Live for the Path

110 miles in 9.66 hours – Max Speed 43mph

I set out early because I knew that I had a big day in front of me if I wanted to make it to my final destination around 40 miles into Wyoming. I apparently set out too early because I realized a ways down the road that I did not fill my water bottles up – not smart. Luckily I saw a little college on the side of the road, so I rode up there, and their student union type building was unlocked so I filled up my bottles there.

After taking care of that I got back on the road, which quickly became a highway – but a highway that I could be on. I still got off of it whenever there was a good frontage road, but I was happy to be back on the highway.

However, after a little while I hit a 30 mile stretch of construction! I was not happy about this, as they were laying down new tar, which got all over my brand new tires! It literally had to be like half a centimeter thick by the time I finally got off the forsaken stretch with new tar. Then a zillion rocks get stuck in the tar, so you are basically riding on this machine with sticky, bumpy, tires. It is not fast or smooth.

After around 30 miles it all finally fell back off, so I kept on chugging. This was a day which was surprisingly hilly. I don’t know why, but I was expecting a reasonably flat day, but I seemed to just climb and climb.

I reached Wyoming and the town of Evanston at around 3pm and stopped in for a snack and a Starbucks break. The title of this post is what it is because I have actually never been to Wyoming, so it is the only really new state for me on the trip.

I got back on the road at around 6 and headed towards Lyman, where there was a KOA. As I got going I noticed some nasty rain clouds rolling in, as usual. Not only that but there were these three huge ascents and decents on the way, and going up a big hill makes me nervous when the weather looks iffy. Anyway, it starting spitting and was thundering pretty bad, so I hung out under an overpass for a while. I already felt smart though about my decision to come north because this option would not be available to me on the smaller roads in Utah and Colorado.

I got going again and stopped in a truck stop for a late dinner. I ate and headed to the exit for Lyman. There was about 5 miles of the business 80 to go down to reach it, and at around mile 1 there was an RV Park in the small town of Fort Bridger. I stopped in to check the price, and it was nice and quiet and cheaper than the KOA so I stayed there instead.

View Larger Map

37 miles in 4 hours – Max Speed 29mph

I get up late because I need to go to a bike shop, and I figure that they probably won’t open until 10. I still manage to not sleep long enough and get to the bike shop at 9:45 where I have to sit outside for a while. I eventually get let in, and buy two new tires, two new tubes, pay for them to install them (I don’t feel like doing it) and get new bike gloves (mine are literally shredded). I head out $120 lighter, but with a far improved bike, and improved spirits. I stop at a BK for a late breakfast and have a Whopper, the breakfast of champions. I need money, so I then head to what appears to be the only Bank of America in the state. I arrive and see it is only a BofA home loans. I talk to them and they say that BofA does not bank in Utah, but there are two ATM’s around Salt Lake. That is not helpful.

I give up and head up towards Heber City. The ride is really beautiful through a canyon, but my legs feel a little rubbery, probably because I did my first century ever the day before. I take a picture of a waterfall, look down the road where Sundance is, and ride by a nice lake.

At the end of the ride though, the shoulder disappears and the traffic is very heavy. This is not optimal, but I end up making it to Heber City. I eat in the town, but it is 6pm by the time it is done. There is a campground just 15 miles up the road, but I know it is 15 miles directly up to the summit of a large hill, around a 2500 foot climb. I decide not to do it and check in at a Holiday Inn Express instead because they have a deal where if you stay for two nights before July 4th, you can get a third night after July 4th free.

My room was ridiculous – it had a hot tub in the main room and also a fire place.

And for a Holiday Inn Express it was fairly inexpensive. I had some major decisions to make as it looked like it was supposed to rain for a week straight in the Rockies, which is where I was supposed to be. I decided to go North into Wyoming instead, and take I-80 all the way across the state.

With the heavy lifting out of the way I spent the rest of the night watching TV from my hot tub. The life of a tourer is tough sometimes.

View Larger Map

104 miles – 10.25 hours – Max Speed 34.5mph

I set out northbound on the 6 after breakfast. I went through a little town after just 10 miles, and then there was nothing for the next 40 miles. I knew there was food in the town of Eureka (Utah version) though at mile 50 so I was not worried.

However, shortly after Llewellyn I suffered a flat, the first that I had since probably California. I fix it, and head on.

On the way I notice a ton of these little cricket things that jump everywhere when you get near them. There are literally millions of them hopping around, and millions more crushed on the road. I took a video, but I don’t know if it does it justice.

I stop at a rest area at around mile 40 of the day and eat some food. On the way out right after I get back on the road I hear something tear, and then a loud POP. I look back, and there is a hole in my sidewall of my tire and my tube has blown out. This is bad. I take my spare tire, which has almost no tread left, and put it on and fill it up. It has to last me to at least Provo. This really annoys me because the tire that blew out was the one that I just had bought in San Francisco.

