Potash Road or the La Sal Loop?: 1,000 or 6,000 feet of climbing? Time to decide.

June 26, 2019

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797 elevation gain. 801 elevation descent.

I had no one to consult this morning but myself about departure time. Jacinto was going to ride the La Sal Loop, but was not planning to leave early. He likes the heat and the wind must not bother him enough to get up early. Since I don't care for either heat or wind, I'm up at 6 AM and was off by 7:30. It was already 66 degrees and felt quite warm.

I had RWGPS all programed to lead me out of town. I found the Potash Road route by looking at the Moab Skinny Tire Festival routes. This one was the easiest. Since it's my tenth riding day in a row, I was in totally in for easy cruising. I had a little trouble plotting the route. I wanted to start at my motel, not the festival's start location. Then RWGPS didn't want to get off of the bike path as their route showed. End of story is that I decided I could be brave and figure it out on the spot. I did not do what their routing showed either. What I did was stay on the bike path until the exact moment I saw the turn for Highway 297 (Potash Road). At that moment, the bike path was separated from the roadway by posts, so it was easy to get on the roadway and make a left turn onto Potash Road.

One attraction to this route, besides being flat, is that it's advertised as low traffic. Moab is a hip, happening town. There are LOTS of people out and about, doing recreational activities. The people in the streets and stores look fit and active. The vehicles on the street are ' go play' sorts of vehicles - lots of 4x4's and vehicles pulling trailers filled with toys. Jacinto drives an Audi wagon. We were visiting Mexican friends and the husband said in astonishment, "That's your car? You drive a wagon? I thought it was Kelly's?" It was a foreign concept to him that a wagon is a desirable guy vehicle because you can fill the back with skis, snowshoes, hiking boots, etc. To him, a wagon transports kids.

I had plenty of time for my mind to wander today, with riding solo and being on a low traffic road. Laugh if you will, but a frequent thought is about finding a potty stop. I was just reading Rod Martin's journal where his wife went up and asked a lady working in her yard if she could use the restroom. I would never, ever do that. It would be out of my comfort zone, to ask a strange to go in their house. I just find a bush. Or a rock. Or a guardrail. We all have our own comfort levels. Sometimes, after I've been on the road awhile, perhaps my modesty meter is not modest enough. Oren got quite a kick out of my hiding behind some very large landscaping rocks at a factory complex outside of Cedar City. I don't usually like to go in a convenience store because I feel obligated to buy something, even if I don't need it. Plus I have to leave my bike and it takes more time. I told Oren, I just like to pee and go . . . .

A pee spot today had the added attraction of a lizard who must have thought he was hiding from me by holding still. I was able to go back for my phone, and take several photos, each one closer than the last. He never did run, although he was doing push ups. In Spanish, lizard is how you say push ups.

I had no idea what I was getting in for on this road, besides a ride along the river. It was one last beautiful day. What a great finish to the tour. There were a number of camping spots. I even saw one group of tents set up that had a genuine living room sofa outside. I didn't look fast enough to see if they had an area rug also . . . . There were sign for hiking trails to several arches and some petroglyphs. Despite the potential activity, there were few cars.

I had emptied my panniers at the motel. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't feel the difference in weight going down the road. I didn't weigh my gear this year, but my goal weight for several years has been ten pounds and I believe I was in that range this trip. I guess not enough to be noticeable. When parking my bike, it was much easier to swing the rear end around.

The mile markers counted down to 1, then the state highway ended at a potash mine and a county road started. I turned around here. Wind had been variable - I started out with a headwind, but also had a headwind when I turned around. Later it was a nice tailwind pushing me along. It wasn't noticeable enough to make a difference. Let's see how Jacinto's ride goes and what he thinks about the wind. Of course he did the big climbing ride. I told him to take photos, it's supposed to be beautiful.

