CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
I spent the entire day in one motor vehicle or another, the price you pay for bicycle touring...
After a van ride from Cedar City to St. George, I jumped in my car and drove to Denver--a toll worth paying after a great week on the bike. While motoring through the Utah desert, I even got to speak to T for the first time after a long web flirtation (it went well!).
CDs listened to today:
Last day of the bicycle tour today.
We rode from Bryce Canyon to Cedar City, UT over the Cedar Breaks National Monument and it turned out to be one of the most physically difficult days I've spent on the bike in a while. The morning was chilly, but tolerable, and we got to pass through the Red Canyon again. This time, I skipped the bicycle path and rode down via the highway--and got to go through the little arch cut into the rock fin on the highway! The bad news was that once we left the canyon, the wind rose up and I had to ride uphill 50 miles or so into a howling headwind. It was a long, slow grind and the majority of riders in our tour surrendered to the conditions and took a shuttle van for part of the ride. I can't blame them, but it was a reward to reach the picnic stop and be the subject of admiration from those who didn't ride.
The Cedar Breaks has a summit of around 10,000 feet and is capped by another colorful, striped canyon that may not be a match for Bryce, but is still worth a visit. On the way up, there are more ancient lava flows splitting the Aspen stands and meadows, the iron-gray rocks splattered with bright green lichen patches. The high altitude made things a hair chilly, but immediately at the beginning of the descent, the wind rose up behind me and things warmed up to make for a screaming downhill into town. A fine finish!
Here's a view of the autumn Aspens on the ascent to Cedar Breaks:
(click to see a larger image)
I finally got to see Bryce Canyon today.
After a slow-moving morning around our campsite, I took a bus up to one of the main "hiking" trails inside the famed canyon (is it really "hiking" when half the trail is paved and the steep parts have handrails?). Even the simplest of trails dive deep into the hoodoos and other weird stone formations, including natural bridges and narrow aisles between the enormous fins of rock that appears to melt right before your eyes. As I finished my stroll (a couple of miles walking), it began to rain, adding to that melting idea, but encouraging me to hop the next bus back to camp rather than slip on to another path.
It turned out I made the right choice not to keep walking around. The rain I encountered evolved into a thunderstorm and some of the other folks on the tour had gone riding into the park, only to be caught in a heavy hailstorm that covered the road in ice. They told me that there were quite a few motorcyclists in the park--and it turns out that motorcycles can't ride on hail, so they saw multiple spills. I, however, was snug in my tent napping and reading--except for one call from work!
(click to see a larger image)
I had an incredible day on the bike today.
We rode from Springdale, UT to Bryce Canyon National Park and it was a rare thing, filled with scenery and weather. We rode back through Zion National Park and the tunnel in the morning--the slower pace of the uphill ride in the park allowed me to see the slot canyons, bizarre mesas, wildlife, and red-dyed road at my leisure. I got to stop with some of the tour group in a tiny town for pie at a place that bills their product as "Ho-Made Pie", complete with t-shirts bearing the slogan (yes, I think that, even in Utah, they know it's a bit risqué).
After a second breakfast of pie, we encountered another touring company (Backroads this time) making a lighter distance. Their staff shared chicken fajitas with me--far better fare than our own tour's! As I left the picnic spot, we started to see a little rain on the following climb. And as I ascended, it became an icy rain (turns out, we were well above 7,000 feet for most of the rainstorm which is not the place to be in September!).
What a glorious thing the ride in the mountain rain was! I chose to ignore what the other riders were doing and not don my jacket for most of the deluge, but as we reached the summit and I stopped at a gas station for a little snack, I cooled off as I munched and put on the jacket for the terrifically cold descent to follow. I instantly lost feeling in my hands and legs on the brief descent, but the rain promptly cleared and there I was, barreling along the flats at 25 miles an hour, riding no hands as I stripped off the sloppy wet windbreaker. The Midwesterner I was riding with was speechless that I had gone so long without rain gear, then was flummoxed by how I made the jacket disappear so quickly without stopping. I really felt like I was at my peak as a rough, tough cyclist in these conditions.
The afternoon warmed quickly as the rainclouds passed and the ride to Bryce Canyon was spent nursing my legs, stiff from the cold and tired from the long climbs. And ahead was a sunny reward in the unexpected ride through the Red Canyon, something of a preview for Bryce Canyon. We rose out of the desert, an ancient lava flow on the left, exited to a bike path next to the highway, and suddenly we were in a small canyon of red stone hoodoos and strange stone formations. I was chagrined to see that one of the rock "fins" had a tunnel cut into it for the highway to pass through--I so wanted to ride through that! We actually arrived at the entrance to the park, but the hour was late and I certainly couldn't risk missing dinner, so I have yet to see Bryce Canyon. If the preview holds, what a day it should be tomorrow!
I didn't ride today, which always gives me mixed feelings when I'm on bike tours.
After a lazy morning and a stroll into Springdale (I was hoping to find a camping pillow I liked) and learning the town lacks charm, I took the park shuttle bus up the restricted Virgin River road. As I mentioned, the canyon there is the centerpiece of Zion National Park and every recommendation I saw was that the hike to Angel's Landing was the best in the area. I'm a little embarrassed to say I couldn't finish it!
