Boy, was I ready for this??? The 75 km turned out to be a big calorie spender! Breakfast at Katie and Randi’s place was a good layer for the day: eggs and sausage, toast and fruit. I’ve cycled this route last year and I most certainly do not remember all the climbing – I do remember the spots where it went downhill. Come to think of it: there weren’t many down hills at all! Right from the start there are a couple of rolling up hills. The scenery was very green and I could smell the sage! Saw cactus again and some other plants.
At one point I thought of counting how many cars pass me: I came to 10 in 15 minutes! On Paiute Reservoir someone was cruising on his skijet. I also saw some ATV/UTV/OHV. Yesterday I asked someone in the Inn what the difference between them is.
Good answer: ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) has a saddle while UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle) has a seat. OHV is short for Off Highway Vehicle. After 12 miles of slow climbing I rolled down into the town of Junction. Yes, there is a junction of roads!
Get some more water in the bottles, ‘cause I already had emptied one! Wind factor was a big thing today and it is still was some road work: new black top! Not so smooth though! Work was going on 3 miles before Circleville (birth town of Butch Cassidy – a wild west legend together with the Sundance Kid – watch the movie!) and 1 mile out of Circleville. Right there, the curving canyon road started. Traffic was very low and the cars came all together (flagman stops the traffic for the one lane road). Cycling through the canyon still follows the Sevier River upstream. In the sky black clouds gathered and I hurried to get out of the canyon, before it started to rain.
Wind picked up and I felt a few big drops falling. Wasn’t it going to be sunny today with 10% chance of a T-storm. Was I going to get ‘lucky”? Speed up baby – move those legs!! Finally I got to the new valley where I could see Panguitch in the distance. The last 10 miles were hard: black road with the sun again on it, hardly any shoulder but with a rumble strip and heavy traffic coming from the interstate. All the time the road kept going up, but it looked as if it went down… very frustrating. At the strong headwind and I had to stop several times to drink and rest. I once got off Sweet Machine and went to lay down on the side of the road.
Luckily not one car stopped to ask me if I was okay. On the other side of the road I noticed someone who wasn’t as lucky as I was.
This guy didn’t make it! At last I got to the café where I ordered some hot soup, which they didn’t have. Made it a coke float then! I must say: this was one of my hardest ride so far, spending 2700 calories.
High spirits here: I get to play for three days in Bryce National Park! Tomorrow…
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