I got there, and both restaurants in town were closed because it was Sunday. Apparently it is a really bad plan to assume anything is going to be open on a Sunday in Utah. I later learned pretty much the entire state shuts down. For probably the first time since the first day, and all the technical issues I had then, I began having doubts about my ability to do the trip. I have no idea why, probably just because of the tire and me being starving and everything else. I eventually get over it, but I don’t think anyone can have only good days touring. This was a bad one.

I go through a few more decent sized towns, and still, there was nothing open.

Finally, there is a single restaurant open in the town of Santaquin that I stop at at around 6pm for ‘lunch’. I look on my phone and see there is a Starbucks in the next town of Payson. I get there, and see that it is shut down as well, but because it is closing, not because of Sunday.

I buy some stuff in Walmart and wonder what to do next. I figured that because I saw some construction sites on the way into town it would be easy to find some on the way out, so I continue heading north.

I don’t really see much, so I keep going and keep going, and soon enough it is dark and I am in the town of Provo, home of BYU. I have to say, for being a mormon school, and it being Sunday night, there were a lot of drunk people around, which was amusing. Anyway, I made it to a KOA, got a sweet spot right next to a river, and showered and went to bed.

View Larger Map

91 miles in 8.25 hours – Max Speed 32mph

I woke up, and had breakfast in the cafe at the Border Inn. I relized that I had not gambled at all in Nevada, so I put 50 cents into a video poker machine. I pushed the first two hands, then lost the next two. Oh well, next time. I set out into Utah.

Immediately the road quality goes from good to crap.

Nevada had spoiled me with awesome roads. I chug along, and it is a lot hotter than it had been in Nevada, and also a lot clearer. I have a climb out of the shoot, and then an amazing decent.

It was really picturesque, so I tried to capture it at 30 mph down the hill. I am not a role model, do not do as I do. It was a good decent and there was no traffic though.

I then had a last climb and then a 40 mile stretch with only some rolling hills.

I made it to Hinkley with no issues, and right before entering town, I ran into another tourer doing New York to San Francisco. He was from South Korea, and spoke almost no English. He seemed extremely excited to see me and tried hard to have a conversation, but every time I thought we were making progress, he would prove that we were not. Like I explained where Baltimore was, and I said that I was going there because it was my home and my family lived there, and he said okay. Then he asked why I wasn’t going to New York. Oh well. He was friendly and I spent the rest of the day thinking about what his trip must have been like and how he will think of America when he goes home.

I got to Delta and checked into a super cheap motel and shopped and ate some dinner. I updated some stuff online and went to bed.

View Larger Map

65 miles in 5.5 hours – Max Speed 38.5mph

I set off for a short day to a small restaurant/motel/casino/RV Park called the Border Inn, which believe it or not is on the Nevada/Utah border. I was excited not only about the relative shortness of the ride but because there was a restaurant in the middle of the ride as well. I started out and did what seemed to be a flat for a while before arriving at the first mountain of the day.

I went over the first of two passes, and conveniently, right at the top met a biker going to other way.

He was doing New York to San Francisco and we talked for a while. Then a guy who was driving an RV that was stopped at the top of the pass came out and talked with us for a while as well. I told him what to expect, and he did the same for me. It is always nice to meet other tourers.

Anyway, I had ridden through some rotten weather on the way to the pass, so I stopped in the restaurant which was right on the other side of the pass.

It was called Major’s Place, and I went inside to discover it was not a restaurant, but just a bar. Oh well, I bought some Pepsi and chips and talked with the guy who ran it for a while. Out of nowhere a girl who looked no older than 12 runs in and says that her mom is having a heart attack. The guy calls 911 and checks on her. The woman ‘having the heart attack’ is running around, and it becomes pretty much obvious to everyone that she is really probably just crazy. Anyway the guy that runs the bar (think the stranger in the Big Lebowski) handles it very well, and eventually (remember – 30 miles from anywhere) an ambulance shows up and takes her away. I notice that the stranger has a Mayweather – De La Hoya shirt on and we talk boxing for a while. Eventually it clears up enough outside for me to decide to make a run for it.

I climb the final hill in Nevada, and it is a good one. Once I hit the top of it I have to make another run down the hill away from another storm.

I make it to the Border Inn, get food, and ask them if I can pitch a tent near their RV Park. They say they have a special tent spot and it is $5. Not too shabby, so I take a shower and lay around, happy to be back in the tent.

View Larger Map

81 miles in 8 hours – Max speed 37mph

I woke up in the morning and took advantage of my first free breakfast of the trip. The Best Western had one, and I was going to be damned if I wasn’t going to try to eat $95 worth of food. I think I came fairly close.

Anyway, after eating, I headed out and towards Ely. I knew that this was a tough day, both because of the length, 78 miles with no services, and because of the numerous mountain passes, four, including three over 7300 feet.

