We have been in medical school pretty much since we got
married four years ago. This has been a journey that has been a growing
experience for us both as we prove to ourselves time and time again that we can
do hard things. Probably the most challenging time was the third and fourth
year rotations where Jogie was traveling quite broadly and was consequently
rarely at home. He was in Guatemala, Mexico, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Utah, and
New Mexico. During this time we determined that once we are together again we
should do something. We wanted to do some sort of vacation. We talked about
traveling abroad to Guatemala, or Peru. Ultimately we came down to two options:
traveling to Japan or doing a bike ride to Jogie’s parent’s house in North
Ogden, Utah. We chose to do the bike tour because we would remember it with
much more pride than in being a tourist in a foreign land.
The plan for the bike tour was to ride our bikes from our
home in Phoenix, Arizona and go to Jogie’s parent’s house in North Ogden, Utah.
The entire endeavor was a surprise to Jogie’s family in Utah. Since it was a
surprise they knew nothing about how we were traveling to their house when we
would come visit them. They only knew when to expect us. My family knew about our cycling plans because we
decided we would not have enough time to continue on to Boise, Idaho to
surprise them. My Dad became slightly worried and wanted a phone call every day
to let him know where we had made it that day. As the journey continued he
became more involved and began plotting our travels on a map that he updated
every day.
We determined that we would use Sundays as a rest day and
not continue further on our journey on those days. These days were very nice
because our bodies really craved a rest day when these days came around.
The route that we decided to take took us from our house in
North Phoenix, AZ to Fountain Hills, AZ to Payson, AZ to Heber, AZ to Holbrook,
AZ to Chambers, AZ to Chinle, AZ to Rock Point, AZ to Bluff, UT to Monticello,
UT to Moab, UT to Price, UT to Provo, UT to Taylorsville, UT to North Ogden, UT.
We determined on this route because we thought it would be more scenic as
compared to the route we typically would take when we drove and we would be
able to go to Arches National Monument along the way. We halfheartedly
recognized that this route would be particularly challenging because of the
topography. We let the promise of gorgeous vistas and landscapes persuade us to
take the more challenging course. It was a hard ride on many days. I have
learned that I hate hills – they wipe me out of all energy and make my muscles
and joints ache. Jogie has learned that he hates riding in the wind – he says
that he prefers hills because on hills he can see why he can not go as fast as
he wishes he was.
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| Us just before we left for Founatin Hills |
Friday, May 2, 2014 – what was planned to be Day One (but
was not)
Throughout our preparations for the bike tour we were both
getting more and more excited. All aspects of preparation was exciting. We were
going to bike shops regularly. We went to ones in Phoenix as well as Albuquerque.
We were reading up on blogs of people who had toured on the roads that we were
planning on. We read up on packing lists. Jogie was very interested in
physically preparing for long days of riding so he would insist on riding with
me to work and then would ride back to pick me up so we could ride back
together.
The hardest part of a journey is just getting out of the
door. We had some home loan tasks that we needed to take care of while we
could. We are in the process of purchasing a home in Dyer, Indiana. We wanted
to take care of as much as we could because we knew we might not always have
availability to take care of paperwork when we are on our bikes in the middle
of the Indian Reservation.
We finally did a practice ride. We rode our bikes down the
road to Sonic to get some dinner. We loaded the bikes with the weight of all
the things that we were going to be taking with us. Each bike probably had
about 35 pounds of weight in the panniers and then we each had a camelback on
our backs. I felt that riding the loaded bike was very challenging. The bike
felt very unsteady and it was hard to get on and off because I could not swing
my leg around the way I typically would. The practice ride increased my fears
and anxiety of doing a self-sustained tour. We were still excited but were also
nervous about riding a bike with so much weight on it.
Day One – Saturday, May 3, 2014 – Phoenix to Fountain Hills
31 miles – 2 Hours and 15 minutes - Average Speed 12.2 mph
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| At our first Sunblock stop |
We left our home around 4pm. It was hard to just get out the
door. This was probably one of our nicest days of riding. The roads here in Phoenix are so nice! We are going to miss
then so much when we move to Indiana. With the panniers all loaded we had some
challenges with hills. Compared to our later hills this day’s hills were
hardly hills. But it was our first hill
with the extra weight on our bikes. The roads were nice and the weather was
warm. Initially we had the idea to continue on into the night time and camp on
the side of the road. Because of our late start it was already dark when we
reached Fountain Hills. We decided to call Day One complete and get a hotel for
the rest of the weekend. We are really glad that we did because the next
stretch of the course really was a challenge.
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| Jogie's view... |
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| Random bike path as we headed to Fountain Hills |
Day Two – Sunday, May 4, 2014 – Fountain Hills - Rest Day
10.86 miles – 53 minutes – Average Speed 12.2 mph
The only riding we did this day was to church. We attended
the Mountain Desert Ward. The chapel was five miles away. The way to church
took us by the fountain in Fountain Hills. It was going off when we were riding
by so we took some pictures.
