Tuesday, July 22, 2008

A lot of Climbs - Escalante, UT (Day 47)


It is time to tell the non-sugar coated truth of the Hopkins 4K for Cancer. People who snore are persecuted and ostracized. I do not enjoy condemnation and humiliation for an act I cannot control, and if you ever heard my Dad, you would understand that it is purely hereditary. That being said, I was woken up in the middle of the night because of something I cannot control to be asked to stop doing something I cannot control. Yes, I am bitter about the anti-Snorites. But it was a glorious morning. Biking when it is cool outside is surprisingly refreshing.

Leaving Loa, all I had in my head was Tom's stunning rendition of The Kinks song Lola modified to Loa, L-O-A, Loa. Pretty clever, eh? My group was Judy and friends, the friends being Benji and me. The day started innocently enough. We breezed through to the first water stop; the terrain was predominately downhill with little rolling hills. It was quite relaxing. But honestly, that never lasts long.

We entered the Dixie National Forest after the water stop. We climbed and climbed and then climbed some more. It was beautiful though. Utah is the strangest state ever (in terms of landscape). You bike through deserts that are next to forests and canyons and the entire state seems like a grab bag. It was nice to see some green after the desert.

After the fake summit and the real summit at 9600 feet, there was an incredible downhill (don't worry Mom, I was safe). There is no better feeling than cruising after busting your rear to get up a mountain. Then we got to the most exciting part of the day. The name of the trail was the Devil's Backbone. Does not sound good. The parents reading this just cringed. But it was awesome. The trail was definitely wonky. It was a ridge that was ridiculously gusty and serpentine with 14 percent downward grades. But we took it slowly and it was unlike anything I have ever seen.

There was a mean little climb after the backbone. But everyone was cheering each other on, and it was one of those moments that you realized how much better you are than when you started. When we finally got into Escalante, we found out there was a water main break at the State Park, so we couldn't stay there. So Judy and friends went to Subway and ate delicious sandwiches and then ice cream sandwiches that have 500 calories, which is wonderfully irrelevant when you bike 80 miles in a day :)

We showered in a reservoir and it was delightful. Some people went to Georgie's diner. She let us camp out in her yard. That's all folks.

I snore loud, I snore proud,
ABF

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