June 28, 2014
Day 22: Hot, hot, hot
Today was a weird day. For those of you on my SPOT, no, we are not super human, but I'll get to that.
We were up and out super early to beat the heat, and were on the road by 5am. It was a pretty morning, not too hot, and we made excellent time. The first half of the ride is mostly uphill, but very pretty. I felt good but Leo was still feeling some effects from whatever infection he has that keeps lingering.
Well, as the day went on it got hotter and hotter, I still felt pretty good, but I sensed Leo dragging a bit, and especially near the end of the ride. At that point I was climbing stronger (which isnt normal) so I hung back to ride his pace, in case he needed anything. Having once gotten a case of heat exhaustion/dehydration in the desert, I know the importance of sticking together, team like.
...so we were slogging along, and kept moving, until about 5 miles left to go, when it was likely in the mid-90s, and Leo just got off his bike and sat on a rock, which didn't look right. Then, when he got up, he felt a bit dizzy.
So I turned around and saw a car coming, a small SUV with California plates. I waved for it to stop and asked if they could drive Leo to Hite Marina. When they answered I said,
"Is that a French accent?"
"Yes."
What a coincidence! These two woman from near Geneva, Switzerland were happy to take Leo, and even more happy to have someone to speak French with. Leo's bike wouldn't fit in the car so I said I would stay back with both bikes and flag down a pickup truck or camper van for a lift the rest of the way.
A car stopped with an Indian family (not American Indian, India Indian). The bikes wouldn't fit in their car but they gave me some cold water and drove off.
Some motorcyclists zoomed by. Apparently they didn't think it at all odd that one cyclist would be on the side of the road in the middle of empty desert, in heat measuring in the high 90's, standing next to two bikes lying down on the side of the road, because they zoomed by at full speed.
I found a little bush for some shade and sat with my water bottle, and waited, and waited.....for about 20 minutes. Then, down the road from the way we came I saw a cyclist coming, so I thought that at least I could have him send help when he made it to Hite. And while he was riding towards me (from quite a distance), I saw a pickup truck coming from the direction of Hite, with police lights flashing. That had to be for me? If not I could have him send for help.
The cyclist, who turned out to be Jonathan, who I will tell you about later, got there at the same time as the ranger.
"We got word there was a heat emergency," the ranger said.
"I'm fine," I said, and told him what happened.
"Well I wasn't sure because some Indian people came in and said someone had heat stroke. They didn't speak good English. We have a helicopter standing by. Lets load your bikes up and I will call and tell them that everything is okay."
So we loaded up the bikes and I went to climb in the front seat, only to find it packed with crap. So I had to ride in the criminal compartment in the back.
When we got to Hite we looked in the store. There were about 8 cyclists but none of them matched Leo's description. Which concerned me a little because none of them had been to Hite. Where was Leo? (In fact they overshot and went over the river and had to double back).
We eventually found him lying in a picnic table in the shade at the ranger station. The ranger opened the station and we sat inside the air conditioned office, drinking cold water for a while. In the mean time we learned that Ranger Ben (nick named Huggie Bear) had live in England for many years while he was in the air force. After a nice long talk Leo was feeling better and we made our way over to the store, where a very interesting group of cyclists were talking, but I will get to that in a minute.
"Its going to be very hot camping tonight," I said to Leo. "Do you want to hitch a ride to Hanksville?" And he did. The store manager agreed to drive us after closing up the store, which we were grateful for.
Melissa was a very interesting person herself. She moved out from Tennessee to be more independent, but she also speaks fluent Chinese and has spent a lot of time there, she is also a rock climber. We had a really nice chat and were grateful for the ride.
"How about a hotel tonight?" Leo said, since it was almost dark and by this time we were pretty tired.
It's been a long time since I slept so soundly.
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In the mean time, back at the store at Hite, we met the most impressive group of young adults ranging in age from 18-25. They were riding across country "supported", where one would drive and the others ride. Most were engineering students or recent graduates. Three of the woman went to MIT. Several spoke other languages and had traveled abroad. One of the women was the daughter of a diplomat and spoke French with Leo. All were curious, respectful and interested in our trip. They didnt know each other before they left on the ride but seemed l ike a well oiled machine, supportive and cooperative. They were an impressive bunch.
Jonathon was also there. He was the one who I met out on the road. He is riding west like us, and heading back home to Oakland.
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Today's ride: 70 miles (113 km)
Total: 1,283 miles (2,065 km)
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