Estes Park was quickly made horrible by some freezing cold rain and even some hail. I was riding with Jackie and we managed to make it to the bottom before the big hail started but then took cover in a garage. We then warmed up at a resort and even had some hot chocolate with a little Irish flavoring, if you know what I mean... That certainly warmed us up!
Finally made it to the YMCA of the Rockies and it was even nicer than the resort we stopped at! A 4000 person campus... WHOA! It was really nice to have beds and we needed the rest before the climb the next day. It was also 4th of July, but considering I saw fireworks at the ballgame last night, I didn't go out, instead I slept!

-Estes to Grand Lake
Today we climbed the highest paved road in America. Over 12,000 feet high! That was about 5500 feet of climbing. Lets just say it was gorgeous. Talk about amazing views. There were some scary parts where the cars zooming past and the cliffs on the other side made things uncomfortable, but we all made it. Besides the few than zoomed past the lunch stop, we all warmed up at the top and enjoyed the views. After getting a group picture we started the descent. ONLY to find horrible road construction and MORE HAIL! I was not a happy camper, or biker. We had about 15 miles of dirt road to the destination, but that wouldn't have been bad if I wasn't chilled to the bone and tired. We stated at a school in Grand Lake and managed to get a $400 food donation that made us all happy. A warm shower was greatly welcomed and we even got to sleep in the next day!

-Grand Lake to Kremmling
Because the distance was pretty short, only about 47 miles and mostly down hill, we decided to sleep in. Got up at 9am, thats unheard of! But because we got a late start that allowed the afternoon storms to build up. And about 2 miles outside the town we got hit by another huge hail storm. Needless to say we weren't to excited this time. We all to refuge in an empty garage that was also occupied by about 38 billion mosquitoes. I got a ton of bites and they still itch to this day.

-Kremmling to Glenwood Springs
This was a tough day. Originally we were going to have to climb two more 12000 foot mountains but luckily there was an easier route. Although about 25 miles at the beginning were spent on dirt and another 20 miles later, it was still nicer than climbing. The views were amazing. We followed the Colorado river for much of the day and had many high cliff views. I took a ton of photos this day and am still amazed by the beauty of the mountains. The last 15 miles were on a bike path underneith highway 70 down through Glenwood Canyon next to the Colorado river. This was the perfect ending to a tough day spent on dirt. It was also nice to know that tomorrow was a day off!

On the day off I was awoken early because everyone went to bed really early and felt it would be fun to turn the lights on when the woke up!!! But whatever, I needed to get up and do some stuff. The bus ride into Glenwood was free so that was nice. I went into town with a few people and we saw the second Transformers movie, it was good and nice to sit down for a while. We then went to a few bike shops in town and just enjoyed walking around. We had a community dinner and game night later that night.

-Glenwood to Paonia
The day began with a talk about this HUGE hill coming up called McClare pass. The first 30 miles of the day were spent slowly climbing and once we got to about mile 34 we say the road switchback and go up very quickly. They even had a sign that told us it was 3 miles to the summit. We rose about 1800 feet in 3 miles. Crazy steep but an awesome challenge. I did it in 28 mins and the record was 18, but still it was a quick climb. We had lunch at the top. We then enjoyed the rolling hills all the way down to Paonia. Regardless of being in the hills, the headwinds were killing me. We strolled into Paonia and I took a nice hour long nap on the sidewalk :)

Another day off! We shortened the trip by a day this year so we happened to get a day off right after a day off. I slept in a bit this morning and got a great breakfast provided at the church. Last night we were talked to by a 70 year alum from Hopkins, Felix Belmont. He has been involved with the local radio station here for 30 years. Turning 91 last week, Felix is in incredible shape for his age. Once of the nicest persons I've met on this trip by far. He recalling of Hopkins from 1936-40 blew my mind. Oh how the times have changed. His rent was $4 a week, and food was $5 a week. He also worked for the school and made $10 a month!
Felix invited us down to the radio station the next day and Caitlin, Jackie, Mary-Lacey, Dan and I got interviewed about our ride. It was awesome. It wasn't live, but once it gets aired, it should be on their website. kvnf.org. Their new building was a very sustainably built green radio station. Awesome by my standards.

And this is where I stand, or sit... In the new public library. I wish I could write more about each day, but since internet is so few and far between, its hard to remember everything that happens. Luckily I have been taking lots of pictures and each one sparks another memory. I can't believe that this trip is 2/3 of the way done!

I can't wait to pull into San Fran and realize that I've biked across the country. I also miss Chelsie like never before, but know we'll see each other in just a few weeks.

I want to thank everyone again for their continued support. I should be able to update in a few days, but once we get out into Utah, even civilization will be hard to come by!

This trip continues to amaze me every day. Everywhere we go is a new adventure; the people we meet, the stories we are told, everything just adds to the overall awe of this amazing journey across the country. I don't think I'll ever be able to tell someone exactly how this trip feels but I hope that this blog and the photos I'll eventually get posted help. If you haven't done something crazy like this in your life, do it. I will remember this trip for the rest of my life.

Thanks! Talk to you again soon.