A Blustery Day

Grafton, UT to Cedar City, UT
51 miles

When we left the free campground near Grafton, it was a beautiful morning. But as we got closer to Cedar City, we could see the dark clouds moving closer and looking more and more menacing. At one point, the wind (a headwind, of course) really started to pick up, which often foretells rain. We pulled out our rain gear and piled on our clothing and pedaled on. Sure enough, the sky poured buckets and buckets of rain on us. I later found out that annual precipitation for the area is 14 inches. We must've gotten most of it today. So, there we were, pedaling uphill, with a strong headwind, in the rain. Things couldn't get any worse, right? Wrong! Big, fat clumps of wet snow started to fall. We continued until we found good shelter at a National Park visitor center. We were cold, wet, and miserable. The forecast for the night was: more snow. We still had to get to Cedar City, with 2,000 more feet to climb, and we didn't have much time left before the sun went down (not that it mattered, it wasn't doing its job anyway). Fortunately, we met Rita, who works for the National Parks service. Since her shift was almost finished, she offered us a ride into Cedar City. There was no way we could turn down that offer! So we piled everything into her pickup and were soon in a nice warm hotel (no way are we camping in the snow!). It turns out there are thunderstorm warnings, tonado watches, and snowstorm warnings all over the place.

I've been seeing a few animals along the way, but today I saw two new animals I hadn't seen before on this trip. Before today, I saw lizards, California Condors (an endangered species), a coyote, wild cats, dogs, horses, cows (they sure like to stare at bicyclists!), and plenty of insects. Today, we saw a bunch of turkeys on the side of the road. We must have scared them, because they all took off, but not off the road like you'd expect. They ran onto the road, and one was within inches of getting hit by a car. What a turkey! We also saw an ostrich farm, with a bunch of shy ostriches.

We haven't decided yet on renting a car, but since the snow is expected to continue until tomorrow night, I think tomorrow will be a rest day. We'll see if the weather clears up or not.

Expensive but productive day

Hmmm oatmeal with dried fruit, cream, coffee, tea, toast with jam, and all
inside an RV. This morning could not have been better. Our friends from
last night invited us over for breakfast! I tell you, I really am happy we
have crossed into Utah (ok I know they are from Oregon, but we met the in
Utah) where people are downright FRIENDLY.

Ok here is the deal... I want to start out with an explanation and then an
excuse but I will give you the punchline first. Today we traveled 40 miles
but only biked 8 miles. Yes, that means we got a ride. If you hate us
now, then stop reading and never return but, if you would like to read on,
there is a good reason.

Thanks for sticking with us. This morning, Pat and Tom and their niece and
nephew were driving into Zion National Park. There is a section in Zion (1
mile long tunnel) where it is illegal to bicycle through. They offered to
rive us a ride through the tunnel. The only catch is we're camped about 20
miles from the tunnel. We had two options. Bike to Zion early in the AM
and hope to meet up with them (or anyone) to get a ride through. Second
option: get a ride there and have a guaranteed ride through. Well as they
say "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," we took option 2. Also
there was a bike shop just outside of Zion I needed to get to. My bike was
limping again.

Ok before I go on, I just want to say one more time what wonderful people
Tom, Pat, John, and Jeanie are. We have not been this well taken care of
since well before we left home. We really are very grateful for all they
did for us and thank you just does not say enough.

So at the bike shop we got:
Two new tires (mine wore out plus spare)
Four water bottles
Four water bottle holders
One rack for water bottles that clamps onto Heather's seatpost and holds
two bottles
One rear flashing light for the BoB (the trailer)
Handlebar wrap
Chamois cream (butt butter)
Spare tube for the BoB
Spare tube for us
4 CO2 cartridges
Clamps to better attach rear rack to BoB
Cassette remover that does not need tools
6 spare spokes
And the best for last, Dana got his rear wheel rebuilt (explanation to
follow)

Ok, rebuilding a wheel is a big deal and not everyone knows how to do it.
I am one of those without the knowledge or skill/art to do this. Basically
you remove all the old spokes from the wheel and the hub (thats the thing
in the middle) and the rim (thats the thing on the outside that the tires
go around) are in two separate pieces. Then you put in new spokes in the
hub and attach then to the rim following a special pattern. Then the hard
part. Each spoke is tightened to the exact same tension, if you are off by
a 1/4 turn, then the wheel goes out of balance and wobbles. Not a fast or
easy process.

