From the mountains to the high desert: casually biking through canyons

After hearing some really bad news on the home front, I haven't felt up to blogging for a while. Then I realized many people are enjoying following my blog and I can't just leave you guys hanging. Plus, I like writing and it could bring me enjoyment. I may or may not write a blog post on the news at some point, but for now I'm going to keep it to the trip, which has been awesome as usual.

Our last day climbing in the Rockies brought us up McClure Pass: a short but very steep mountain! This is what our elevation profile looked like:  

Hmm.. wonder where the mountain is??

As you can see, we spent the first 20 miles approaching the mountain, then 3 miles climbing it and 3 miles descending it, both at steep grades of 8%, and then the entire rest of the day was downhill!

At the base of the mountain. McClure Pass Summit: 3 miles!
A 3-mile climb isn't very long, but this was really steep.

Picture-perfect view of the valley on the way up

Becky on the way up, and Zach in the background! Zach is one of the best climbers on our team and we call him King of the Mountain.

Arrived at the summit!

At the summit, we all reconvened and celebrated finishing our last mountain pass of the Rockies. It was also a sad moment, though, because we really really loved the Rockies. Yes they were challenging, but they were so much fun. 

We also met some guys that were doing a bike trip themselves, a shorter and more laid-back one but McClure Pass was certainly not laid back. They were actually carrying all their stuff on their bikes. I can honestly say I would never do this trip without support vans. Anyway they were just chilling at the top of the mountain hanging out. I talked to a few of them about our trip and they told me I had "cyclist legs" and to not get married anytime soon. Thanks for the advice, random guys! I gave them my blog link so they might be reading this.

The descent from the mountain was crazy fun because an 8% grade means you can go super fast. Of course I am a very cautious rider so I watched my speed but it was still really fun anyway. Also, we were all in good spirits because it was literally downhill for the entire rest of the day. 

We stopped close to the bottom of the mountain and Dave found a skeleton, we think of a cow. We now have a piece of this skeleton hanging from the water van rearview mirror...

Views for the rest of the day were gorgeous!

"Hotchkiss: 24." 

Seeing these signs is one of my favorite parts of everyday 4K life because each time you pass a sign there is less mileage to your destination. Ok, that's obvious, but it's just cool to see the mileage gradually go down and feel like you are nearing your destination. Just one of the things I look forward to each day :) 

We passed through the town of Paonia. We were losing elevation!

The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful and went by quickly. It was mostly easy cruising and we got to take in some beautiful views of the remaining smaller mountains and lakes. It was a Sunday and there were many vacationers out on the lake in their boats.

Just before getting to our host, we noticed this storm just to our left:

Just then, less than a mile out from our host.... Dave got a flat. As he started to change it, this threatening storm was approaching. Dave changed it quickly and we hopped back on our bikes as fast as we could. We were racing this storm for sure. The winds had picked up and the temperature had dropped, but we were so close to the host. We kicked it into full gear and raced to the host. A few raindrops had just started falling when we pulled in, but we beat it!

That night we were at Hotchkiss High School and I was slightly terrified because a scorpion was found inside the gym we were sleeping in. I found a spot far from the doors and luckily did not get attacked by any scorpions. I did check my cleats in the morning. Thankfully also scorpion-free. 

Becky, Chelsea and I went out to look for breakfast donations before going to bed. It was a really small town with only about 3 open food establishments. So we didn't have much luck, but we did end up getting a $25 gift certificate to the local grocery store. We have gotten pretty good at feeding a team of 25 on a budget of $25. We got bagels, cream cheese, juice, and some fruit.

Somewhere between Carbondale and Hotchkiss, the scenery had taken an undoubtable change back towards desert rather than mountains. We were in for more desert the next day.

Leaving Hotchkiss and heading for our last stop in the great state of Colorado, Grand Junction, we had the Rockies in our rearview :( 

Mountains behind us, desert in front of us.

We actually had a fairly short day that day at 60-something miles, and it went by quickly due to great weather, playing games with teammates, and a FANTASTIC tailwind! Here are some pictures from the desert!!

Water stop panorama

Jared, Gina, and Dave at the water stop

4K water van in the desert

Casual desert cliffs

MESAS!

Bighorn sheep!!! Ahh!!!

In Grand Junction, we were welcomed by Colorado Mesa University, aptly named for the millions of awesome mesas surrounding it! Also, dorms = BEDS!! 

Since we got in pretty early, Ashley and I went out and looked for grocery store donations in preparation for our two days in Moab, where we knew it would be hard to get donations because of its touristy nature.

