Day 13: Utah Hates Us

Course: Delta, UT to Payson, UT

Distance: 80 miles

Terrain: Rolling hills

Conditions: Some wind

Rack point: 65 miles by 11:00am

We began at 6:30am and knew that we had to do at least 65 of the 80 miles by 11:00 in order to avoid being racked. I rode with Travis and Stephen. All three of us already hate the roads Utah has given us, and Utah wasn’t very kind today, either. It took us about 45 minutes to go 8 miles due to a lot of bike difficulties. Travis got a flat tire first, at about the 6-mile mark. It was his rear tire, so it took a little longer to fix. We fixed his tire and hauled up a hill to see the pace line in front of us stopped. We asked if they needed help and they did, so we stopped to assist. One of the two guys in the pace line also had a flat tire, and the other had a busted wire that led to his derailleur, which helps him shift. Since Travis was the only one who could take a whack at fixing it, we waited for him until he fixed up the bike. By the time we had fixed the flat tire and the busted wire, we were off to a bad start. Together, we headed up another hill and just before we got to a crew stop, Stephen got a flat tire. He was already feeling sick, so after he fixed the tire he just decided to rack himself.

Travis and I knew that we had a lot of ground to cover, so we took turns with intervals and drafted for 1-2 minutes each. We were averaging about 18 mph up and down hills, but then the hills started to get steeper and the roads got bumpier. Eventually we had slowed enough that we realized we needed to average a whopping 30mph in order to finish the ride by rack point. As much as I’d like to say I can do that, I don’t even think Lance Armstrong can do that. We rode until we got racked, and it was pretty frustrating. I made it over 800 miles and across two states without getting racked. To think that it was by pure unluckiness was annoying, at the very least.

Either way, I finished about 40 miles and got to rest until our ride along partners met us. We rode with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, or CAF - a cycling group that advocates for athletes with disabilities. Two of the riders were a married couple, and they brought their daughter, Natalie. Natalie has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, but loves to cycle. She has a special bike that is similar to a recumbent, but has all of the brakes and shifting on one side of the bike, since her left arm is rendered practically useless. We rode for about 4 miles together, and then took a picture together.

Afterwards, I got the chance to go to the Laundromat, which is pretty great if you ask me. Clean clothes are kind of nice every once in a while. The rest of the night is free, so I plan to get some sleep.