I was thinking about food on my way back to town. I could stop and buy a quesadilla at the food truck we ate at last night. It's on the way to the motel. Or I could shower first, then go back. You would laugh at me if you knew how many miles I spent trying to make that choice.

End of decision was stopping at the food truck on the way. I ordered two quesadillas. That way I could get really full and Jacinto would eat any leftovers. I had just taken the edge off of my appetite when I had a couple ask me about my bike. They were from Virginia Beach. The man used to be a big bike rider, doing century rides, but hadn't ridden much in the past year because of back troubles. He had bought a trike, but no one in his area rides one and he felt like an old man. I assured them that trikes were all the thing now in the recumbent world, that he was ahead of the trend. The lady answered that fads seem to start in the west and move east. In the meanwhile, he seemed interested in a two wheeled recumbent. I told them to look at Craigslist for a good deal.

I carefully loaded the boats holding the quesadillas in my empty pannier and proceeded to the motel. It was nice to go straight to the room and not have to worry about being able to get in. I rather like having a base to tour out of. That's what we ended up doing the second part of our Arizona trip this winter. The only risk is being too lazy to go out. With a point to point tour, I've got to ride or I won't have a place to stay at night. I'm not too lazy to ride - but sometimes I am too lazy to do a big ride. Today is the perfect example. Probably I should have done the giant climb that Jacinto is doing. Certainly my legs are in shape. But . . . . I went for the cruise. And I'm fine with that. Tomorrow I will have a day off while we drive home. We have a week off before we head to Canada. I am hoping that Canada has a big dry spell while we are there.

Notice that we didn't have a single flat tire. Jacinto had the bad wheel. Oren and I both had mushy brakes after ten miles of downhill in the hail. We did well with the bikes. We were fortunate with the wind. There were a few spots of headwind, but none of the stop you in your tracks sort of stuff. Now that it's done, the hail was a good story. At the time it wasn't so fun . . . .

Thanks for following along. This has been a good tour. It was even better after my legs got in the game.

Edit - Jacinto reported that the La Sal Loop was very tough, even unloaded. There was not as much new pavement as I thought, he said just one section although the rest of the pavement was acceptable. I was surprised that the mountain goat commented that he was happy to be able to say he's done this ride, but wouldn't do it again because it's too hard. Jacinto kept saying he couldn't believe how tough it was unloaded. I think riding ten days in a row had something to do with it and also his continued butt issues. Jacinto has been riding with a pair of street shorts under a pair of bike shorts. I would think the wrinkles and folds of the regular shorts would cause a problem. Jacinto says no, and it's his butt. But still . . . we have a pair of compression shorts waiting at home and also a new seat. I thought this seat would be reasonably good as at least it was a known seat from his other bike. That seems less risky than taking the new Sella Anatomica to Canada. Perhaps with a week off the bike and the new shorts and new seat, his butt will get happier. Jacinto's usual solution to a sore butt is to stand up more.

Speaking of standing up, I think it's pretty tough on the bike. We had checked our chains before leaving on this trip. Jacinto carried the chain checker with him. His chain went from being just fine to both sides of the chain checker slipping into the link spaces. The mechanic said it might take a bit for the new chain and his cassette to mate, as the chain was very worn. Jacinto said the 11 tooth was slipping yesterday. Which was quite annoying . . . so, in 1,000 miles his chain went from just fine to past time to replace.

View from the bicycle bridge heading out of town.

I wonder if the Colorado River is higher than usual? All of the rivers around home are running high.

OK, Bill - I finally got a lizard shot for you. He looks pretty ordinary. I had been seeing lizards with dull orange bodies and a gray head . . .

Riding a bicycle really gives a feel to the massive walls.

Taken from the same spot, looking back. The sun makes the walls look totally different.

Oren found that pool noodle for me before Hanksville. It's only a part of a noodle, so doesn't stick out the full three feet.

A bicycle weather vane close to town. I wonder if it really rotates around?

Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,048 miles (1,687 km)

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