John Aylward Photography

Today’s Highlights:
Good old headwinds! It was very easy to fill our lungs with fresh Colorado air this morning, since we had a 20 mph wind directly in our faces. On the other hand, it was quite a challenge to make forward progress on a bicycle. It took me 3-1/2 hours to ride the first thirty-eight miles to our rest stop. On a calm day, a route like that might have taken 2-1/4 or less. I had made up my mind that it was going to be a very long day. Fortunately, after leaving the rest stop, the wind calmed down and was much less a factor for the remaining thirty six miles. I finished the 74-mile ride around 1:30 pm, averaging only 13 mph.

Leaving Fruita, there were some beautiful views of the eastern edge of the Books Cliffs lit by the morning sun. It’s quite a spectacular backdrop for the farms and homes in the area. We crossed over the Colorado River as we left the frontage rode and cycled onto US route 50. We will be following US-50 for a few more days. After several miles through a commercial zone in Grand Junction, we reached wide open space with an occasional ranch or home. This part of the ride was quite scenic, although consistent for miles. Unfortunately, I saw a lot of pavement as I had my head down pushing hard into the wind.

As we continued south, approaching the town of Delta, we crossed over a small canyon and passed more ranch land. Close to Delta, there were large farms with very scenic mountains in the background. In front of use, the Rocky Mountains grew closer and closer. We will be climbing over them for the next couple days. It’s hard to believe, because they still look very far away. We crossed the Gunnison River and entered downtown Delta. It looked like a very cozy little town with shops and restaurants. They were proud of the nice murals they had on many buildings.

Continuing from Delta to Montrose, farmland was the predominant scenery. We rode down into Montrose on Rt 550, then down Main St. Montrose is also a very nice town, much bigger than Delta. Main St had architecture from its early days and looked quite fun to walk around. However, I pressed on looking for the hotel and trying to be careful in the traffic. It would be a nice place to come back and visit.

At the end of the day, most of the riders diplomatically describe their ride as “not their favorite”. The wind was really the culprit, because otherwise it was a nice road with gentle hills and pleasant scenery.

Day 17

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/18/2013, 5:46:2

Duration: 06:33:45

Ascent/Descent: 2789 ft 1441 ft

Distance: 74.40 M

Today’s Highlights:
The highlight of today was entering Colorado! It’s a great place to be. We worked very hard today to get here, but it was worth it. Our ninety mile ride started at 7:00 am. We immediately got on Interstate 70 and stayed there for the entire route. The first ten miles were freshly paved, making it very nice to ride on. A slight headwind kept our speed down. The next fifteen miles were on a rougher surface and the wind picked up. That first 25 miles was also a long gradual climb. Our rest stop was near the top of it. Next, we had a long gradual downhill to mile 40, however a strong headwind still held my speed down near 15 mph. The second half of the ride consisted of long rolling hills with less effect by the wind, and the temperatures were in the nineties. Still in the high desert environment, we were in full sun all day.

Along our route we had views of the Book Cliffs again to the north. Far to the south, the La Sal Mountains rose abruptly from the desert basin. The cliffs and other land formations were interesting to see. Vegetation was still very sparse. As we neared Colorado, the landscape got more hilly, with more variation of grasses and shrubs. There were some signs of ranching, but no significant structures other than fences and a few empty corrals. We crossed the Colorado boarder seventy miles into our ride, and continued another twenty to Fruita. Farms and other signs of civilization appeared as we neared town. A few miles before the end of our ride, we came upon the Colorado River, with Cottonwood trees along the banks and colorful cliffs in the background. It was a refreshing site to see flowing water and trees and green grass again.

Day 16

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/17/2013, 5:48:1

Duration: 07:36:15

Ascent/Descent: 2911 ft 2497 ft

Distance: 89.22 M

Today’s Highlights:
Today is Ken Harris’s 70th birthday. He’s riding strong and is quite an inspiration.

Yesterday I mentioned how refreshingly green our route was, and I was optimistic that the trend would continue. However, we once again entered the desert, riding sixty-five miles from Price to Green River Utah. Early in the ride, we rode past some farms in Wellington UT, where the irrigation created an oasis of green. However, about ten miles from the start, we were in the wilderness again with sparse sagebrush dotting the landscape. From my perspective, this area of Utah was even more desolate than our route through Nevada and western Utah. We passed a sign that said “Price River”, and it was barely a stagnant three foot wide stream.