Church was very nice. There was a baby blessing which was
really inspiring. The spirit of the infant and the love of the father for the
baby boy was very strong. The baby boy was blessed with talents of missionary
work and patience. I felt very intrigued to know what this baby boy is like as
he grows up. Heavenly Father clearly loves this tiny infant. (D&C 84:20 “Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness
is manifest."
We did some laundry. Even just one day we had plenty of dirty
clothes to wash.
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| Amanda at the Fountain |
Day Three – Monday, May 5, 2014 – Fountain Hills to (almost)
Payson
55.3 miles – 9 hours 31 minutes – Average Speed 5.6 mph -
Max Speed 36 mph – 7539 elevation up – 5095 elevation down
This day’s ride I believed was probably going to be the most
challenging of our rides. I knew that it was near Phoenix so it would be very
warm. I knew there were some steep climbs. I also knew that this was an early
day on our tour so we might not be used to the riding scheduled the way we
would be later in the tour. All of these assumptions that I had made were
correct. It was a very challenging day.
We began the ride at 9am. We had hoped to get started
earlier but alas starting later than we wanted to is the story of the entire
tour.
There were loads of uphill climbs. It was very slow going.
Many times the going was so slow we needed to walk our bikes up some of the
hills. I had bruises along my right calf from walking my bike because the bike
pedal would hit my leg as I would pull it up the hill. The road signs that said
things like slow vehicles next three miles, or save your engine – turn off your
air conditioner were especially “encouraging.” There were some down hills as well.
The up hills definitely outnumbered the down hills by far. On the down hills I
would ride the stretch with my brake applied because I felt like I was going
faster than I felt safe going. Even with the brake applied I still hit speeds
of 36 mph.
The weather was warm and shade was scarce. There was shade
under road overpasses. We would take breaks under these to reapply sunscreen
and stretch. We also stopped under one
of these for our lunch. We ate an old military ration meal. Jogie said that
these are at least 15 years old. High time that some of those meals were eaten.
We had laid our bikes down in the shoulder and had climbed up to a flat shelf
to have a place to sit as we ate. As we were eating a state trooper pulled up
behind our bikes and got out. He said that a driver had seen just our bikes as
they drove by and called 911 because they were worried that something had
happened to the bikers. We explained
that we were fine and still had plenty of water.
We had brought 2 2-liter camelbacks, had 7 water bottles
that would fit in the water bottle cages on our bikes, 2 Nalgene water bottles,
and 4 disposable water bottles that we would use to refill the others. Because
of how much we brought we never once ran out of water or even came very close.
Some of the bottles we would mix in an electrolyte drink mix to give flavors
and electrolytes. It was nice to have a bit of a variety of beverages. We had
lemon lime, grape, berry blue, and strawberry kiwi flavors.
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| We do not like these signs... |
During a downhill I was leading with Jogie close behind. The
shoulder in this area had plenty of debris so despite the downhill I was
hesitant to go very fast because the shoulder was so rough. There were plenty
of things that I needed to dodge. At one point I saw what appeared to be a good
sized rock in the middle of the shoulder. As I got closer to this rock I saw
that the rock had sprouted legs and then the legs began to carry the rock in
the direction of the road. It was clear that what from a distance I took to be
a rock was in actuality a very large tarantula spider. I squealed and
successfully dodged the moving spider. Jogie behind me followed suit and also
successfully dodged the spider. I am glad that neither one of us hit the
spider. Who knows whether the momentum of the wheel would have flung the spider
up after being struck thus creating an angry flying tarantula that is posed to
hit my person? Those who experience
fears of large spiders could imagine scenarios of potential outcomes of road
bike tires versus tarantula spider.
The scenery was really quite amazing. The hills of cactus
and great openness was quite beautiful.
We rode into the night time. We were about 11 miles from
Payson and determined that we could go no further this day. We found a dirt
road off the side of the main highway and pitched our tent in the middle of
this road.
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| Jogie resting under an overpass. |
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| Snack break! |
Day Four – Tuesday, May 6, 2014 – (almost) Payson to
(almost) Heber
37.5 miles – 6 hours 23 minutes – Average Speed 5.9 mph –
Max Speed 34.8 mph – 6437 up hill – 2992 down hill
This morning as we cleaned up our camp site and put
everything back together on the bikes we saw our first set of bike tourists. It
was an older couple who was riding from West Valley to Pennsylvania. We saw
them from Day Four of our tour to Day Six when our routes parted as we went North
and they went East. It was nice to have some cycling friends on the road to
boost morale.
