JUNE 16 SMILING IN SALT LAKE

In the night I could hear the wind whistling against the window in the hotel. I wondered, in which direction is it blowing?

At 6:00 am, as we departed Wendover and headed East into the blinding rising sun, we found out. The strong 15-20 mph wind came right at us from about a 10 o'clock position. It stayed with us for the first 5 hours of our long 117 mile trip to Salt Lake City. We tried various combinations of groupings with our bikes to shield us from the wind. Finally, we rode in two's, with the bike on the right a half length behind the leading bike. It seemed to help, perhaps only psychologically. It was a frustrating, slowing wind. We couldn't get any SPEED, and we had 117 miles to cover. Our only boosts came from trucks passing at 80 mph, which seemed to drag us along in their wake.

By mid-day the wind was less of a factor, and we picked up the pace. We then encountered a long stretch of highway construction on I-80. An ugly mess for our biking crew, as we had to maneuver through steam rollers, trucks, and tar spreaders. Our tires were covered with tar and gravel resulting in frequent stops for cleaning.

In my ACS jersey - in Utah!

All of this time we were passing through mile after mile of salt flats. White salt and sand on both sides of the road that seemed to reach to the mountains. We saw the Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway area, and the occasional lake not yet dried up. In many respects a "moonscape".

Great Salt Lake

Getting enough to eat and drink on a century ride is critical. Our AbB crew was up to the task. The vans seemed to be everywhere, supplying us with water, gatorade, bananas, PB&J sandwiches etc. The mechanics and many riders again repaired numerous flats today. I'm sure I-80---which we left today for good---accounted for at least 40 flat tires.

Meg in the Salt Flats

Jim heading to Salt Lake

Early this morning--in the wind--I rode for quite a while with "Dr. David", a radiologist from Syracuse, NY. He is bright and engaging. We discussed a number of things including: West Africa, the Mormon religion, free will, and the Adirondacks. He was much more conversant then I. Today is David's 60th birthday. When I pulled into the parking lot of our hotel in Salt Lake City, I was surprised to see balloons, signs, and strangers waiting. They were there to surprise David. His wife and two 20 something twin daughters(extremely attractive was the concensus) had flown in from Syracuse to surprise him. We all waited--enjoying our first cold beer in many, many days--for his late arrival. It was a wonderful scene when he came in. All the AbB gang and his family were there to celebrate his 60th!

Dr. Dave's Party

Our whole group was in a party mood tonight at dinner as we begin our first DAY OFF. The hotel manager surprised us with a free cocktail party. MISTAKE! I am sure he has never seen a gang like this. We behaved, but his accountant will be in in the morning wondering what happened to the beer inventory.

I know I whined about yesterday's difficult century...Sorry. Riding today-even in the conditions we encountered- I realized there is no place I would rather be than right here...doing the Cross Country Challenge.

         - Bill

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