| Mormons Beware! Week two Nevada to Utah |
| Day 8 Sun June 16 Winnemucca to Battle Mountain 56 miles An easy day today. The road was filled with thousands of grass- hoppers, which the locals call "Mormon crickets" for reasons not known to me. Most of the interstate was great for riding, but we had a few miles of the older concrete surface with pesky rumble strips. I chugged over to Battle Mountain in about four hours. Day 9 Mon June 17 Battle Mountain to Elko 72 miles Another fine day. The sun on my shoulder, the wind at my back. We did have a climb of 2,230 feet today and are staying in Elko which has an elevation of just over 5,000 feet. One of our challenges today was coming through a tunnel on I-80 which only had about two feet of clearance from the thundering traffic. The group I was riding with all walked our bikes through the tunnel. Tomorrow and the next day we have back-to-back centuries (100-mile rides) so will need a good night's sleep tonight. Day 10 Tue June 18 Elko to Wendover 108 miles Today was a day of firsts. First, I weighed myself this morning after finding some scales in the fitness room, and it was the first weigh-in under 180 pounds in a long time! It was also our first day to have any clouds, which were actually nice to have. It was also my day to have my first flat of the trip, and most importantly, my first CENTURY ride! It is also our first change in time zones as we are now in Mountain time. Between the 108 miles and the 3,690 feet of climb, I don't think I will have trouble sleeping tonight. I hope not, because tomorrow is even further! Day 11 Wed June 19 Wendover to Salt Lake City 118 miles Tough day today! Not only was it 118 miles, but the wind was not our friend. We had crosswinds or head winds all day long, and we managed to spread ourselves out over more than 40 miles. I think we were all happy to say goodbye to the Interstate today, especially after the rough surface we had all day. We are all looking forward to our day of rest tomorrow and feel that we have earned it. We've covered more than 830 miles in our 11 days of riding and will be greeting about a dozen new riders for the stretch to Pueblo. Day 12 Thu June 20 Salt Lake City Rest! I think that we all enjoyed our day off today. Most of us made it into downtown Salt Lake to have a look at the Mormon Temple and the other sights of the city. Several of us went to one or more bike shops and stocked up on goodies. I bought a new cyclometer, which I will definitely need for tomorrow, as well as a colorful new jersey. Again, we have had a day of gorgeous weather. Life is good. Day 13 Fri June 21 Salt Lake City to Provo 58 miles Everyone was expecting a relatively easy day today, especially after our day of rest, and it turned out to be a bit frustrating. We had head winds much of the day and rode mostly through residential areas that had a fair amount of traffic. In addition, the route was a bit squirrely and had lots of turns. We also had a construction detour and some people got lost, so it did not turn out to be the easy day after all. Maybe we were just too used to "get on I-80, get off I-80." Day 14 Sat June 22 Provo to Price 76 miles Another not-so-easy day. We had some head winds, a couple of long climbs, more pesky rumble strips and our first rain. It was then frus- trating to arrive at the motel and find that most of our rooms were not ready, so we washed and cleaned our bikes and waited. This is the first time that we have not been able to check in upon arrival. I was low on energy starting out today, and I don't know whether it was that the rest day broke our routine, or the back-to-back centuries sapped me more than I realized. The good news is that we had some great scenery today. And this is the end of the second week - unbelievable! |
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| Wednesday dawn |
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| AGreat Dane - a great day |
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