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| On our way towards Heber... |
We rode the last few miles into Payson. We ate a
lunch/breakfast at Wendy’s. It was so nice to be in a town. We also filled up
our water bottles here. To do this we would have the workers at Wendy’s fill up
a large cup of water and then we would put the water into one of our bottles.
Then we would return and get another large cup of water. We continued this
until most of our water was replenished. It was comical to continue returning
for one cup of water at a time but that is how they do it.
This days ride was also challenging. There were plenty of
climbs. Especially ones where I felt like I needed to walk my bike up the hill.
There was also a construction zone. This construction zone was a little scary
because there were cones in the middle lane separating the opposing sets of
traffic which caused vehicles to utilize the shoulder for travel. This section
had traffic very close to us. Some of the bigger vehicles as they whizzed by
had a rather unsettling draft that would sway my bike closer to the traveling
vehicles.
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| Getting colder! |
As we climbed higher and higher in elevation the temperature
became colder and colder. I started donning more layers as I had them.
As it became ever colder and darker we decided to stop. We
stopped at a campsite that was due to open two weeks later called Mogollon Rim.
We set up our tent on the deck of the visitor’s center deck in front of the
door. The building blocked all of the wind that would come our way. The deck on
the backside of the visitor’s center had a fantastic view of pine trees
stretched deep into the valley and onwards to other rims in the distance. It
was still a very cold night. We slept in our fleece sleeping bags as well as
our emergency bivvy’s. The emergency blanket works by trapping in the heat, but
they also trap in the moisture. This makes it difficult to get up because the
moisture makes the chilly morning air feel even colder.
Day Five – Wednesday, May 7, 2014 – (almost) Heber to Heber
25 miles – 1 Hour 47 minutes – Average Speed 13.8 mph – Max
Speed 32.5 mph
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| Deck Camping - nice spot despite the cold |
We did a shorter ride today. The previous two days with
their intense climbs along with two days of camping had used much of our
energy. We were ready to stay in a hotel to rest and recover. Additionally, we
needed to wash our clothes as nearly everything had been worn.
The ride today seemed to have a lot of downhill stretches. That
was very nice on our muscles.
The weather for today’s ride was quite cold. I had put
layers over what I had worn sleeping. I had put on all of my colder weather
cycling apparel. It began to have snow flurries as we were riding. I had to put
on sunglasses so I could see through the flurries. The fact that it was snowing
in any regard was crazy because two days prior it was 100 degrees.
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| At Dairy Queen wearing all of our cold weather clothes. |
We made it to Heber and ate a lunch at the Dairy Queen in
town. The lunch was very delicious. We got a hotel room at the Best Western –
Saw Mill Inn. For dinner that night we ate at Casa Ramos in town and had
Mexican food. The carvings in the chairs and tables were neat although I do
still like the food at Valle Luna better.
This is the day that we had our only flat tire repairs at
all. When we got to the hotel I found that my tires were both flat. I think I
had hit a bump too roughly and it caused them to go flat. Fixing a flat tire in
a hotel room I would imagine is much nicer than fixing one on the side of a
busy road.
49 miles – 3 hours 50 minutes – Average Speed 14.6 mph – Max
Speed 30.3 mph
We spent the morning and early afternoon working on home
loan tasks at the hotel lobby. We did not get started actually riding until
3pm.
We rode from Heber to Holbrook which was a rather easy
ride. This ride had a nice down hill
grade to it and there was hardly any wind at all. The only challenge on this
ride was the fact that there was literally no usable shoulder to ride on. We
had to use vehicle travel lanes to ride. Any car that wanted to pass us had to
do so by utilizing oncoming traffic lanes.
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| Our shadows along the road as the sun began to set. |
At one point Jogie had paused to plug in his phone to the
portable charger and told me to go ahead and he would catch up. A few minutes
later I hear him on the walkie talkie very out breath saying “where are you?”
Then I hear, “I think I see you… Keep going…” He caught up when I stopped to
take a picture of a cow.
When we got to Holbrook we stopped at Dairy Queen to use a
bathroom. Then we continued down the road a mile to Taco Bell to eat some food.
As we were locking up our bikes Jogie realized he had left his camelback at the
Dairy Queen. This bag had our maps that we would need later as well as his
wallet. He high tailed it back to the Dairy Queen and back again. Luckily it
was still there. The fact that we were able to go back and it was still there
was a nice answer to prayer. We would have been much more stressed to have our
wallet out and about in the possession of someone else.
We stayed at the Days Inn in Holbrook. It was nice to not be
camping.
Day Seven – Friday, May 9, 2014 – Holbrook to (past)
Chambers
62.4 miles – 5 hours 23 minutes – Average Speed 11.6 mph –
Max Speed 39.2 mph
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| We saw the sign for Sparking Restrooms and had to stop. |
This day’s ride took us along the I-40. Nearly the entire
day was spent along the freeway. We learned what freeway cycling is like.
