A Long Day

Hanksville, UT> Blanding, UT

Miles Ridden – 125.6

Mileage to date – 1,152.6

What were you doing at 5:35 this morning? I doubt very much that you climbed on your bicycle in the pitch dark to begin a 100 or 125 mile ride across one of the most remote stretches of highway in the US like John and his 2 partners in crime did.

From John – “We left in the pitch dark this morning and the temperature was perfect. My head light died right at sunrise. It was just beautiful all day…..some head winds, clouds helped keep us comfortable. We didn’t meet or talk to anyone else all day. There were very few cars on hiway 95”. The very end of the ride “was incredibly difficult for me”.

John rode again with Jaime and Heather. Ethan provided sag support which I can only assume was a huge help on such a challenging ride. They previously decided that once they got to the turn off for the campground at 95 miles they would collectively decided to stop or go for it. They climbed 8,100 feet today with 3,000 of it coming after mile 95! Just a long, hard day no matter how you slice it.

This particular section of the route has been on John’s mind since he decided to take the Western Express. Now that it is past him, I am sure he is relieved. There will be some challenging days ahead, but nothing will come close to today. Just an amazing effort.

Tomorrow they will be in Colorado and John will have completed more than 1/3 of his trip.

Cindy and I enjoyed our last day at Capital Reef. We awoke to cloudy skies and cool temperatures at our hotel in Torrey about 12 miles up the road from Capital Reef. After breakfast, we drove down to the Gifford Homestead in the park to pick up some pies (peach and apple) to snack on later. We hiked up to the Rim Overlook and continued on to Navajo Knobs which made for a 9.4 mile hike. The overcast skies helped keep us cool. The 5 hour trip back to Las Vegas was very beautiful as well. What an end to a great vacation.

Some photos from John’s ride today-