However, about fifteen miles into our ride down Rt 6 we were presented with a view of a grand escarpment in front of us. Eventually, the highway paralleled it and our view to the east became more and more interesting as we got closer to the cliffs and the sun moved far enough overhead to highlight its features and color. They are called the Book Cliffs and are one thousand feet tall. They wind for 250 miles across Utah and Colorado, and it is the longest continuous escarpment in the world. On the west side of the highway were other colorful cliff far in the distance. I saw two deer today, but no other wildlife or livestock. Some people saw antelope.

We passed a sign for the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry, but it was actually too far off our route to visit. It contains the greatest accumulation of Jurassic dinosaur bones in the world. I would have liked to learn more about it. Maybe another time. Although this area now seems desolate, it is rich in geological and archeological treasures.

For the last forty miles of the ride we had a constant headwind. It has just become a normal condition of the ride and I hesitate to even mention it anymore. But we all wish for tailwinds.

We entered the town of Green River and crossed its namesake just before the hotel. The river is about 100 yards wide there and flowing fast. A few of us had lunch in a restaurant beside it and enjoyed the soothing view for a while. Green River is known for the melons grown there.

We had a special extracurricular activity today. Since our ride ended relatively early, the staff drove some of us to Arches National Park. We had a couple hours to visit some popular overlooks, and it was spectacular.

Day 15

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/16/2013, 6:05:3

Duration: 04:40:07

Ascent/Descent: 1048 ft 2581 ft

Distance: 66.62 M

Today’s Highlights:
We had a chilly 46 degree start this morning with the sun still behind the Wasatch Mountains, only streaming sunbeams through the canyons. Once it was high enough to shine on us, it warmed us up a bit. The coolness was refreshing though, as we had a lot of early climbing to do. The first several miles of our route took us passed some farms in Springville, south of Provo. A little further, in Spanish Fork, we came upon a windmill farm. It was appropriately located there, as a very strong headwind gave us a good workout for several miles until we were high enough in the canyon where the wind was milder.

Our route was very scenic today, up a canyon where the Spanish Fork River flows. A rail line parallels the river. There were only a couple small towns and several ranches along the way. It was nice to see so much green after our journey through the desert. Trees are still rather small in this ecosystem, but more of the terrain is covered with grasses and wildflowers, and rarely were there barren spots. It is also refreshing to be in the mountains rather than viewing them from afar. While most of the mountainsides were rich in vegetation, there were also areas where the red and yellow sandstone came to the surface. There were some steep cliff areas and even some very interesting hoodoos. Sheep ranching is common in this area, although I only saw one herd. I saw a pen with six large llamas who intently watched Dave and I ride by. You would think they never saw a cyclist before.

We climbed for the first 45 miles of our route, reaching an elevation of 7434 feet at Solider Summit, with roughly 3500 feet of total climbing for the day. Our one rest stop was at mile 36. The climb was mostly gradual since it is at highway grade, but of course that is still a long distance to climb. The scenery made it enjoyable. The last thirty miles of our 75-mile ride was mostly downhill. However, we got cheated on the descent by a headwind much of the way. Sometimes it was so strong that I think my bike would have stopped right on the hill if I wasn’t pedaling so hard. For several miles the single downhill lane was narrow, just wide enough for a tractor trailer, and the shoulder was only one or two feet including the rumble strip. We had no choice but to go slow and negotiate the poor, narrow shoulder in order not to get hit by a truck.

The east side of the Wasatch Range was just as nice as the west side. At higher elevations, there were gentle foothills with plenty of grazing areas, and we passed several ranches again. The White River flows through the valley on this side. I spotted a deer in the river, which was a treat to see since there is so little wildlife visible. Other than that, there were a few cattle and horses along the way. Lower in our descent, we entered another canyon area with amazing cliffs and rock formations. There is coal mining in this area, near Helper Utah, and we saw one active mine. Once into the town of Price, the landscape was more arid. The valley floor is dotted with sagebrush and low-growing bushes, while very weathered, figured cliff surround it.

It was a rather long day with all the climbing and then the unexpected slow descent into the wind. I arrived at the hotel around 2pm. It was another great day on the bike seeing the beautiful countryside!

Day 14

Statistics: Zoom and pan the map to explore the route.

Time: 6/15/2013, 6:00:1

Duration: 06:51:46

Ascent/Descent: 3548 ft 2465 ft

Distance: 74.82 M