Freeways are probably the best roads to bike on. The shoulder is massive and
though there is plenty of heavy and fast traffic the shoulder is large enough
that you do not feel the draft from the other vehicles.
Another nice thing about riding on the interstate is that
bathrooms are advertised well in advance. We saw an Indian Trading Post that
advertised Sparkling Restrooms. Despite not needing to stop for a bathroom
break at the moment I decided we should stop and test out the sparkling
restrooms. There were also neat things to look out in their store and in the
lot. They had dinosaurs, teepees, and Indian weather rocks.
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| What Jogie pulled out of his tires. (despite these he did not get a flat) |
We took the exit for Chambers and continued about 15 more
miles. We decided that the further we got on this days ride the less we would
need to go on tomorrows. As it became darker we began scouring the side of the
road for good places to set up our tent and stay for the night. We had stopped
and were checking out the side of the road when a lady pulled over and warned
us about drunk drivers that would come and bother us if we stayed near here
because the neighbors who lived in that area were known for their alcohol
usage. We continued a little further but ultimately setup our tent on the side
of the road. This site was pretty good for what it was. It was a tree that was
open on the side away from the road. We set up our tent there and were also
able to put the bikes locked up in the tree out of sight.
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| Dinosaurs are fun to impersonate. |
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| Us at the Indian Trading Post |
Day Eight – Saturday, May 10, 2014 – (past) Chambers to
Chinle
57.76 miles – 4 hours 35 minutes – Average Speed 12.6 mph –
Max Speed 41.4 mph
Before we began this day’s ride we had a couple of drunken
Indian men come and want to visit with us for 15 minutes. They asked for names
over and over again. They also wished me a Happy Mother’s Day numerous times.
Eventually we wished them a good day and pedaled away.
We rode to Ganado and stopped at the convenience store there
for lunch. The convenience store/gas station was the only commercial structure
in the entirety of the town.
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| Us along the road. |
We rode onwards to Chinle. Much of the route was very smooth
and easy. As the afternoon continued the wind picked up significantly. It
started to become very scary. The gusts of winds made it feel like I was
unsteady on my bike. I was never able to tell which way the wind was going to
move my bike. It was also very loud so hearing other things over the wind was
challenging. The wind on this ride showed me how scary riding in wind can be
and it showed Jogie how draining it could be. Finally there was a sweeping
downhill and we were in the town of Chinle.
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| Me and the lucky shoe walking around Chinle |
We checked into the Best Western – Canyon De Chelly hotel.
As we were checking in I realized that one of my shoes had blown off of the
back of my bike. So I had my cycling shoes with cleats attached and one shoe to
wear when not biking. We had looked around the stores that were in the town and
did not find any available shoe stores. We even asked the hotel staff where the
nearest place to buy shoes would be. We were informed that the nearest place
for shoes was two hours away. As I did not have a replacement shoe set I kept
the one shoe so at least I could switch out of one shoe as desired. The one
shoe that remained I dubbed “the lucky shoe” and the one that blew away
somewhere along the windy road “the unlucky shoe.”
Day Nine – Sunday, May 11, 2014 – Chinle, AZ – Rest Day –
Mother’s Day
2.6 miles This was a rest day.
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| At the canyon in my best hiking footwear |
Church on the Reservation really was neat. There is only the
one ward that meets in the building there so they had little quotes throughout
the hall and in the bathrooms about how Heavenly Father loves us. It was
Mother’s Day. In Relief Society the Primary came in and sang. The Young Men
came in and gave each woman a plate of goodies such as chips, pies, and cakes.
The Young Women Came in and gave each woman a pot with four flower pens inside.
This ward feels to be very closely knit. The lesson in Relief Society was about
the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. The teacher brought out more of how the
Navajo ceremonies, mythology, and stories are also testimonies to the Book of
Mormon. I never would have heard a similar take on the lesson except I was at
the ward that I was in the middle of the Navajo Nation. She considers the
people in the Book of Mormon her ancestors and family thus the Book of Mormon
stories family history stories. I really enjoyed the lesson she prepared
despite not grasping everything because I do not understand the Navajo stories
to the extent that she does.
 |
| Spider Rock |
After church one of the ward members offered the use of his
vehicle to drive through Canyon De Chelly. We had no idea that this canyon was
here. As we drove through the south rim it really was quite spectacular. Both
of us really liked the Spider Rock formation this is a great monolith that sits
in the middle of the canyon floor. There were also ruins built into the walls
of the canyon. Somehow people climbed into the canyon walls and made these
places home. There are still people who live in the canyon floor and live off
of the fertile land that is found there. The canyon was stunning and we felt very
blessed to have been offered the means to see it. When this ward member came to
pick up his car he had also brought some of the food from their Sunday dinner
to us. We felt further blessed with the warm meal. Following our encounter with
this ward member Jogie has set a goal to someday do something similar to
someone else who we do not know and would likely never run across again. Through
this strangers service we felt Heavenly Fathers awareness of us and our needs
as well as his awareness that we would really enjoy seeing this small section
of the world that he had created for us.