Once I got out on the road though, it was more of the same to start with. I had a pass immediately, and then had a fairly nice downhill before climbing up to the second, and smallest pass of the day.

That is when I noticed something bad had rolled in.

The next little bit was spent playing ‘dodge the thunderstorm’, which I did pretty well.

Eventually I got back on the road and headed up the third pass, which is about halfway.

On top of this pass I made sure to eat a decent sized snack and have a Gatorade to try to prevent me from falling apart at the end of the ride again. And I also noticed the weather was improving.

I continued on, and then reached my final pass, which is the tallest pass of the day, and of Nevada to this point.

I noticed again that more storms were rolling in, and chugged hard down the hill to the town. It was a pretty cool town, but I didn’t get any pictures because I was staying on the far side of town and I was just trying not to get rained on going through the town. Though I just had to take one because I thought it was especially creepy.

I checked into a Motel 6 for the night, and did some laundry, and visited some stores and a bank. All in all a very productive night.

View Larger Map

72 miles in 6.83 hours – Max Speed 36.5mph

I had looked up the ride today, and despite the 72 miles with no services, I had heard that it was not a hard ride. Well, I knew that I had to get over Austin Mountain before I got into the ride proper, and it was a beast. I headed up that beast, and made it the three miles to the summit after a 45 minute ride.

I then had a short downhill, and then another immediate uphill. Dammit. I got over Bob Scott pass, and then had a glorious downhill.

I had a short glide, and then another uphill! I got to the pass of that hill, and realized that I had done the first 20 miles in 3 hours. Not good.

After that summit though, the ride finally flattened out, and I pumped out the next 45 miles.

I then had another hill to climb to get into town, much like the day before. And just like the day before, I again bonked. I grunted and groaned, but eventually got into town, and looked around for a cheap motel.

There were two on the main street, but they were both closed down. That left the Best Western as the only choice, but when I went in and asked, they said it was $95 with taxes and all that. Yikes.

I went back outside, rode around town a little more, and then, defeated, went back to the Best Western and got a room. I went up the street and had the biggest chili dog I have ever seen (it was really a hot dog and bun buried somewhere under chili). Going to the grocery store I ran into my two friends from the day before and we talked for a while longer. Eventually I headed back towards the hotel and wished them luck. I never saw them again.

View Larger Map

65 miles in 6.33 hours – Max Speed 29mph

I got up at 7, and headed back into the building at Middlegate after doing the morning things (brushing teeth and stuff) that I do. I had a good breakfast, filled up my water bottles, and headed out towards the great nothing. Oops, I mean Austin.

Note: these didn’t last – the wind does really strange things as you go through passes as I would learn

Anyway, this ride was one that I knew would be tough, as I had 2000 feet to gain over the day. This was also the first real day where the mountains of Nevada started. I chugged through the mountains and was doing pretty well until around mile 60.

Then the climb up Austin Mountain began. I bonked. It took me forever to go the last five miles into town.

I finally made it and checked into a cheap motel. I grabbed dinner at a place called the International, which is a famous old restaurant. While I was waiting for my food I met two more cyclists who were filling up their water bottles. After dinner I talked to them for a while outside. They were heading on, and I wished them luck and said that maybe I would see them tomorrow. I went back to the room and got to sleep.

View Larger Map

50 miles in 4.16 hours – Max Speed 31mph

I got up at around 8 and laid around for a little before showering and splitting – Francis and Brian were having a zero day in Fallon, so I left them and moved on. I went back into town to get breakfast, and then started the 48 mile ride to Middlegate with no services.

The town of Salt Wells

This ride was extremely remote, but the temperature was perfect, maybe 75. The remoteness was wonderful as well.

People use the rocks on the side of the road to write out messages.

Nevada

The night before my dad told me that he thought that most of the water in Nevada was good for drinking. I don't know why exactly he thought this, but I laughed, as this pink gross stuff is the first water I saw the next day.

You may be wondering what exactly a 'sand mountain' looks like.

Well there you go. Note the RV's in the lower right hand corner for scale.

Pass

Okay. So there were a ton of these, and I really enjoyed reading them, so I made sure to take pictures of good enough quality so you could read all of them too. Ignore them if you wish, but I think they are interesting.

Historical Sign

Pass, with Nevada in the background.

I got to Middlegate at around 3pm, and sat around and chatted with the locals for a few hours.

Tying my noble ride to the hitching post.

Middlegate

The highlight was definitely playing Jeopardy with them when it came on TV. I then pulled out my computer, and updated my blog for quite a few hours while everyone else played instruments and sang songs. The town was very cool and a good time. And the campsite was the right price… free! Thanks to everyone there for showing such hospitality.

Sorry for no pictures of the inside of the bar and of the locals. I think it is sort of rude to go into someone’s dwelling (which the bar more or less was) and to take a lot of pictures.

View Larger Map