Day 14, Saturday, June 18, 2005
Provo, UT to Price, UT
(3,380 feet of climbing) 75.8 miles, 11.8 mph, 6h 23m 29s
Up at 5:45, 6:30 continental breakfast at hotel, 7:30 load luggage, 8:00 on the road.
Weather forecast again today was for mostly sunny with a strong south wind-headwind. That's exactly what occurred.
Most of the day we were traveling through Price Canyon (about 50 miles). This was an awesome experience. The natural geological structures were everywhere. I couldn't stop taking photos (45 today). The wind was so strong sometimes, that we had to shift into small chain rings and low gears to go downhill and sometimes on a flat, the wind would almost bring us to a stop.
Often the breakdown lane we had to ride in was very narrow (see pic). Rumble strips were in the breakdown lane - sometimes close to the white line (OK) and sometimes in the middle. The pic I took of this shows the white line, then rumble strips, then our travel space (varied from 10 inches to 2 feet), then a soft shoulder and a steep slope going down 20 - 40 feet. Often our travel lane was chipped sealer (very rough). It was necessary to really concentrate on the road. When trucks would pass us their draft would sometimes pull us over into the rumble strip. This was kinda scary and nerve wracking. Then there was the WIND that would sometimes blow us sideways.
The SAG was at 38 miles and was at a rest area. The area was inhabitated by 30 or 40 prairie dogs that were quite tame. If you tried to hand feed them they would come right up to you and eat, just as long as you didn't move suddenly. I thought about doing this but didn't want to take a chance of a 'bite' (see pic).
I rode with Georgia today. We both were struggling with the wind and climbing. On the downhill we came upon a tall waterfall - nice photo opp. Continuing the descent I suddenly became aware that she was no longer behind me, I stopped, waited, she didn't appear, so I rode back and found her changing a flat tire. I honestly thought she had been blown off the road by a passing truck. We changed her flat and went on our way.
At the bottom of the descent, Jim met us with ice cream and strawberries. What a special treat from a special guy. We arrived at the hotel at 5 PM, tired and beat up. This journal sounds like it was a tough day, it was! But it was a great day filled with challenges. Andy our ride leader says challenges are what this ride is all about. We had dinner at the hotel, a nice buffet. There is an Ethernet connection in my room, but I can't make an internet connection. This is very frustrating that most hotels we have been staying in have a different high speed connection. Navigating the process is very confusing for me. I'm hoping that I can find another cyclist that can help me tomorrow in Green River.
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