June 15, 2019
Enterprise - Cedar City, Utah
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1,923 elevation gain. 1,484 elevation descent.
I don't have a good enough internet connection to add a map. I will have to do it in Cedar City.
The last two motels have had rubber mattress protectors under the sheets. I understand why owners do this, but it certainly makes for an uncomfortable night's sleep. I kept rolling around all night to dry off the sweat. They had great pillows though. I like soft and squishy.
The birds are chirping outside and the sky is blue. It is 62 degrees. I've looked forward at the weather for the next couple of days. It says thunder storms in Cedar City tomorrow. We don't care as we are taking a rest day to give our legs the advantage for the killer climb into Brian Head. However, it looks like those thunder storms are lingering. I was whining yesterday about a headwind on the climb. Thunder storms would be worse! I had to do a little deep breathing to calm myself when I saw that. It's a few days away. Hopefully the forecast will change.
It looks like a beautiful, easy day today. Too easy for Jacinto. He's found an extra ten miles taking the long route.
1 PM - here we sit in the lobby, waiting for our rooms to be cleaned. That's just fine. We are here. 80 degrees and the sky is clouding over. The forecast says rain for the next three days. We are hoping the storm moves out before Monday. It would be just miserable climbing to Brians Head in the rain . . .
We ate breakfast in the room. No need to go back to that delicious restaurant. I had my usual oatmeal. Jacinto had a giant container of leftovers from all three of our meals last night. He might have enough left for lunch when he gets here. But he's taking an extra loop around town, plus he didn't leave until 10. That tracking feature on Strava is handy.
We were taking a cut off road today, Bench Road. I speculated that the locals would take it as the quick way to get to Cedar City and potentially would be driving too fast and it would be an unpleasant road. The other choice was five extra miles and 300 feet less of climbing. Jacinto went that way because he wanted more miles. Oren and I took Bench Road and it was delightful. That is the first non highway we've had the entire trip. There just aren't many roads out here in the wild west. Bench Road lasted eight miles. Oren wanted to detour into Newcastle to see what it looked like. There was a small yellow brick post office and a service station. I think Oren would have stopped at the service station, but we had only been on the road one easy hour and had already taken a bush stop on Bench Road. I said I'd stop if he wanted to. Little did I know that was the last time Oren would desire to stop the entire day. He was a man driven. We stayed together, but only because I yelled at him when I wanted to stop.
Today was a pretty day. It reminded me of home, with cows and hay, green fields, mountains in the background. Sagebrush. Colorado sort of scenery. I would have taken a photo or two, but I could hardly keep up with Oren as it was. He didn't stop at all. For nothing. Well, he did stop when we hit the road construction because there was a stoplight with one way traffic out in the middle of nowhere. He had to stop for that. We ended up deciding we could go on the right side of the barrels and stay out of the traffic. That was perfect for the entire distance. We are lucky we went through here on a Saturday. That was right at the top of the long climb. I did stop for a summit photo since there was a sign to mark the accomplishment. I'd say 95% of the climb was a middle chain ring with the rest being granny gear. It was long, but not too hard. If the climb to Brian Head were only so easy. You can tell that climb is heavy on our minds. Jacinto and I looked at it last night and Oren and I looked at it again today.
At mile 35, I found a quirt. Ah, ha! I could make a 3' warning sign of my own using the quirt instead of an umbrella. I rigged up my bandana on the end of the quirt and off I went. It was sticking out so far, I could see the bandana flapping out of the corner of my eye. I didn't like it. I stuck my arm out, the quirt did not extend past that. So I knew that it wasn't sticking out more than the 'allow cyclists 3 feet rule'. I still felt as if I were taking up more than my share of space. Perhaps two cars passed me before I disassembled my version of the pool noodle. I left the quirt obviously on the shoulder of the road and texted Jacinto where it was. I bet he picks it up.
Later - Yes, Jacinto came riding into town with the quirt sticking straight up, flag style. He maintains he's going to keep it in case a dog attacks.
We had a nice swooping downhill, the sort where it's not necessary to touch the brakes. Just sit on the bike with a silly smile and give away all of that hard sweat earned elevation. I did manage to keep up with Oren on this section. I think it's gravity - I weigh more.
I asked Oren what was next. I was so busy thinking about our big 5,000 foot climbing day that I hadn't paid any attention to today. The climb we had today was a surprise. Oren said we had one more climb into town. As we came down the hill, Cedar City was visible in the distance. It sure didn't look like a climb. I did spend some time speculating just where 14 heads up into the mountains.
I had to pee. Like that was all I could think about. Things were getting busier, with more cars and buildings, but no service station. There was a wide irrigation ditch next to the road with lots of big plants, but I couldn't hide behind them because of the ditch. Finally there was a big factory with giant rocks at the entrance. I couldn't see any people around, just parked cars. I could hide in the rocks. I yelled at Oren and parked my bike. I felt so much better after! Irony abound, we hadn't gone another mile down the road when Oren pulled in to a Subway for lunch. Sure, let's eat it is noon, after all.
Subway was busy with several large families. We were in no hurry. I checked on Jacinto, he was at Pinto Road. I wish Strava would give mileages and even elevation profiles with their tracking. Unless you are familiar with the area, it's difficult to say just where a rider is.
We had another mile to the motel. We passed all sorts of fast food places. Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, etc. Then a longish section of other businesses and make a right to the motel. No luck on checking in early. The clerk said it was a full house last night. Here we sit in the lobby using their lightning fast wi-fi and killing time. The only down side is that I'm starting to smell myself and my clothes are getting cold and clammy.
We have a layover day tomorrow so our legs will be rested for the big climb. Gulp. I have an aunt and cousin who live here. We have a lunch date tomorrow. It's Father's Day. We are in Mormon Land. I hope eating out isn't too crazy . . . there's a Chinese buffet just down from the motel. I think that's where we are going for dinner tonight.
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Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 636 miles (1,024 km)
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