June 19, 2019
Panguitch - Bryce National Park, Utah
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Elevation gain 1,738 feet. Elevation descent 414 feet.
Despite the huge climb in the elevation profile above, today is going to be our last easy day for a couple. We have some tough, tough climbing coming up through Escalante and Boulder. I have already given myself permission to walk. When you look at our total mileage and think this isn't much of a tour, you are totally wrong. The climbing is the first consideration. I've very happy we have the short mileage days in there to help compensate.
The scenery on this trip is hugely varied between red rocks and mountain top pines. We had one less attractive day by Tuba City, but even then there were many wild flowers.
It's 48 degrees and sunny outside. The guys are gone to breakfast. I'm eating oatmeal in the room because Oren just bought me a ten pack and I need to reduce the weight.
My morning is looking up because Oren adjusted my bicycle brakes. We agreed after the wet downhill into Brian Head, our brakes were mushy. Jacinto didn't temper his brakes as much/at all, since he was on dry roads instead of riding across ball bearings made of ice! My brake pads were new for the trip. I just looked at them. The tips, where they are toed in, are worn down. I will need a new set for Canada.Now Oren has worked on them, the brake levers feel firm again.
Jacinto has a new wheel coming from Sugar Wheel Works, a new Sella Anatomica saddle, new headphones, and a new pair of padless bike shorts. It's going to be a bicycle rider Christmas in July when he gets home. Me? I have those Anti Fatigue tablets on the way. I hope they really are magic.
I'm drinking V-8 juice with my oatmeal. Touring sure makes for strange food combinations and habits in general. Things that wouldn't fly at home are just fine on the road . . . . rules are relaxed on bodily functions and cleanliness . . . definitely on clothes cleanliness . . .
I told Jacinto I rode within spitting distance of Oren all day. Literally. I figured out that I should ride slightly to the left to stay outside of spitting distance as Oren always spits to the right. See the things you learn about people when traveling with them?
Oren says a definite yes to strange habits, such as me making a potty stop in the (large) landscaping rocks in an industrial area outside of Cedar City.
OK - I should shower and get on with my morning. Oren is packed and ready to go when they finish breakfast.
Later - today was a fast, easy day. Just what my legs ordered. We had a muscle
loosening seven mile warm up to the turn. Once we made the turn, someone turned on the traffic switch. All the sudden it seemed every car in the state was on our road. Luckily traffic dissipated after a few miles. Then it was a nice gentle climb the entire distance. I might have gotten in the granny gear once or twice. There was a bike path that started in the area of Red Canyon. It looked very nice with smooth black pavement. It also followed the contours of the terrain. We had a sufficient shoulder and traffic was reasonable in this area so we stayed on the road until we came to road construction. There was a giant line of cars. The bike path was delightfully free. We hoped over and rode on that to past the construction. Oren had warned me we would have a tunnel to ride through, but we missed it. An advantage to the construction was that the cars passed us in clumps. Then we would be traffic free for another five minutes before more cars passed. There was sufficient shoulder. We were good riding on the road.
I was enjoying the sunshine and blue skies. No more hail for me, thank you. My brakes are perfectly adjusted. I’m good for the rest of the trip.
I was most pleased to discover we did not have any serious climbing all the way to the top. That is just fine with me. Oren and I agreed to stop at the Subway at the intersection of 12 and 63.. we got there in no time. I wasn’t hungry, but we had time to kill. I seriously doubt we will be able to check in early at Bryce.
We both noticed an increase in price on our typical items. I thought about getting Jacinto a sandwich, but figured he could buy his own. We had hardly sat down when a tour bus pulled up and disgorged Asian riders. They thought our bikes were quite the thing. They didn’t speak English, but we had quite an audience while we prepared to leave. I felt like a famous someone as I pulled away with an admiring audience.
I ate just half of my salad. Oren pointed out we would be climbing the rest of the way to Bryce. I didn’t want to be belching Subway salad all the way. I carried half, not really expecting it to arrive in edible condition.
We had four gentle uphill miles to Bryce. Oren’s magical senior pass got us in for free again. I sure wish we had been into that at the Grand Canyon. We pulled clear to the side of the road beyond the red line. Red line? That means bus parking. A ranger pulled over and asked us to move so the bus wouldn’t run us over. One, we were on the far side of the line and two, the bus would see us. But we continued on. It was perhaps a mile from the gate to our lodge. We took Sunset Point turn and around to the lodging.
Here the people walking around look very active. Almost everyone has hiking boots, poles, and a backpack and looked like they really used the equipment. At the Grand Canyon there were buses full of people who didn’t appear to exercise at all.
Jacinto called from the general store. Where should he go? We had checked in several
Times with the nice clerk, Marco. He was nice, but our cabin wasn’t clean. Check back. The last time
Oren checked, Marco said 2:00. We went with Jacinto to the pizza place. He ordered a salad and it took forever to arrive. But it was a great looking salad. At 2:30 Jacinto decided to stop eating or he wouldn’t be hungry for supper. We are on the way now to see if we can get into the cabin.
Oren walked past our cabin several times during thre afternoon, checking on cleaning progress, or lack there of. By the time we are able to check in at 3 Pm he was quite sure that our cabin was already clean and they weren’t letting us in. But now we’re there. We have a $257. cabin with two queen beds in one room. It’s oir most expensive lodging of the trip. A one queen room was $233., so this was a deal in comparison. It’s our closest quarters shared lodging. By now we are pretty friendly.
Marilyn had said to be sure and eat the buffet here. We were all ready. Oren checked if we need reservations. Nope. But be there at 5 sharp because they get busy. We were all ready for the buffet. Guess what? Breakfast buffet and lunch buffet, but dinner is from the menu. It was pricy. I expected Jacinto to go into shock. He didn’t. The food was delicious. I had a vegetarian stuffed poblano pepper that was mouth watering. I then finished the meal off with a $14. Piece of six layer carrot cake. It was dry and cold. Rather a disappointment after the excellent meal. That didn’t keep me from eating it all.
I waddled outside after dinner. We went directly to the canyon to take in the views. Jacinto and Oren hiked down to the hole. I watched from the top for a long time and then went back to the room. I discovered the ice machine on the way. Because everyone needs ice in their bottles when the starting temperature is 50 degrees?
We are having the buffet in the morning. We have a long ride to Escalante tomorrow. Wind is supposed to be 15-25 mph quartering tailwind. Oren and I plan to get out as soon as we can. Jacinto usually stays until they kick him out of the room. Perhaps not tomorrow.
We’ve heard many different languages spoken here. Some we recognize, some we don’t. There are plenty of fit looking people here. Oren says we didn’t see the fit people at the Grand Canyon because the trail wasn’t right at the lodge.
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Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 731 miles (1,176 km)
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