I walked into a small but well-stocked bike shop just south of Zion on the
9 highway called Zion Cycles www.zioncycles.com and Fred (I think he is the
owner) greeted me. My firsat thing was "can you rebuild my wheel because I
am breaking a spoke every day." He seemed to think for a moment then with
a down cast tone said " yeah, but it will take a couple of hours". I could
have hugged him. A couple of hours is WAY better than "no way" or "yeah it
can be ready by next week". This guy really rocks (yet another reason to
visit Utah) and totally dropped everything to build me a new wheel with
much better spokes. What a life saver. On top of that he added a few
washers to the attachment point of BoB and it finally fits perfectly.

The total price was arround $288. Fred gave us a huge 20% discount too.
We really appreciate it. If ever you are in this neck of the woods his
shop is for sure worth stopping in and getting whatever you need for your
bike. If all you need is service, this guy really knows what he is doing.
The best surgeons are the ones who do the work day in and day out all day
long, well folks Fred is your guy. If you read this, Thanks Fred we owe
you a lot!

While we were at the bike shop (www.zioncycles.com), a few things happened.
Tom and family left to go explore the park for the rest of the day. There
were hugs all around and we were sorry to see them leave. They wished us
well and headed out.

We met some fellow bike tourists, Wilf and Susan. They drove down from
Vancouver Island, Canada to Cedar City, UT. From there they hopped on
their bikes and have been touring the back roads for about 3 days now.
They were using full sets of panniers instead of a BoB (and yes Susan had
her fair share of weight too) like us. They have maps from the same
company as us plus some other back road maps. We found out from them that
one of the roads on our map is closed due to snow. Luckily they showed us
an alternate route to take. Maybe by the time we get there it will be
open. It was nice talking with them they really seemed to have their stuff
together and know what they are doing. Later on during their vacation they
will be on the same route as us. Hopefully we will meet up again.

So I think thus far our biggest expenses have been parts for the bike. I
guess this is a good lesson for both of us. We thought we had everything
we needed but turns out we were wrong. My rear tire was not strong enough,
my pedals were wrong, we needed a trailer, and Heather needed me to carry
her stuff. Most of this stuff could have been taken care of at home but, I
guess we will chalk this up to a learning experience. A very expensive
learning experience. I hope now we do not need to buy any more parts for
my or Heather's bike. but all of this switching and changing is really
slowing us down.

We may have a solution. Your thoughts would be appreciated here. We are
thinking of renting a car and having Heather SAG (support and gear) through
the rest of the mountains. We have not made the final decision yet but we
are leaning heavily in that direction. This way I can really push the pace
and bust out withh 70-100 mile days and still have time to eat and sleep.
If I really push it we can be out of these ups and downs in a week. This
would of course mean all our gear would be in the car not on BoB or my
bike. If you think this is a very bad idea please say so. If you agree
with this idea, well, please say so. The conflict is, Heather does not
want to give up. The reality is at our current pace we will be in the
Rockies for another month.

We heard from our Buddy Ryan today, he is well and almost in Houston (a big
stop for him with friends). We still miss riding with him. Heather and I
really are enjoying each others company so much on this trip. What a fun
adventure. We just look forward to being able to look back on this and
talk about it in the past.

I should warn you all. Service is really spotty here in Utah and Colorado.
Don't be surprised if you do not hear anything from us for several days.
Do not worry we are looking out for each other and will let you all know if
anything happens. Even without service we still write every night and will
post as soon as we can. I hope you noticed the posts for the last 4-5 days
just went up today.

Talk to you all later.
-dana

ps thanks mom for letting and TT know what we are doing.