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| Us at Canyon De Chelly |
Day Ten – Monday, May 12, 2014 – Chinle to Rock Point
50.8 miles – 5 hours 21 minutes – Average Speed 9.5 mph –
Max Speed 23 mph
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| Jogie is grumpy because it is windy and he is not currently eating a cupcake |
This day’s ride was chilly and very windy. Jogie complained
the entirety of the day regarding the wind and how we could not go faster
because of the wind. He determined that he was so bored when we reached the
first convenience store that he needed to buy a Hostess Cupcake to make himself
feel better. He continued the purchase of cupcakes throughout the tour. He
would purchase more cupcakes whenever we stopped at a convenience store whether
or not it was a tough day of riding or not.
We rode through the towns of Many Farms, Round Rock, and
Rock Point. All of these towns were very small and had only the service of a
small convenience store.
A couple individuals stopped their vehicles to see if we
needed anything. One girl offered a ride which we turned down (and regretted as
the next burst of wind came along). Another woman stopped and visited with us
for a minute and told us about the lack of hotel accommodations along the road
ahead and also what the road would be like for us later in the afternoon.
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| Near our camping site |
We knew we would be camping this night so we looked for big
rocks or items like this that would block the wind. We found one and headed
towards it. One of the neighbors who lived near the dirt road we were riding
along stopped and visited with us. She asked us if we were looking to camp for
the night. She told us we were welcome to camp near that rock and that the
neighbors around it were very nice and that we would not be bothered at all for
our camping experience. We thanked her for the welcome and set up our tent in
the shadow of the great rock. The wind was blocked and it was one of the most
beautiful camping locations we tested out.
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| Beautiful |
Day Eleven – Tuesday, May 13, 2014 – Rock Point, AZ to
Bluff, UT
46.5 miles – 5 hours 18 minutes – Average Speed 8.7 mph –
Max Speed 25.9 mph
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| Eating Navajo Tacos and Navajo Burgers |
From Rock Point we continued north until we reached Mexican
Waters. Mexican Waters is a small collection of service stations. We ate at the
restaurant here. Since we were in Navajo country we got some Navajo food. Jogie
at a Navajo Taco and I ate a Navajo Burger. Despite our ongoing state of
exercise I was unable to finish eating the Navajo Burger.
Not long after eating our Navajo meals we found ourselves at
the Arizona Utah border. It felt like a huge accomplishment to reach the Utah
border. We of course took a celebratory rest at the sign.
We made it to Bluff Utah. This small town seemed to be full
of hotels. Our biggest challenge was deciding which one we wanted to stay at.
The town is near a river, plenty of hiking, old town sites and likely other fun
outdoor activities. We picked a hotel that did not have laundry facilities. We
washed our clothes by hand. This took quite a bit of effort and the clothes
were not dry by the time morning came around. We did hand washing only this one
time.
We ate ribs at the Cottonwood Steakhouse. We shared a full
rack of ribs. It was understandably messy and we ate the entire platter easily.
The waitress was worried that she steered us wrong in sharing the full rack as
she was worried that we did not have enough food between the two of our
appetites. We explained that it was just right.
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| Jogie riding into Utah |
 | ||||||||
| We made it to Utah!
Day Twelve – Wednesday, May 14, 2014 – Bluff to Monticello
49.2 miles – 6 hours 1 minute – Average Speed 8.1 mph – Max
Speed 31.9 mph – elevation up 4259 – elevation down 1555
After staying the night in Bluff, UT we started the day’s
ride with a climb out of a small canyon which was quite scenic. This also means
that it was a tough ride from the get go. The day’s ride included plenty of
climbing. Including some god climbs as we rode through some road construction.
On nice thing about riding through the road construction was the road was brand
new and was thus very smooth and even. The dream road.
We rode through White Mesa, Blanding and finally reached
Monticello. While we were riding out of White Mesa Jogie was leading and I was
behind. A dog charged out of a yard as I rode by and charged at me yelling all
sorts of obscenities. I was incredibly terrified. At all previous points in the
tour when a dog came out Jogie was nearby to divert the dogs attention away
from me. He was too far ahead to recognize the distress I was immediately
under. When I had pushed through the immediate canine danger I stopped and
walkie talkie’d Jogie to have him stop. When I caught up to him I had to take
some time to recovery from the great paralyzing fear that the dog was unkind
enough to instill.
We ran across a solitary bike tourist that was touring the
west and was picking up some mail in the city of Blanding.
