July 7, 2022
La Sal - Moab, UT
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We agreed to a leisurely departure today, given that it was downhill most of the way, and we would be riding into the heat. The days of our smugly reporting how we needed to wear a jacket to walk to dinner are now gone. My phone said 67 degrees when we left, but I think that is not correct. We all agreed that it felt hot outside. Of course, we've spent five weeks riding in the mountains. Hot to us is anything over 70 degrees. It's going to be a rough adjustment!
We had one mile of gravel road to back track down. None of us were excited about that. It was also uphill. At the corner, we had a continued climb, but on smooth pavement. I have to say, we haven't ridden in Colorado (or Utah) for a few years. Many of the roads that were previously in bad shape have now been paved. We appreciate that.
Climbing today was supposed to be just under 1,000 feet. We were expecting a bombing downhill ride. I wore my ear covers to keep the wind from hurting my ears. This was a 'just what the doctor ordered' sort of downhill. Long, straight, good pavement, little traffic. I tapped the brakes occasionally. My maximum speed was 33.1 mph, which is high for me.
We had 15 miles to the intersection of Highway 191. I wasn't so excited to get there. I could see all of the traffic passing by. We've ridden this road before, there are many cars going many places. Here, it does not appear that gas prices have kept people home. This must be a major truck route. We saw semi trucks, double trucks, wide load trucks. Lots of RV's - you name it, they passed us. Unfortunately, there wasn't much shoulder and what there was had an ill placed rumble strip. We were on 191 for 22 miles. Only the last few miles into town had a wide shoulder. Oren and I have already agreed that we are leaving town very early to try and beat the traffic.
According to ridewithgps, we had over 5,000 feet of descent today. It was indeed a downhill day, but 5,000 is a generous number. How many similar rides have you done? Grand Mesa, near home, is a 5,000 foot descent. I'd have to think of others. It was a payback day, that much is true.
We will have a couple days of busy traffic. The ride from Ridgway all the way to 191 was an ideal bicycling road, provided you are prepared to climb. If you don't mind few services, little traffic, great pavement, and scenic views - this is your ride.
We regrouped at our Quality Inn, then rode together to El Charro Mexican Restaurant. They now serve Chinese food, which threw us for a loop. Oren and I ordered the $10.99 orange chicken special. I think that was an excellent price for Moab. The Blu Pig BBQ across the street has a full rack of ribs for $49.99.
I was concerned about crossing five lanes of traffic to the restaurant and back to the motel. We managed without problem. Thank you to stoplights.
At check in, Oren asked for a ground floor room because he has a bicycle. OK, no comment, and he got a ground floor. The same for me. I was originally assigned a 2nd floor, I requested a change to a ground floor. Then, as we wheeled the bikes in, Oren was told it was a $10. charge per bicycle to put them in the room. Not a deposit, a charge. They aren't muddy mountain bikes, it hasn't even been raining. We all said we would pay. It's interesting that charge wasn't mentioned when we had our credit cards out and were saying why we wanted ground floor rooms. Once, last summer in Michigan, we had to pay a $25. deposit and then have our room checked. I'm fine with that. But, notice that we all paid the extra $10.
Son Luis and his wife, Linnea, have been on vacation. They are picking us up tonight for dinner, and are going to take us to Chicken Corner tomorrow. That worked out well for us, as our lodging is on the far end of town, not convenient to food.
Tomorrow is a scheduled day off. We are approaching the end of our trip, it seems. We do have two weeks left, but that doesn't seem like much time.
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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 1,249 miles (2,010 km)
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2 years ago