Pps and Alex I will get you that address as soon as we move to the next
map. Thanks man

A Very Satisfying Dinner

Jacob Lake, AZ to Mt. Carmel, UT
54 miles

(May 2) You may have noticed we haven't posted in a while. We were in an area that didn't have reception, so we couldn't send in our posts. Be sure to read back a few days to get caught up. We also noticed that most of Utah and Colorado doesn't have service either, so expect a few lags in our posts. But fear not, we will continue to post as often as we can!

I'm starting to enjoy this a bit more these days. My body is feeling better, and I'm getting used to the daily routine. One thing that really helps is eating enough food (and more)to keep me going.

We biked down 3,000 feet today, and to be honest, for as long as it took to bike up that far, it would be nice if we could enjoy the downhills a bit longer. What took us 6 hours to bike up yesterday, only took a few minutes to bike down (or so it seemed).

We left Arizona and entered Utah today. I noticed that Arizona has lots of RVs, and lots of RV Parks. I never really understood the point of having an RV. "Honey, let's go camping, only we'll bring the whole house with us." But, I can't help but feel a hint of jealousy whenever we camp in between a couple of humongous RVs.

When we got to Mount Carmel, we were buying some food, and asked the cashier where the campground was. Another customer told us we should inquire about the RV campground just around the corner. So we went over and found out that this campground is reserved for RVs, but they told us to go ahead and pick a spot wherever we wanted--no charge! Then as we were setting up camp, the customer who recommended the place came over and told us, "Don't bother cooking dinner, come and join us for salad and spaghetti." So, we had a wonderful pasta dinner with Tom, Pat, and their family. With salad, pasta, garlic bread, and great conversation, we really could not have asked for a better meal! They had lots left over, so we didn't feel guilty about taking seconds, thirds, and fourths (it was that good!). We really stuffed ourselves full. On top of that, they offered us a ride into Zion National park tomorrow. There are several areas where biking is illegal in the park, so our only option is to hitchike. It is such a relief knowing we won't have to worry about that tomorrow.

I wish we had our map

Tuesday May 1
-dana

Oh my goodness. Last night we stayed in Cliff Dwellers at 4,000 feet
elevation because it is the only stop before Jacob Lake (which is at the
top of a huge mountain). We thought by looking at our photocopies of our
lost maps, that we only had about 2,500 foot climb, it looked like Jacob
Lake was at 7,000 feet. Well as you might have guessed, we were wrong.
Dead, tired, broken spoke, 9 hours of biking wrong!

The first 20 miles of our thirty miles was not bad, it was a steady climb
of about 1,000 feet. Let's see... 1,000 feet up in 20 miles, can anyone
figure out whate the grade is there? Well the last 10-14 miles about
killed us!

We went up an additional 3,000 feet in 10 miles, now figure out that grade
on the road. Even if you do not do the math to figure out how steep that
climb was you may still notice that's 4,000 feet we went up. Remember in
an earlier post I said 2,000 feet was our limit? Well I was not wrong.
After 2,000 feet we were ready to quit but, we did not have a choice so we
kept going.

So far on this trip 8,000 feet has been our highest elevation. That was
hmm let's see, oh right TODAY! We knew we had a big climb ( not that big
mind you) in front of us so we planned accordingly. We made arrangements
with the hotel ( that's right, no camping available again) to leave at 3:30
am. Actually we did not get out of there until 4:30 (more like 5-ish) and
we were off. It took us about 9 hours to make it to Jacob Lake, AZ.

Along the way, we stopped at some scenic spots for some pictures. The ride
was pretty uneventful. Heather and I noticed some really annoying
mini-flies that are attracted to my yellow bags, my leg and arm hair, and
her glasses/eyes. What is really interesting is they are limited to about
4,000-4,300 feet. Before or after that elevation they are almost
nonexistent. We have run into them pretty consistently in Arizona at those
elevations though.

