It was a beautiful day for a ride – and what a beautiful ride for the day. Hot and sunny, but clear and beautiful.
And Utah is built for bicycling. The roads are nice and wide. The streets are clean and fresh and new. Everything looking good, except for one little thing… Mountain Passes
That’s right, we are definitely back in business on the Dog Cancer Ride Across America.
We started the day in Logan, Utah. Watched about 200 riders head off for the start of the MS-150 bicycle race… I couldn’t join them. I had some miles to cross – for my towards our rendezvous with Salt Lake City, Utah.
As I started down the road, It was absolutely beautiful – hills on either side of me; riding along; bantering ideas for the revamped Map of Heroes back and forth with Ian (as I get stronger and more comfortable on the bicycle, I’m finding myself talking more and more on the phone as I ride). Everything going great, until Ian dropped a small cautionary warning my way…
“Be careful, you’ve got a hill coming up”
“How bad?” I asked
“Let’s put it this way” he said “the car had trouble making it up”
Uh, oh.
As I approached the end of the valley where Logan is situated, I’d hoped there was a nice flat pass to ride through, but I saw the road rise ahead of me, and make a sharp right turn – straight into the mountains on the west side of the valley.
And I thought to myself, this ain’t going to be good.
My concerns were magnified by the road sign at the bottom of the hill, which warned – Caution, carry chains and beware of road closures ahead – NEXT 15 MILES – “Suck it up Princess – we’re going riding today” (that’s an inside joke for anyone who has ever attended T .Harv Eker’s Warrior Training Course – and in light of our recent “Swan Lake” ballet incident, I’m afraid that explanation is probably necessary.)
The hill was tough all right but doable – and it was a good preview of things to come as I hit the Rockies in a few days. Plus, as tough as the climb up the mountain is, the best part of mountain climbing are the lovely signs at that top of the hill. In this case, the sign that read “Caution steep downhill, next 6 MILES” – Yay (me love downhills)
We ended the day in Ogden, Utah – home of “Pioneer Days,” loads of 1950s-ish buildings, horse statues wrapped in paper (apparently getting ready for their grand debut), and of course a large indoor skydiving building right in the middle of downtown (cue the Sesame Street music – “3 of these things are just like the other – three of these things are one and the same… – one of these things just doesn’t belong here, can you say it’s name…. – kind of scary what you can remember from 30 year old kids shows).
All in all, an Excellent day on the road – and a great preview of bigger (and steeper days to come)
Bye for now, from beautiful Utah. We’re back on the road and feeling good again.
- Ted Schneck
