Twice at Bryce is Nice

Bryce, UT > Boulder, UT

Miles Ridden – 73.3

Mileage to date – 943.3

How do you follow up a monster day of riding with 80 miles and 6500 feet of climbing? Well if your John and crew you have an easy day and ride only 73 miles and a mere 4500 ft of climbing. I think he is getting soft!

We shuttled John back up to Bryce at 6:45 am where we meet our friendly SAG driver Ethan. John handed his gear to Ethan and jumped on his bike and rode the 7 miles downhill to join Jaime and Heather who had camped in Tropic. Cindy and I had breakfast with Ethan and he joined us for an 8 mile mile hike in Bryce on the Fairyland trail. It was quite spectacular.

After, the hike Ethan left us to resume SAG duties, and Cindy and I had some lunch. After lunch we headed up to Bryce Point overlook to admire the views one last time. We left for our hotel in Torrey which is about 2.5 hours away. We followed the same route (State Route 12) that John did. It was really beautiful. We rode by Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We stopped in Boulder to visit with a John to get his account of the day. This area is so remote that it was the last part of the US that was mapped by the US government. The road (SR12) from Boulder to Torrey was only paved in 1985.

John said it was a wonderful ride today. The scenery was amazing. The temperatures were not too hot. It started to rain at one point and he realized that his rain jacket was with Ethan. He rode around the corner and there was Ethan! They jumped in the car for a few minutes to wait out the downpour and then resumed riding.

Tomorrow John will ride to Hanksville. Cindy and I can attest that the route at least to Torrey is spectacular. He will also travel through parts of Capital Reef NP. I am sure it will be a fun day. Tomorrow he will also go over the 1000 mile

mark which is a huge accomplishment. Cindy and I will resume our life of leisure in Capital Reef!

Photos from today-