Day 16 Green River to Grand Junction.

It was due to be a long hot day today, not too much climbing, but if yesterday's temperatures were anything to go by nobody wanted to be out in the heat too far into the day. We couldn't load until 7.00am so it wasn't exactly early and it was warm then. We didn't need Marco Polo for the navigation today as we went out of the hotel, onto Interstate 70 east (what else), then get off into the hotel in Grand Junction. Our group of 4 were almost last out again, but we weren't far behind the field and soon caught up. On the interstate the shoulder was 'chipseal', basically throw chipping into tar and let the traffic do the rest, so it's not only British councils that are cheap. This meant that there was a good deal of vibration through the bike and my left foot (good name for a film) went numb, (like most people who watched the film).
The first SAG at 24 miles was welcome as we were all drinking water like it was going out of fashion and needed more. By then it was hot. Several miles later we were stopped by one of the vans to take on more water as the temperatures rose. By the time of the second SAG at 66.5 miles we were all pretty tired as it was now seriously hot, but fortunately the stop was under a bridge of the Interstate so we were in the shade, good move. The nicest part was a tub full of iced water with soft dinks in it, a Diet Coke never tasted so good. While we were there we saw two of our riders miss the turn off and carry on past. We shouted waved and whistled, but they did not see us and probably couldn't hear us because of traffic noise.
Starting off again the temperatures were now in the mid 80s at only 11.30am. After about 4 miles we came across Jose and Don stopped on the shoulder, they realised by now that they had missed the SAG and were virtually out of water. We shared our water with them and they were able to carry on. A short distance later we crossed the state line to enter Colorado, our fourth state. There were the usual photos in front of the sign and I crossed the road to get the Utah sign as we did not see the sign when we entered it.
A couple of miles into Colorado we were stopped by a lady called Sue who had previously ridden with AbB and who proceeded to welcome us to Colorado and give us each an ice stick. She was parked in the shade under a bridge so it was a nice touch. It was very hot and I was still trying to drink all the time, but by this time the water is luke warm and not pleasant. The wind was like someone aiming one of those heater from a tyre fitters operating at full blast. Ventured into a McDonalds for a milk shake and even had something to eat, can't describe it, it was advertised as chicken something, but the chicken clearly escaped.
As we neared Grand Junction we dropped onto the side of the Colorado River and rode alongside for some miles. By the time we reached the hotel the temperature was 96F and I was showing just over 96 miles so I did the inevitable for another century.
Later in the evening I found that my front tyre was squashy, my first puncture, but at least it was in the hotel room and the tube was quickly changed. It turned out to be a small thorn in the sidewall.
On a general note, I feel that my American is coming on pretty well and by the end of the tour I could well be fluent, nice to be fluent in a foriegn language, a first for me. I've been picking up some phrases from the telly, like the commentators description of the Turkish winner against the Czech Republic in Euro2008, 'That was a great onside go-ahead goal.' With such in-depth language education I can't fail.
Today's distance was 100.7 miles.

Day 15 Price to Green River.

There was a very early start today despite the fairly short distance involved, but there was a side trip in the van to the Arches National Park during the afternoon and I was on it and looking forward to it. It was Sunday, Fathers Day and the traffic on the road was very light so early in the morning. The weather was fantastic right from the off and it was perfect conditions for the 'Sunday Club Run'. Gary was back on the road so our 4 was complete. As we progressed the scenery was very dramatic with the mesa area coming to the fore. That's the flat topped land with scree down the sides, just like in the cowboy films. The SAG after 33 miles was welcome and a chance to take in the scenery.
After that the scenery became even more dramatic and we had some good downhill sections to keep our average speed up and overall we lost height today. We got to Green River about 11.00am, quite early and passed over the Green River which, given the arid area it passes through, I imagined was going to be something akin to the Gavenny after several weeks of drought, but no it was quite impressive and full. Fed by melt water coming down from the mountains. Green River town makes Battle Mountain look big, the population is only 946 and declining, though it can boast two laundramats and the world famous 'West Winds' restaurant, though I must admit it hadn't crossed my radar. I had my picture taken with my Heart Foundation T-shirt on by the Green River, so called because it eventually joins the Colorado River and it seems that from a hill near the confluence the Colorado looks red due to the fact that its passed through a decent chunk of red sandstone, whereas the Green River looks, well, green, or at least not red.
After lunch I went to the Arches National Park which frankly was mindblowing. I will not try to describe it, I could not do it justice, just look at the photos.
Today's mileage was 66.2 miles.

Day 14 Provo to Price.

