:: shift7 ::

:: north/south adventure ::

utah: day 14, thu 11 sep
richfield - panguitch lake

stats:
63.9 @ 16.4 = 3:53:41, max 35.2, trip total: 1,048
[designated driver = 28]

eats:
powdered doughnut, bacon, hashbrowns, orange juice, fries, animal crackers, carrot cake harvest powerbar, salad, cheese lasagne, 1st amendment lager, klondike crunch bar

sleep:
KOA campground, $8

thoughts:
today was just a warm up. bring the pain. tomorrow is the real deal- 10,500 - 11,500 foot pass (depending on which local you ask). i'm going with the 10,500. we're sleeping at about 6,600 here in town- again that elevation was up for dispute but we're going with that. but that's tomorrow, i'm getting ahead of myself.

today was nice. it was quick and it was dry. gee, how simple can that be? do you need to know more than that? you could see your breath and the ground had frost- it wasn't as hot as we thought it would be in central utah. but it wasn't raining and the sky was open and blue. some very small whispy clouds reinforced our happiness for a dry day. it started out with bacon and hashbrowns in town and i was going to drive the first section. so relax, no need to kick start the day. sit back, enjoy and power up all the gadgets.

why not get a haircut? sure, its only past due about 3 weeks and it's gonna be hot, i know it is. so i went to the hair dresser, walked in (after lifting the door so it wouldn't drag on the floor), closed the door, and looked at a mother and daughter duo looking straight at me. "can we help you?" before i continue, i did ask about a barber shop before going here but jesse (the barber) is out of town- and they couldn't tell me exactly why, if it was business or pleasure. anyway, here i was at the 'salon' and i told them i wanted to get a haircut. the mother was cutting someones hair and the daughter (that had sons and daughters of her own) was just sitting there. the mother looks over at her daughter and asks her (as if i wasn't there), "do you have any appointments this morning, can you check the reservations?"

ok wait- reservations? this was too much. she's sitting around at 8:30 in the morning and she has to check if she has reservations before she can spend 5 minutes to shave my head? my reaction was to immediately ask how much does a haircut cost... here? usually with a reservation the price goes up. i wasn't going to explain that it's going to be under a helmet all day. $13, and yes they had a slot open. i saw the book, and it had one person penciled in for the entire day- for both of them.

then they started talking about how they pronounce words differently in central utah because the skooling isn't az good az the ones in seedar citi (cedar city). i didn't ask, and i didn't really want to know this but it may come in handy you never know-- i was outta there in five minutes.

so you would think that if you're on the same road all day it would be hard to loose a cyclist since nobody else is cycling these roads. that's what i though until i lost my dad. some of the roads are not marked and instead of continuing straight they turn but keep the same number. anyway, i get to thomas and he was waiting to see if i knew if he was on the correct route (again, they are unmarked). i thought he was- but then he told me bill was behind him and i hadn't seen him. hmmm, that doesn't sound right. so we figured thomas was on the right track and he went on his way. i started to triangulate between towns about 3 - 6 miles apart (10 - 30 minutes by bike). and then looking down roads that i knew were wrong but he could be down and need a ride back. so the time i'm spending driving around this grand countryside (the upside- i saw a hell of a lot), is time he could be moving in another direction. plus i have thomas going forward and following other roads that could be off the route- usually the van is scouting ahead. i turned on the radio- that always helps the situation. 60s and 70s music station. so i return to the route and there he is. he had gone into a post office off the main street in one of the small towns. whew- ok they were both on track. it did feel a little like herding cattle.

so when we got to sevier we switched out and i started to ride. it was smooth and slightly up hill (about 1,000 feet of climbing from richfield to panguitch). but it was fast, and so was thomas. he was cruising and i was playing catch up. i guess those new shoes are working! we averaged 19mph all the way into town.

then we decided to take a chunk out of tomorrows ride and do another 16 miles. why? well, tomorrow is the largest climb we've done yet. it's from 6,600 - 10,500 and 32 miles long. that's a good climb. and in the morning it will be chilly which makes it harder to warm up. so 16 is half way and it also happens to be the main attraction (panguitch lake). half way in distance, not necessarily elevation. the story we heard is that the lake is at 6,700- no wait, its 8,500- no it's 9,900. the locals sure do know what they're talking about. i think its about 8,000. but that's just my guess after going up. its hard to judge because its not just a straight climb- over the course of 16 miles you have some steep 7% climbs and then some low 3% climbs and some rolling hills and some down hills. if you think the down hills make it easier they don't - that only means that you need to climb that elevation again! so if we gained 1,300 overall we might have really climbed 1,700. which leaves us with 2,500 that could be 3,500. confusing? maybe, but what it boils down to is that its a huge mountain that has fresh snow on the top and we have to do the rest tomorrow morning. i'll tell you how it goes. it also means we have 16 miles less to do since we started today.

the terrain has really begun to change. the rock formations and colorations are more like the south west - obviously, since we are headed south west. but its interesting to see the change at such a slow pace. i think i mentioned this before but its the difference in seeing the first cactus today along the road (mile 23). it was small but it's the start of a new vegetation. all the trees are shorter and rougher, and there are many more bushes than trees. it's dryer and rockier.

and its the small things that make the difference. the shower head is above armpit level. isn't that the bomb? so sweet. and a dry floor outside the shower. heaven.

the moon is huge tonight and hanging low just above the canyon walls creating an outline of the landscape. it looks like a cartoon cutout. a western or roadrunner scene. the sky is clear- crystal. the stars are pinpoints of connect the dots and the air is cool. hopefully the indicators of a snow free night. my thoughts are in DC. you can see the moon there too.

tim joins us tomorrow afternoon. i hope he doesn't kick my ass too bad.