Time flies when you’re…going uphill all day(s)
It’s been a while, and a lot has happened! Currently in Salt Lake City at the end of a second much needed rest day. I joked with John the other morning over coffee that I still woke up today to everything being sore. Ultimately we decided on a third night in SLC and then taking the bus up to Park City for $5 rather than spend 1, maybe 2 days climbing 5,000’ to get back onto the route. So we spent a night at the very very nice Park City Hostel and visited the local dive bar, Oh Shucks, which was a pretty great time. Bar back Josh, you had a killer 90s alt-rock playlist haha. “Flagpole Sitter” was definitely the highlight.
We’ve had our share of adventures in the last ::insert correct number of days::…. John’s reroute around the snowed-socked Skyline Drive took us up, down and up again to Ferron, where we popped in for pizza and ended up with an invitation to camp in a couple’s yard that turned into crashing in their living room and being treated to a full breakfast of French toast, eggs, bacon, and fresh rhubarb courtesy of the delightful Robert. I think my favorite story about him is how he likes to ride his bike in jeans and cowboy boots, which, it turns out, catch the pedals just right. And how a friend of his kept trying to convince him to adopt other cycling apparel, even offering to buy him sneakers and shorts, but he remains unswayed that there could be a better way. Robert and LuAnn, thank you!
After that we headed back up into the Manti-La Sal National Forest where we eventually did hit a couple miles of snow and mud, and one icy but thankfully short knee-deep stream crossing. We camped at a NF campground at around 9500’ and had a frigid descent the next morning into town, complete with falling snow. We thawed out in a diner in Fairview before continuing north along 89. Though we were descending, we fought headwinds all day. Eventually we had to get on highway 6 which was terrible, so we bailed onto nearby railroad tracks for a few miles before hopping on a dirt road that passed through a wind farm, after which we had to hoist our bikes over a fence before rolling into Spanish Fork. After a food truck dinner, we made it to a KOA campground with showers in Provo. The next day was almost entirely bike paths along the Jordan River into Salt Lake where we were spoiled by Warmshowers hosts Austin and Elyse. We spent the next day giving our bikes some much-needed cleaning, and I spent way too many hours taking apart and cleaning my right shifter which had nearly stopped working entirely. Now it is almost as good as new! The next morning we had two rounds of handmade tacos at this cafe, went shopping at Trader Joe’s, stopped by a bike shop (Cranky’s) for some essential items and generally lazed about before spending a night at an Airbnb, which was of course located at the very top of a great big hill on the north side of town. The next morning we got up early, rolled down to the bus station, missed the first bus but lucked out with the second one and the extremely helpful driver Jorge who managed to get both of our very loaded bikes stowed safely on the bus and up the mountain to Kimball Junction.
Today we are going to try to make it to Evanston, WY, which is about 80 miles but should be doable.
