JUNE 19 PROVO TO PRICE, UT

Remember the great ride I talked about yesterday; fast, together, flat, finished at noon? Well today we paid the price on an 8 hour 75 mile ride to Price, Utah.

Leaving Provo

Four miles out of Provo, Tim (ME) had 2 flats, Mason (TN) had 2 shortly thereafter, and there were others along the way. The flats often come in two's as a result of the glass, steel sliver, or thorn that punctured the the tire not being detected when the tube is changed. If the cause is not removed, a second flat results. Falts take up some time....and so does a 20 knot headwind! We were really up against it this morning. One gust knocked Mike (NJ) right off his bike as we slowed to cross over a road.

Once we got into the canyons of the Wasatch Mts. we had protection from the wind. Also, the wind seems to diminish as the temperature rises. The flats and the wind put us behind schedule. We knew it was going to be a long day.

Wasatch Canyon

At "route rap" we were told we would have an aggregate climb day of 3380 ft. Basically, we climbed the first 38 miles until reaching Soldiers Summit at 7500 ft. The last 38 miles into Price were downhill. At the summit we had a pelting, stinging rain which lasted only briefly.

Our ride was on route 6, a nice scenic road through the rock canyons of Utah....if you are in a car. On a bike---it's a different story. The bike lane was very narrow and had deeply cut rumble strips placed in the MIDDLE of of our lane. We had either a guard rail on the right of us or a precipitous drop-off. Hitting the rumble strips caused jaw-jarring shaking of the bike, so we rode in a 1 to 2 foot wide path most of the way.

At on rest stop/observation area the parking lot was bordered with Jersey barriers to prevent people from going over the cliff. Mason noticed a RATTLESNAKE curled up in a space between 2 of the barriers. (Yes, we have pictures).

A "new guy," Jeff (a CPA from Iowa), joined our group in SLC and will ride with us to Pueblo, CO. He is the son of my friend and contemporary Tom (IA), who is riding all the way. Jeff is another young buck who immediately moved to the head of the pack. YOUTH!

CLARIFICATION: A note to the wives and girlfriends of my fellow riders: When I mentioned the other day that "the concensus of the guys was that Dr. Dave's daughters were gorgeous," what I meant was that only the staff and I thought that. CERTAINLY, none of the boys mentioned it to me, but some of guys told me it might need clarification since they were getting some questions from home.

One of the highlights of today's ride was a stop ...desperately looking for food...at a roadside store in the one building town of Colton, UT. The 73 year old mountain man there got talking ot us about "what the town used to be like." He brought out a scrapbook of ancient pictures; one showed his grandfather with Butch Cassidy who grew up in town before he began his outlaw career. We were all mesmerized by his tales. Only in America!

Colton, UT Storyteller

         - Bill

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