Day Thirteen -
Thursday, May 15, 2014 – Monticello to Moab
53.4 miles – 4 hours 48minutes – Average Speed 11.3 mph –
Max Speed 36.2 mph – Elevation Up 2323 – Elevation Down 5269
This day’s ride was very nice and very scenic. There was
more downhill stretches than uphill. We stopped by places such as Hole in the
Rock and the Wilson Arch.
At the Wilson Arch we did a sunblock stop. If I had a pair
of off bike shoes I would have really enjoyed hiking up to the arch. As it is I
had only a pair of cycling shoes. We did some pictures and enjoyed a short
break. Jogie and I both really enjoyed observing the arch and our close
proximity to it. Jogie was insistent that the arches at Arches National Park
would be much more exciting.
At Hole in the Rock we checked out the novelties that they
showcase there. We decided not to tour the house that is built into the cliff.
Perhaps another time we will do this. But, we did follow the signs for Bigfoot
and located this.
We rolled into Moab and had some difficulties finding a
favorable deal for a hotel room. Everything seemed to either be incredibly expensive
or had no vacancies. We had really wanted to stay at a hotel but it did not
seem like this was going to be an option for us. We rode down the road a bit
and found a campground in the city. We pulled up closer to it and the office
said it had no vacancies. Jogie determined that he would go in and enquire
regarding tent sites. They had tents sites so we were in luck. (The sign was
for RV sites.) We felt blessed that we were at least able to find a place to
stay for the night.
Since we had reached a larger town we were finally able to
find a shoe store. I bought a pair of flip flops so that I could use them the
next day when we were planning to do some hiking at Arches. I had been missing
off bike shoes since I lost one shoe when were on the Indian Reservation.
 |
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| Wilson Arch |
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| We are Awesome! |
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| At the Wilson Arch |
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| Bigfoot |
Day Fourteen – Friday, May 16, 2014 – Moab and Arches
National Park
31.2 miles – 5 hours 18 minutes – Average Speed 5.9 mph –
Max Speed 38.7 mph – Elevation up 4170 – Elevation Down 3793
This day’s activities involved riding our bikes to Arches
National Park. We found a bike path that took us right to the entrance to the
park. We paid the entrance fee for individuals coming into the park on
bicycles. Then we rode our bikes on the road as we explored the park. Our goal
was to get to the trailhead for the Delicate Arch where we would do the hike.
Then if we had time then we could check out some of the other rock formations.
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| At the entrance |
As it turned out the road was quite challenging to ride on.
The hills were incredibly steep. The traveling was slow going. We saw only one
other biker in the park. She looked at me and my load and pointed out that I
was hauling a lot of weight. I nodded and continued. If we were thinking we
would have paid for two nights at the campsite and left everything at the site
and instead took just our light bikes into the park. Alas we hauled the extra
weight through the park.
When we made it to the Delicate Arch trailhead I switched
out of my cycling shoes and tested out my brand new flip flops. I determined
that I would use these shoes for the hike. Jogie being the podiatrist utilized
athletic tape to tape up my arches to provide better support and also applied
tape under the straps of the sandals to help prevent any blistering that could
happen with new shoes. The hike was wonderful. It felt so good to be off of our
bikes and walking around. The Delicate Arch was also impressive. Jogie was
really excited to be at the arch and took many pictures. He had come as a child
and had fond memories of what the arch looked like to him at that age.
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| Sunblock break |
As we had biked into the park we knew that the road we were
riding into the park was the same road that we would be riding out of the park.
Thus up hills that we rode into the park would be down hills on our return trip
and any wonderful down hill rides on the way to the Delicate Arch would be
rotten climbs as we headed back out of the park. It was the rotten climbs we
were dreading as the afternoon wore on and we were preparing to cycle out of
the park. We debated the damage to our pride if we were to hitch hike out of
the park. We decided we were willing to accept a ride from a stranger if it
meant that we would not have to bike that hill. Unfortunately, we were too
prideful to stick out a thumb and be more open with our intents to the
motorists. Instead we stopped at a stop sign and ate a snack and endeavored to
make eye contact with those that passed us. We hoped that we looked pitiful
enough that someone would take pity and offer everything that we desired
without any further effort on our part. We were each praying that someone would
just rescue us from the return ride. As we finished our granola bars no one had
stopped to rescue us and the day was growing older so we realized if we were
going to make it out of the park it was going to be under our own power. So we
started up the hill that we were at the base of. We had the energy we needed to
make it up the hill somehow. Then we continued on through the park. As we were
nearing the entrance an RV was parked on one of the road pullouts. The couple
who owned the RV walked towards us where we had paused to take more pictures.