Mesas surrounding the town

Kei$ha, our water van, had been yelling at us for the past few days with warnings that she needed to get an oil change. So, Ashley and I being good citizens and having the utmost car knowledge (....), we decided that while we were out we would take her to the doctor.

Kei$ha getting her teeth brushed.

By explaining our cause we were able to get a 50% discount. Thank you Grease Monkey!! They also offered to vacuum the inside of the car. We just looked at each other and asked if they had seen the inside of the car. Kei$ha is so packed with stuff that there was about 1 square foot of carpet for them to vacuum. Oops...

That night we decided to make use of our extra free time by going bowling! There was $2 bowling at a nearby place so we all went, and I thoroughly embarrassed myself as I usually do when coordination is involved. 

The next morning we had 108 miles to ride which meant no daylight to waste! However, it took us forever to get moving for two reasons: one, it was a mail drop, which always means chaos, and two, whenever we are all separated (i.e. dorms) it takes us forever to reconvene in the morning because people think they can sleep an extra 5 minutes, which turns into an extra 45 minutes (...not saying I'm not guilty of this either).

Anyway, we finally got on the road and suddenly we found ourselves in Utah!!! 

We were sad to leave Colorado, but excited to be in a new state. We were really looking forward to Moab and especially our rest day there!

Above was typical of our scenery for the first half of the day. Desert, desert, and more desert!! Also, no cars and no civilization. We saw a wild antelope prancing about and that was pretty exciting. We also were introduced to what "open range" means. It means cattle can graze wherever they want. There are cattle grates on the roads to prevent the cattle from going on the non-open-range road and these can be very dangerous for bikes. Any time we came across one we were instructed to get off and walk so our tires wouldn't slip into the grates. Unfortunately we didn't see any cattle, or any living things for that matter until like halfway into the ride.

That day we also rode on the interstate for the first time. In Utah it is legal to bike on the interstate except for in some metropolitan areas, and in our case there was no other option as all the surrounding roads were gravel. I was very nervous to ride the interstate just because I know when I'm driving on interstates the last thing I expect to see is cyclists. I was worried about us catching drivers off guard and also the high speed limit.

It turned out to not be as bad as I thought -- traffic in this part of Utah was pretty sparse even on the interstate, we had a nice giant shoulder to ride in, and cars would usually still move over to the left lane to give us additional space. We were on it for about 10 miles. After getting off was when the crazy scenery started!

We were getting into canyon country. The soil started turning more reddish, and cliffs started getting higher. It wasn't long before we glimpsed the Colorado River! 

We'd be paralleling the river for the entire rest of the day. 

Though the ride got very, very hot as the day went on, and there were some brutal hills, it was still one of my favorite rides of the trip. The scenery was just breathtaking! I had never been to any canyons and this was incredible.

At our lunch stop, we were all burning hot. The river right next to us was looking super inviting. It was only a matter of time before Gavin led the way and we all went swimming in the Colorado River. One of the best decisions I've ever made.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with breathtaking views and oppressive heat. Welcome to the desert!!!!

We got in late in the evening, completely exhausted. That night some of us stayed in a vacation rental house and others camped. Either way everyone had fun and was (not so) well rested the next morning for our rest day!

On our rest day got to explore two National Parks: Arches and Canyonlands. They were both gorgeous and amazing and I felt like we were on Mars. There's not much to say because you just have to see this stuff for yourself. But here are some pictures that do not do these places justice.

Cacti!!!

We did a lot of napping in the van while driving from place to place in the park. Everyone was super tired. We could've used another rest day to actually rest, but ah, that is not the 4K. Between the two park visits many people napped at the house, but I went out with Ashley and a few others to use our gift cards on breakfast for the next day. I was exhausted and really wished I could nap, but the team needed breakfast. Sometimes I feel like I make a lot of sacrifices for the team, but that's just what you do when you're with people you care about.

We had our longest day of the trip on the agenda for the next day: 121 miles. So what did we decide to do? Eat a healthy dinner and go to bed really early? Nahhhh. Instead we ate McDonald's for dinner then went on a 3-mile hike through the side of a canyon. We waited until just before sunset to go, even though sunset is basically our bedtime, but it was worth it because it was super pretty! 

We got an awesome team photo underneath the Delicate Arch but Gina has it on her camera!

Dave impressed us by speaking fluent German to some German tourists. Go Dave!!!

Not at all rested after our rest day, but having soaked in the awesomeness of Moab, we went to bed ready for our super long trip to Price the next day!