It seems that the final part of the hike is over an exposed, narrow ridge where the Park Service has added handholds because the drop on either side of the slimmest part of the trail is about 2,000 feet. How narrow is it? To my eye, it looked like it was less than five feet wide and steep enough to require one to clamber with hands as well as feet. I have a fear of heights that made the first tricky section (next to what looked like a 600-foot drop) to Scout Lookout more than enough to tell me I couldn't finish the more exposed part of the trail. I was terrified, but waited until I was past the first scary part to decide to quit!
Here's a view from Scout Lookout. The narrow ridge to the left is the trail and there is no reason for a sensible hiker to traverse that!
(click to see a larger image)
Arrival at Zion National Park today!
Today's ride was mostly uphill after yesterday's descents, arriving at the south entrance of the park (which is spectacular, if not the more famous part). The middle of the park is an ancient highway tunnel where bicycles are banned, so I had a long wait by the side of the road while I waited for the tour van to shuttle me through. A competing company was also collecting its riders at the same spot and they were making it their snack stop (I think they were riding less than half our distance, so our stop was much earlier). This was Bicycle Adventures, so I went to say hello and they immediately started pressing drinks, fruit, and snacks on me! Most touring companies will feed stray non-guest riders out on the road--partly for the good vibes cycling brings, and I suspect partly as good promotional juju. They even had Mexican Coca-Cola (with real sugar, not corn syrup)!
After the tunnel, I got a nice speedy descent and then I took a little detour off the route and rode the seven miles up the park's Virgin Canyon, which is restricted and has little motorized traffic. The road is dyed red to match the enormous canyon's rocks (this is the centerpiece of the park, this part of the canyon) and it was worth the small effort!
Here's the view from near the tunnel:
(click to see a larger image)
Today, I got the first day of real bicycle touring in a couple of years. What a treat!
We started at the chilly North Rim as a herd of deer wandered through the empty campsites and spent the better part of the day gradually descending the high plateau of the Grand Canyon, ending the ride just over the border in Utah. I'm sure the scenery today wasn't the best we'll see on the ride, but I'm more than happy to say it was a sincere pleasure to roll over this country, ending in a cozy small town (Kanab, UT) that claims to be "Little Hollywood" for it's history of hosting crews filming movie Westerns.
Here's a view from the Kaibab Plateau, looking toward the Vermilion Cliffs (Kanab's just on the other side, I figure):
(click to see a larger image)
I'm at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon today.
Our campsite is on "The Transept", one of the deep feeder canyons that intersect the main Colorado River section of the Grand Canyon. It's spectacular, and as I walked back from dinner last night, the moonlight made the lighter rocks in the canyon walls seem to glow as the darker bands of stone receded in darkness. I'm told we're at 8,000 feet and there is a touch of autumn in the morning, so I snoozed, then rode my bike to Imperial Point (mostly uphill) for a nice stretch of the legs and a new view. We are having our breakfasts and lunches at the North Rim lodge, which sits on the very edge of the canyon. Crowds gather at the lodge's patio for sunrise and sunset, but I found the full moon even better!
Here's a photo of the view roughly 20 yards from my tent (funny thing: I just can't find room to complain!):
(click to see a larger image)
Today we shuttled with bicycles and gear from St. George to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Five hours in a cramped passenger van with strangers, but pleasant enough. As always with these things, there's a lot of waiting around as the tour staff collect guests from hotels, airports, other cities... I stood around with quite a lot of others in the Albertson's parking lot, wondering why we were driven roughly three blocks and made to wait rather than be allowed to snooze in my motel room, but these tour companies always have this amusing need to gather the low-hanging fruit first: the guests who are at a designated pick-up point on time. Then they schlep around looking for the exceptions, rather than vice versa!
The thing is, my vacation mind-set is in full effect and because the day is given to schlepping (it says so in the brochure), I am completely at ease with the delays and the waits. Ah... I love travel...
I'm penning today's entry a bit after the fact.
I made a rather messy miscalculation regarding my vacation! It turns out I kept thinking I needed to arrive in St. George, UT by mid-day Sunday. Totally clever, considering the actual date for the shuttle was Saturday. For some reason, I never bothered to actually read the stupid bike tour itinerary and made the foolish assumption that they would schedule it the same way as every other tour: giving the happy campers an open Saturday to arrive. Stupid!
So that meant I had to call my boss at the last minute Thursday and explain I had to take today as vacation and hurriedly pack (OK not as quickly as I shoulda)--then drive to Utah! By the time I actually got organized, I was starting a 14-hour drive at 2 in the afternoon... I imagine the drive would have been shorter if I hadn't had to stop and buy a towel when I remembered I hadn't brought one, a better choice than forgetting it entirely! So I got to St. George at 3 AM, barely conscious (I would have got there sooner if I hadn't felt the need to pull over a couple of times and doze), but I'm ready to ride!
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
CDs listened to today:
