Day 9 - Evanston to Vernal, UT

This might be short as I'm stealing wifi from the hotel across the road.

Today was the queen stage of our tour. While those pansies riding the Tour de France got a rest day, we had to be up at 5am to get ready for our 149 miles (+9000 feet) jaunt back into Utah. About a third of the riders decided that today would be a good day to do only part of the route. The shuttle vans were going to be busy. I woke up feeling like crap and my legs were like lead. Today was going to be a long day.

We started with a nice 30 mile section along I-80 which I found out is not flat. We'd climb at 10 mph for 3 or 4 miles to then drop down the other side at 40mph only to repeat... over and over.

Getting of the freeway at Fort Bridger the day perked up instantaneously. The climbing started on the other side of town. It felt like we were climbing on a moonscape seemed to be made of soft sand.

After the next checkpoint the scenery changed again. We were back into alpine pastures with pine trees and snow capped mountains in the distance.

Then it changed again. We crossed back into Utah and through the town of Manila. Mikey is this where you are really from? It's much smaller than I thought? We climbed up through red rock wall canyon to have lunch in Flaming Gorge National Recreational area. Amazing isn't a strong enough word. The 2000+ feet climb out of the canyon was beautiful. I might not be able to post my pictures until tomorrow as this hotel doesn't have wifi. All I can say is that, there were several steep switchbacks and the grade was about 8%. Couple this with the strong headwind and I was struggling to pedal at 6mph.. Bleurch.

Over the top and we found out that we weren't really over the top. The climbing continued for many more miles. At about mile 130, we actually started to go back down. Then we hit the sign warning truck drivers about the 8% descent with 10 switchbacks for the next 10 miles. You can only imagine the words I uttered when I saw this. The 50mph downhill descent was fantastic. I saw a beautiful canyon on my right as we dropped down but, not wanting to stop or even take my hands off othe handlebars, I just kept riding. It felt like we had dropped into hell at the bottom. The temperature rose by what felt like 40 degrees and then we found out we had to climb out the other side. Doh!

Up and over the last climb and it was a nice gentle run in to town. Before going to the hotel, I stopped off at 7-11 to get some beers for the group.

Everyone is feeling like a kid in the candy store tonight. It's the anticipation that tomorrow is our 'rest' day as we only have to ride 53 miles into Colorado. Instead of having to get up at 5am and eat breakfast in the hotel parking lot, we get the luxury of "sleeping in" until 7:30 and then eating in the local diner. Life is good.

I am so happy that tomorrow is an easy day as I've been getting really run down the last few days. It's been really tiring but, this has definitely been an exciting challenge and I've got to meet some cool people too.

I'm sitting outside the Best Western across the road and my pictures are now uploaded.