There was a relaxed start to the day as loading was not until 7.30am, chance to pinch a little lie-in. It was flag day today in a little community that we were due to pass through, so the staff asked us to wear our 'America by Bicycle' tops to show the flag. That was OK for most but it wasn't the flag of some, so I wore my Wales top, Alan wore his Union Jack top, Richard Walsh from Ireland was in his national colours and 'sarge' was in his Trinidad and Tobago top, it added a bit of colour. Gary did not ride today because of his pneumonia and wanted to give the antibiotics chance to work. So the three of our group joined by Alan started off and seemed to be towing a large group behind us. Navigation was easy and we were soon out of town and the first climb reduced the group to just our 4. We headed for a narrow valley and the wind was really strong and against us. Steve dropped off, Alan and Al pulled away from me as we started to overtake groups that had started earlier. We were all struggling in the wind. The wind didn't last too long and we climbed most of the way to the first SAG, which was after 32 miles. From there the next 6 miles was a serious climb to the Soldier Summit at 7477 feet.
Everyone was looking forward to the descent but the wind blowing up the valley meant it was almost as hard as going up, plus the shoulder was poor and there were road works, apart from that it was fun. Got to Helper, a town named after the special trains that used to 'help' the normal trains over the mountain. I was with Al by now and we went off the main road into Helper to look for lunch, but it was all closed down with derelict buildings and I was surprised not to see a tumbleweed blowing down the street. Went to a supermarket in Price and made up our own lunch, the healthy option of course. The hotel was posh, but the service was very poor and people were losing the will to live in the dinner queue when the food ran out. Mis management of the first degree.
On a general note, I have now done over 1000 miles (1003.07 roughly) and am feeling pretty good. More than one Land's End to John O' Groats done and only three more to go. Got some pain in my right knee during the early climbing days, but that has gone. Got some nose-bleeds during the climbing days, but they wern't serious and I put that down to the altitude, the dry air and the effort. The rear end got a little tender in the first 4 or 5 days, but a personal tanker of Savlon running behind us has sorted that out. The training I did before the ride was good, but the 'match fitness' has now kicked in to the point where 65 to 70 day rides are now regarded as recovery days!!
As far as the photos on Flickr go they seem to be coming out in reverse order, scroll to the bottom and work your way up. I have not had time to add comments on many of them yet, but I will.
Today's distance was 75.6 miles.

Day 13 Salt Lake City to Provo.

Today was always going to be an 'ify' day as getting out of a major city is never easy and the Cue Sheet was pages long with many many turns and resulted in slow progress. You may recall that Gary did his big toe in and had to cut his road shoe, well that worked well and when we started at around 8.00am it was a glorious morning and fairly quiet. His adapted shoe was OK, but as we wound our way slowly out of Salt Lake to the south-east he was struggling and progress was becoming painfully slow. After 15 miles and getting worse with each pedal stroke he stopped the van that was passing, (to stop the van you put your hand on your head !!) and got on. He later went to a hospital in Provo and they found that he has bacterial pneumonia and has probably had it since before the ride started in San Francisco, no wonder he was struggling. After that the three of us were now last on the road by a long way and started to speed up a lot.
If it wasn't for the amazing backdrop of the mountains that surround Salt Lake City then the ride could have been described as tedious. The SAG after 29 miles was a short stop and then we were off again for a long slog uphill through roadworks, but were rewarded with a great view of Lake Utah. Dropping down from there we entered a big area of new development and the road layout did not correspond to the instructions and we got lost, but carried on in the general direction and when we went into The local version of 'Kwik Fit' for directions the staff could not believe what we were doing, but they gave us good directions and soon we were back on track.
Started catching other groups who had also got lost and then went through Brigham Young University which is vast and has some of the most amazing facilities I've seen on a campus, their football stadium would rival Wembley. Temperatures were nicely in the mid 80's. Finally found the hotel which was very nice and then went out for lunch. Later found that the hotel had a computer that worked properly and I was able to download loads of photos.
On a general note, the road kill over here is far more interesting than I'm used to (I avoid the diners that advertise 'You kill, we grill'), with dead racoons, chipmonks and even rattle snakes. Not seen a live rattler yet, hoping to.
Today's distance was 66.5 miles.

Rest Day in Salt Lake City.

Got up late, 8.30am, and it was great. Took time over breakfast and then the 4 of us went with Gary's niece, Meredith, and her fiance, Ed, picked us up to take us rafting. We went over the Wasatch Mountains, stoped at a supermarket to get goodies for a pic-nic and the went past the Jordanelle Reservoir to the Provo River, inflated a huge raft anf then the 6 of us under Meredith's steerage went down what was quite a lively river, not the quiet drift we had been promised, we had to work hard, got drenched, hit rocks and logs and finally pulled in for lunch in a good spot. Carried on down to the end of the run and then lay about in the sun drying off.
It was a great day and we later went for dinner with Meredith and Ed who are a great couple and getting married in October. The rest day was not exactly 'restful,' but very relaxing and we all enjoyed it a lot.
Today's distance was about 10 miles down a river!!