They offered everything we had been praying for not long before. They offered a
ride out of the park. They offered to take us to their campsite and let us set
up our tent on their site as they were not using it because they were staying
in their RV. Then when we had set up our tent they prepared a dinner for us so
we could have something to eat. Because of them we did not have to ride in the
dark, we did not have to scrounge out some granola bars to eat for dinner, and
we had a place to camp for the night. We had planned to ride out to the same
location as their campsite and there was a sign that stated there were no
available camp sites. Running into them really was a blessing because otherwise
we would have been out of luck to have any place to set up out tent.
Our experience in Arches really showed us that Heavenly
Father does indeed answer our prayers. However, he does not swoop in to rescue
us because we wish it really hard. Instead we really do need to take the steps
to rescue ourselves. To do all that we are able to do first. We had to climb
that hill that we were dreading. We had to do all that we were able to before
Heavenly Father would send someone in to help us find relief.
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| Us under the Delicate Arch |
Day Fifteen – Saturday, May 17, 2014 – Moab to Green River
56.96 miles – 4 hours 56 minutes – Average Speed 11.5 mph –
Max Speed 29.5 mph – Up Hill 3238 – Down Hill 3113
This day’s ride was very warm. We both started to get
sunburns because of the heat despite frequent sunblock breaks. I decided to
wear more layers despite the heat to help protect the skin.
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| Bridge in Moab |
Along our ride on this day we had a bike tourist join us. He
hails from Belgium and was touring the western states. We introduced him to
riding on the interstate as we rode the I-70. We explained that biking is
permitted on the freeways as long as it is not near busy cities and that in
actuality the road conditions of the freeways are among the best for cycling. The
I-70 was a very fast ride and was quite nice.
When we reached Green River we found that their hotel
accommodations were priced higher than we wanted and that many of them did not
have vacancies. We lucked out with finding the run down place we did that had
the wild hotel manager had wild windswept hair and walked around bare footed on
bunions and then had his dog do tricks for us before checking into the room.
While the hotel manager was the most eccentric individual we’ve met for a long
while he really seemed to take pride in his role as a hotel manager. It was
quite nice to be settled for a rest day.
We walked down the street to do some laundry. Jogie while
walking noticed a large bug in his pathway and verbally acknowledged the big
bug in front of him. At this point the bug then hopped onto the toe of Jogie’s
left shoe in reply. Jogie’s surprise really brightened my day and we laughed
about it quite a bit.
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| Along the route |
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| Jogie being amazing |
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| Amanda and her muscle picture |
Day Sixteen – Sunday, May 18, 2014 – Green River – Rest Day
0 miles
Church was near enough to the motel that we were staying at
that we did not even need to ride our bikes to get there. We just walked. It
was really nice to have a Sunday where we did not biking whatsoever. We
attended the Green River Ward and felt quite welcome.
After church we walked down the road and checked out the river
for which Green River is named. Near the river was a museum that we checked out
also. It was the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. This museum was
focused on early river exploration of the Green and Colorado Rivers. It was
interesting how dangerous river exploration used to be. Now it is a source of
recreation and energy. They had some replicas of boats that would have been
used by these early explorers.
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| Jogie at the Green River bridge |
Day Seventeen – Monday, May 19, 2014 – Green River to Price
64.13 miles – 5 hours 56 minutes – Average Speed 10.7 mph –
Max Speed 28 mph – Up hill Elevation 3543 – Elevation Down 2001
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| On to Price! |
This day’s ride was fine. There were some climbs but they
were more gradual than in previous day’s. Perhaps we are getting stronger.
As we came into Price we saw the Miller’s Travel Center. We
did not stop because we felt we were so close to our destination for the day.
We enjoyed seeing our last name on a sign. As we went further into Price we
found a Walmart. We have not seen a Walmart at all since we were in Phoenix.
Jogie being a professional shopper was very excited. We had to stop and
purchase some items. We got jerky, chocolate and licorice. Seeing the Walmart
also made us feel that we were getting that much closer to our destination.
We were blessed to stay at the home of the parents of one of
our friends from our Phoenix ward. It was really nice to be in a home.
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| We are getting closer! |
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| The Miller Travel Center
Day Eighteen – Tuesday, May 20, 2014 – Price to Provo
83.26 miles – 6 hours 35 minutes – Average Speed 12.6 mph –
Max Speed 40.9 mph
The ride for this day was both the most enjoyable riding
conditions as well as the worst. At the beginning of the day’s adventure we had
some climbing until we reached the point called Soldier’s Summit. There were
some windy conditions that made the going challenging. The worst part though
was what I called the double rumble strip. It was a two lane highway and the
shoulder consisted completely of rumble strip. There was the newer strip which
could easily be seen; but there was also the older rumble strip which was nearly
invisible but highly effective as we rode upon it. When traffic had a lull we
would ride in the travel lane as it was smooth; but as traffic returned we
would move to the double rumble strip section and suffer the jarring ride until
traffic had another lull. This section certainly was sore to ride upon. As we
passed Soldier’s Summit the double rumble strip disappeared and we experienced
some of the most enjoyable rides as we rode down the winding canyon roads. The
roads were fast and smooth and very well maintained. The scenery as we flew
through reminded me of Jurassic Park. Everything was so green and appeared to
be very much alive. It was a very enjoyable section.