We also are amazed at the transformation of the landscape at certain
elevations and geological barriers. For example, as we crested a hill at
about 6,000 feet we left the high desert and dropped into the beautiful
Kiabab Forest that Teddy Rosevelt wrote so often about. The majority of
our day was spent climbing the mointain in this forested region. It was
breathtakingly beautiful. Because we left so early in the morning there we
not many cars (one every 30 min or so) to contend with.

Although I am talking about this beautiful background and wonderful scenery
I need to make something clear here. This was TOUGH! Maybe some of he
most difficult and taxing riding I have ever done. We walked several times
(not that it is easier to walk up these hills, it just wears out different
muscles). I am not ashamed to admit it. On several occasions, I
questioned my reasoning for this trip and at times I just wanted to stop
and sleep for the rest of the day and just give up. We went higher than we
have ever gone, for longer, and up steeper hills. So while this was a
pretty sight to see, it is only in retrospect that I may truly enjoy it.

So as we finally got to the top we looked for a campground that was marked
on our map. Well if we had the back of the map we would have known it is
closed until May 15. So you guessed it, we stayed at the hotel/lodge
there. Two days ago I called adventure cycling to have then next-day-air a
map to me at this very lodge. Well they let me down, no map was there
waiting for us. Oh well I guess we get to play the guessing game for
elevation again.

A word to the wise for all you cyclist out there. Whenever you ask a
person about hills up ahead, please remember they have no idea what a hill
is while in a car. Most drivers think 1,000-2,000 feet up hill is FLAT
gound. We have learned this the hard way several times over.

On the plus side, this Jacob Lake Inn is really nice. They rooms are
modern and the people are super cool and friendly. We really are enjoying
this place. For all you Grand Canyon sightseeing people, go to the North
Rim and stay here for a night, you will not be disappointed.

On the down side, my bike broke another spoke. I am getting really good at
replacing them now though. In truth I am really frustrated with all the
mechanical failures I am having. I know it has to do with all the weight I
am carrying but what choice do I have? Heather and I talked about it and
mostly she listened to how upset I was. It felt good to vent and be heard
and sympathized with.

So I have made another change to my packing. Before I tell you what I did
let's review what I've done.

1 Dana carries all group gear and his gear. Heather carries her personal
stuff. Both have 4 main bags each, 2 front and 2 back.

2 Dana takes on all of Heather's sleeping stuff, ie, bag, bivy sac, and
sleeping pad.

3 Major change. Heather ships back (to Alex) the front rack and two font
bags, Dana repacks her stuff so she has her sleeping pad, bivy sac, and all
her clothes in two rear bags. Dana packed everything else in his four main
bags plus her sleeping bag and food bag piled on top.

4 The weight is still too much for Heather. Alex sends Dana his BoB
trailer. Heather ships (to Dana's aunt) her rear rack, her remaining two
bags , leaving just a small handlebar bag for snacks and a small bag for a
spare tube under her seat. Her bike is totally stripped down now. Dana
ships his two large rear bags and his front rack with Heather's stuff. The
front bags are moved to the rear of the bike and the BoB trailer is loaded
down. Dana is now carrying everything.

5 This now brings us to the most recent revision. Dana moved his rear bike
rack to the BoB trailer. Dana's bike is now stripped down. The rear
(formerly front) bags are moved even further back to rest over the tire on
the BoB. Everything else is packed into the bag in the BoB trailer. While
this final revision has dramatically decreased the stability of the
bike/trailer, the effort required to move the stuff has also decreased. I
think I will like this recent setup the most so far.

After fixing, washing, oiling, rotating the tires, and checking over the
bikes (3 hours), I am exausted. I hope you are all well reading this. We
are still at it and will still be going again tomorrow and the next day.
Take care.

-dana

The definition of FLAT

Marble Canyon, AZ to Cliff Dwellers, AZ
10 miles

(April 30) We chatted with a Navajo woman this morning and she told us that the road to Ciff Dwellers was flat. I guess her definition of "flat" is hills with more than 1,000 feet climbs. Perhaps if I grew up around mountains and cliffs more than 4,000 feet tall, I'd probably think that was flat too. But since I grew up in the cornfields of Iowa, I consider flat to mean so flat you can see the road ahead for miles and miles with no dips or hills.