Day 11 Wendover to Salt Lake City

I forgot to mention re yesterday's post that we also crossed our first time zone. I would like to think that I was going so fast that I did the Dr. Who bit and just leapt forward in time, but in reality Wendover is just in the Mountain Time zone and we were now one hour ahead of Pacific time. I thought that was quite cool until it dawned on me that I had just lost an hour, probably an hour of sleep. This is going to happen again, a couple of times before the journey's end.
As today's ride was one of the longer rides everone was in a state of frenzy to make sure that we left early enough and at 'route rap' the previous evening it was decided to have breakfast betwen 5 and 6 and load up at 6.30am. I could not be considered as a morning person, so my single vote for a leisurely breakfast and amble out about 11am was overwhelmingly defeated, as it has been every day up to now. So it was up at 5.00am, walk through the casino to see the old dears frittering away the kids inheritance and end up in McDonalds for breakfast. I know what you are thinking about McDonalds, but at least I wasn't asked to supersize. The hotel was only about a mile from the Utah state line so in the absence of signs about the states I took a photo of the state line drawn across the road with the names of the states on either side. The difference was like flicking a switch, the casinos stopped immediately and instead the side of the road was populated by gas stations (petrol stations in English), food outlets, estate agents and normal businesses. Again it was a little cool and cloudy, but the wind was in our direction as we dropped gently onto the salt flats and what a sight. flat as a pancke for as far as you could see ahead and white. the road, old faithful Interstate 80, was absolutely dead straight for over 40 miles. The sky was cloudy and there were even one or two large dark clouds floating about, but it didn't come to anything as usual and we ended up with a sunny day. The shoulder was really dirty with more delaminated tyres than you could shake a stick at and this debris is the worst kind because the wire in the little bits of debris stick in you tyre and are difficult to find when you get the inevitable puncture, so then you may get multiple punctures. We found David first as this had happened to him and he had no tubes left, got him going and on we went. The dead straight road through the salt flats was just incredible.
Eat up the miles at a good pace with a tail-wind and got to the first SAG at 42 miles ready for a rest. It was a long hop to the second SAG and we had a long drag up after the salt flats, but a long downhill and more flat meant we got to the second SAG in good shape. Al had a puncture in his rear wheel just before the SAG and we saw many other groups that had stopped with them, this was the worst day for punctures up to now all due to the dirty shoulder.
After rounding a point the Great Salt Lake was stretched out in front of us and looked just like a sea, it's not called 'Great' for nothing. Got off the interstate and road alongside the lake in towards the city. Looks impressive in the distance. The city is the state capital and the mountains surrounding it are incredible and still snowcapped. Glad to get into the hotel after a long day and looking forward to a day off tomorrow. Utah seems like we have returned to civilization after being in Nevada.
Today's distance was 116.3 miles.

Day 10 Elko to Wendover.

It was an early start today, up at 4.50am because we had to go over to the casino for breakfast, get back , load up and be ready for the first century ride. There are 4 people in the group that have yet to ride 100 miles in one go and Steve the Australian in our group is one of them. Amazingly enough there were still people in the casino playing the machines at 5.00am, I don't know if they were left over from the previous night or if they were early risers. It looked like the wind was going to be favourable for us as our group of 4 assembled and became 5 when Bill decided to join us. He's a strong rider so we were happy with that. It was cool, around 60F and for the first time there were black clouds and the threat of rain, in fact it actually spotted with rain for about 30 seconds but that was it. We soon got on the Interstate and we merrily eating up the miles with a favourable tailwind.
By the time we reached the first SAG at 40 miles our average speed was around 20mph so the wind was definately helping. The weather had cheered up and the clouds dispersed, but the breeze was still chilly. There were a couple of long drags for 5 or 6 miles at a time with great downhills. It was cold at the top of the Pequop Pass waiting at the SAG for some of our group to arrive.
Heading from the second SAG we had our group's first puncture when Gary got a rear flat, but we soon changed the tube and cruised to the top of a ridge abouve Wendover with about a mile to go to the hotel. From the ridge there was a fine view of the Utah salt flats and the road disappearing into the distance arrow straight. We were now only about a mile from the state line. The downhill into town would have been nice, but there was a very strong crosswind and we were being blown about quite a lot. We later learned that the Dutch lady had fallen on this hill due to the wind and cut her chin quite badly, but she will be OK to ride. The hotel we were staying in was enormous with 1400 rooms and it was, by now quite naturally, a casino. The same group of geriatrics had clearly been bused in from Elko and brought a load of their mates with them. The place was really a little tacky. The century ride was completed and now everyone has done one.
Today's distance was 107.1 miles.