We passed the windmills at the mouth of the canyon and took
the turn on the 89 and rode into Mapleton and Springville. This road was really
nice. The shoulder was the width of a car and then some. The road was also
incredible smooth and fast. We pointed out how close we were to our Alma Mater
at BYU. We made a stop at the Missionary Training Center so we could take a
picture in front of it to send to my brother who was there at the time
preparing to go to San Jose, California for his mission.
Getting into Provo made us feel like we really were getting
closer to our destination. We realized that we were less than 100 miles from
our goal.
Day Nineteen – Wednesday, May 21, 2014 – Provo to
Taylorsville
52.8 miles – 4 hours 56 minutes – Average Speed 10.6 mph –
Max Speed 30.6 mph
Before we began our day’s travels we threw away the
disposable water bottles that we had been carrying the entirety of our journey.
Since we would have access to water any time wanted in the city we did not feel
that we needed to be carrying them any longer.
We began the day riding on the Murdoch Canal trail. This
bike path was really nice. It was perfect and had regular bathrooms and
drinking fountains along the trail. This path was one that we would recommend and
would ride on again. It was such a pleasant trail.
Next we rode on the Jordan River Trail. We got on this path
at Thanksgiving Point. At this point the trail was scenic, well used, and well
cared for. We passed a scout troop that was picking up garbage from the path. As
the path continued there was not nearly the traffic there was on it before. We
found ourselves doing an incredibly steep climb that had my lungs burning in a
way they had not done before. We know that the incline was greater than 10%
grade because later there was one that was labeled 10% grade and we were much more
successful with that hill. Who builds bike paths with death hills? The 50 foot
section that hurt so bad was ridiculous. Even the stretches around Payson were
not nearly so rotten. If the death hill was not enough the path just ended for
no reason. So we had to find a way to get off the trail and use the roads to
travel in the northern direction we wanted to go. We continued using regular
roads and the Jordan River Trail when we could find it (and were willing to
trust it).
We stayed at a hotel in Taylorsville for the evening. We had
just one more day until we reached Jogie’s family. We were very excited and
antsy to greet them.
Day Twenty – Thursday, May 22, 2014 – Taylorsville to North
Ogden
57.21 miles – 5 hours 1 minute – Average Speed 11.4 mph –
Max Speed 34.7 mph
This was the conclusion of our bike tour. We rode on the
Jordan River Trail, Legacy Trail, and Denver Rio Grande Trail. As we continued
on bike path after bike path I was very eager to get off of the path and ride
on the roads again. The bike paths became very boring and it was challenging to
really know where we were in relation to where we wanted to go.
Jogie’s family was expecting us sometime this day and was
eager to know when we would arrive. In the early afternoon Jogie’s dad had called
and wanted a phone call when we made it to Provo. We instead offered that we
would call when we were closer and knew when we would arrive. We had no
intentions of going through Provo this day as we had already been there and ridden
through that. When we reached South Ogden we estimated that we could probably
be at Jogie’s parent’s house in an hour. We gave them a call and let them know the
estimated time for our arrival.
We timed our arrival so that we could catch as many people
at the house at once. We saw that Jogie’s dad was in the driveway having just
arrived home from work. We gave a phone call to his mom to say we came and
would like her to come out to help us with our bags. His mom when she came
outside was in disbelief and repeated many times “what?” His Dad became the
observer and began snapping pictures. His sister who was at the house was the
most vocal with yelling her comments such as “they’re here!” “You rode your
bikes!” Jogie’s mom was sure that we had our car parked down the road and that
this was all a great joke. I invited her to smell her son to prove that we did
not just unload bicycles and ride down the road. Jogie’s body odor seemed to be
persuasive.
Jogie’s family was excited that we were able to ride our
bikes to their house. They gushed about the surprise they had when we arrived
to anyone. We were so glad that they were surprised and excited that we had a
great adventure cycling to their house.
We are so glad we were able to do the bicycle tour. We rode
over 850 miles over a period of 20 days. We had one flat tire and one time
where the chain fell off the gears. We rode up way, way too many hills. We used
up four large bottles of sunscreen and still got minor sunburns on shoulders,
ears, ankles and the back of knees. Despite that neither one of us appears to
have a tan. If we have a chance to do a bicycle tour again we would probably do
it. Although we would check out wind speeds and topography much more
extensively and choose an easier route.
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