USA-Ride Diary

Happy Birthday Mum!
It has been a wee while since we made it to a computer last. We have been travelling through Utah which has some pretty remote places! However, it has easily boasted the most diverse landscapes that we have seen during our journey. In a matter of hours we have travelled through totally barren scenes, some looking like Mars, and some like the Moon (not that I have first hand experiences of either…but you can imagine too), and then on to wide open farmland, through to dense woodland. It really has been a diverse landscape. We have seen plenty more animals too…a great number of deer, some of which we managed to feed apples to. They really were not afraid of humans at all.We have also taken two days off from riding whilst in this state. We have taken time off to visit Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. It was a pleasure to travel to Monument Valley with the Thomas family. I am not even going to attempt to describe what we saw, for no words would do it justice or paint an adequate picture. They were both awesome and well worth the visits. Besides the experiences, I think the fact that we have now woken up twice within a week and not had to pull on lycra cycling shorts has made them that little bit better!! However…we have still been in the lycra, (which I understand, many people wish to see Paul D wearing for a day??…we will see what we can do…but thank you!) and still been making many miles. We have passed through the 2, 800 mile mark, giving us just under 1 000 miles to go! Although, we are currently camped at the edge of Nevada with the temperatures and the emptiness awaiting us. Before I forget to mention it too - we also stopped off at Bryce Canyon. For anyone who has seen the terracota soldiers, it was an incredible canyon resembling them, which had been eroded in such an intricate way. The deep red colour had been with us for lots of the journey through central Utah, most obviously in Red Canyon which was the first part of the whole journey which had been set aside with a bike trail. We met a 72 year-young man out on his bike, putting us all to shame with the speeds he was sitting at! For the most part though, we have been taking in very long climbs, and then very long descents. The longest climb we have made so far has been just over 70 miles long, and the sun decided not to make the matter any easier. As part of a 130 mile day it decided to be as hot as it could all day long. I think the local farmers were in partnership with the sun, because not only was it really hot, but there were cattle grids nice and regularly along the road! Well hidden in the dips, mainly on the steepest part of the downhill, when the brakes have to work over time to stop us, or on the very steepest part of the uphill when all momentum is then lost. Thank you! For now though, we are all doing pretty well. We are feeling pretty full from the largest gammon steak I have ever seen, served to us in Panguitch last night. The pig (it was almost pig sized) took up the entire plate and an entire belly too! We are looking forward to the challenges of Nevada…but perhaps a little nervous about it too…
Give us a month. If we haven’t been back to update it by then, follow the directions starting from Yorkton in Virginia and you’ll be sure to find us at some point…