We are considering this a rest day, but wanted to get further along because we have a 4,000 foot climb tomorrow. So we'll get a full night's rest and head out early tomorrow, before it gets hot.

We headed to the local restaurant for an afternoon snack, and we met a guy who had crashed his mountain bike and it was in need of repair. Dana had his tools, so he fixed the bike for him. When the guy described how he managed to crash, we really had to hold back our laughter. He ran into a tree. We found this funny because:
1. We are in the desert, and would be hard pressed to find a tree anywhere

BONK and Rebound

Sunday April 29
-dana
Well do any of you know what it means to "Bonk"? It is sorta like hitting
the wall or crashing. Well this morning started off ok, I was primed to
ride. Halfway into the day I bonked big time. I thought I may fall asleep
on the bike. I could not keep up with Heather at all. I think it has to
do with that muscle relaxer I took last night. I think I will not be
taking one of those again.

We lost our map! Luckily when we were in Tempe we made backup copies of
the front of the map. At least we know where we are going. The elevation
profile is on the back along with the phone number and address of all the
camping spots. This makes it difficult to plan our days in the mountains
because we have no idea when a big climb or descent is coming up.

Today we got a very late start (12:00) and we thought it would be flat all
day or maybe down hill. Oops! Today we had a 1,900 foot climb, what a
surprise that was. It was just about at the top where I bonked. Of
course, I had no idea we were at the top until I talked to a local guy
there just hanging out in his truck in front of the store. He told me we
had just six miles to go then it was all down hill from there. Well that
was a good motivator.

We took a long break at a store in a town called "The Gap" which as you
are going down the road with mountains on you left, right, and front the
town is in an obvious location. Right at the big gap in the mountain. The
town is aptly named. After talking to the local guy a couple of
motorcyclists pulled up.

Generally, I don't make an effort to talk with bikers. I think all the
leather and loud engines scare me. But this group had an air of
uncertainty and it was two husband and wife groups. that made me feel more
comfortable. They seemed pretty safe. Much to my surprise, one of them
was born and raised in Santa Monica, CA (close to where we live). No
wonder I liked them. The conversation was a brief standard one.

Them: "Where you going?"
Me "Going to Washington, DC and coming from LA"
Them: "Wow that is amazing. How long do you think it will take?"
Me: "About 2 or 2 1/2 months"
Them: *Shocked look*

That is the basics for almost every conversation we have. I must say
though it does not get old to see their expressions.

We have been looking forward to Colorado. The reason being is that I heard
it is a super bicycle friendly state! Well that rumor was just solidified
tonight. As we rolled into Marble Canyon, AZ after our 71 mile, 1,900 foot
climb and decent, we met some people. This husband and wife team are
starting a 16 day trip down the Colorado river. After finding out we were
going through Bolder, CO they offered their house as a place to stay. They
said they may not be there but their house sitter will be there and they
wrote a little introduction note to the house sitter. We were shocked and
amazed and thankful for meeting such wonderful people. After a 71 mile
ride and such a late start it was a welcome end.

Some of you may be wondering why we stayed in a hotel last night and
tonight. Well the truth is we do enjoy camping and getting to meet people.
The problem is around the Grand Canyon most of the campgrounds don't open
until mid May. We are not against stealth camping either but it is
difficult with fences next to the road and flat desert brush all around.
So we are just hopping from hotel to hotel until we get away from this
tourist attraction and start seeing some open campgrounds.

Well I am still sort of out of it here so I better get some sleep before
morning. I hope you all are having as fabulous a time as we are.

Mountains don't play nice with cell phones

Some of you may have noticed the lack of posts over the last few days. We have been travelling through areas with little to no cell phone reception, so sending them was difficult. We are trying to reach Zion National Park today which hopefully has better reception, so there will be more to come later tonight if that's the case. If not, it should happen by tomorrow.

-dana