Salt Lake City, Utah to American Fork (Provo), Utah
Today ended up being just a moving day. Hot and sunny, lots of traffic. Just your average trudging moving day.
After our experience in Boise – dirt roads, roads to nowhere, treacherous hills and weather conditions, etc., I decided not to take any chances making my way to my date with the Rockies. Looking at the map there were two possible roads – one that “barely” showed up on Google Maps (and had all sorts of crazy reversals and switchbacks (can you say… Mountains) and the other that added an extra 40 miles to the ride but took me along well traveled charted passes all the way through. I chose the safe route – and today was the day to move on south – to get a better angle on my entry into the mountains.
One surprise was how UN- Bicycle Friendly Northern Utah became as we rode south of Salt Lake City. The state that had seemed like a bicycle paradise from the moment we crossed the state line, suddenly became littered with speeding cars and some of the scariest bicycle roads I’ve seen on the Ride.
It seems when they they re-paved the roads a while back, they decided to only re-pave 97% of the road. And left the remaining 3% – the shoulder you ride on when you’re riding a bicycle – completely untouched. Not a bad decision from a car perspective – but for bicyclists, terrible. As I rode along, mile after mile of road had this treacherous 3/4 inch “lip” along the edge, forcing me to stay up on the re-paved portion – jutting much farther out into traffic than I cared to be. But I had no real choice – the original edge was way too narrow to ride inside, the drainage grates were barely bicycle protected (every time I came near one, I was scared it might swallow up my tire if I misjudged the angle), and any jump to the left – for example to avoid one of the killer grates – would risk catching my wheel on the 3/4 inch lip and falling right into traffic. It was so bad that I considered riding up on the sidewalk (like I used to do when I was a kid) until I realized how bumpy and slow that would be.
So I took a deep breath, and rode as carefully as I could, praying that the 3 lanes of traffic alongside me would heed my flashing taillight and be kind enough to go around me without taking me out for good. Yes, for a few miles it was THAT scary.
Luckily for me, as I made it further away from Salt Lake City, traffic thinned out somewhat and the road went back to being comfortable for both bicycle and driver.
So I trudged along, riding through small Utah town after small Utah town, the mountains looming menacingly (yet beautifully) to the East (sometime soon I have to actually go OVER these things), until finally, right around dinner-time, I stumbled upon a miracle… a real live Southern Barbeque Rib Joint right in the heart of Lehi, Utah.
Now this may not sound like much of a miracle to you… but as someone who’s been riding over 1,100 miles so far and CRAVING barbeque ribs – this little shack seemed like quite a godsend to me. Especially when I looked over and noticed that the place was packed with customers enjoying dinner on picnic tables in the garden.
So despite the fact that Ian and Nikki were awaiting my arrival in Provo (a few miles down the road), I skidded my bicycle to a halt and moseyed up to the rib shack to get me some dinner. And boy was I glad I did. Not only was the barbeque beef wonderful (from an original North Carolina recipe perfected when the co-owner – then age 14 – ran the restaurant his daddy had won in a poker game, while making sure the cops didn’t raid the poker games, or moonshine runs, going on upstairs), but the family that ran the shop (the brother-in-law of the moonshine kid, his wife and two kids behind the counter) insisted on buying me dinner once they heard that I was riding cross country to raise money for dog cancer charities. They even poured on 3 scoops of homemade ice-cream for dessert. Truly an amazing feast at the end of a long hot ride.
Oh, and one more thing… while I was enjoying my dinner, one of the customers came up to me and said “Hey, I recognize you – I saw you last night on the Fox 13 News at 9:00.”
Now how cool is that…
Bye for now, from American Fork, Utah. (OK, I stayed a little late at the my new favorite rib place and had to stop short the ride of Provo – but no worries, the mountains will be there when I get there.)
- Ted Schneck
on the Dog Cancer Ride Across America
www.DogCancerRide.com
