Crazy, or just plain stupid?

My husband, Lance, and I embarked on an epic journey this past weekend (these are the special miles I set aside for my aunt and uncle). It turns out we have friends that are even crazier about biking than we are. All in all we put in 290 miles starting Thursday morning and ending Saturday afternoon. Out of the 20 or so people on the trip, only 3 of us made it the whole way. I knew I had a lot of dollars to pay back, so I had all the motivation I needed to ride every mile possible. THANK YOU ALL FOR INSPIRING ME!

Janeal and Jerry Langton: Day 1 started at Fish Lake. Not only was it blizzarding on our way up there, but the lake was still frozen solid. Brrr. We got a mini blizzard again in the morning when we were all gearing up with all of our winter apparel. Luckily, the snow pretty much stopped before we hit the road. We took the long, scenic way to Panguitch (~80 miles) before we started our heinous climb up to Brian Head. I lost all of they guys on the climb and rode the next 40 miles or so alone. It was a great time to enjoy the scenery and reflect on this wonderful experience I've had with the Hometown Heroes program. We ended our trip 4 miles down the other side of the summit to round our day at 123 miles!!! (it was a little more than the 117 mile estimate we were given by the trip planner, but oh well!) It's too bad our hotel was out of power from the snow storm. We were really looking forward to hot showers and a hot tub!

Day 2 had a little change in plans. It had snowed so much at Brian Head that the road to Cedar Breaks was closed (they don't plow this time of year I guess). We got all of our winter gear back on and climbed back up the mountain (STEEP!) and down the other side back to Panguitch. I was up sick all night, so I had to take it easy. From Panguitch we headed towards Bryce Canyon. The scenery was beautiful and we were able to enjoy a paved bike path (where I got my first flat tire of the trip) just before the park turnoff. The remaining 77 miles I owed Janeal and Jerry brought me to the city of Tropic.

Cloyd and Kathryn Gatrell: The journey continued on Day 2. We continued on from Tropic until we got to Escalante. In the meantime I got a second flat tire that day. Lance was sweet and knew it was important to me to ride all of the miles, so he and our friend TJ fixed my tire yet again (the dollar bill trick didn't quite work on the first repair). We rounded out day 2 at 104 miles (27 miles for Cloyd and Kathyrn). Day 3 was the most scenic, but most grueling day of all. I had the most beautiful ride of my life from Escalante to the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail head. I highly recommend it. The road was like a roller coaster with hills and turns...it was awesome! We took a break and hiked the 3 miles into the falls (it was GORGEOUS...I won't count the 6 miles of walking ;)). The steepest part was next. We rode to the top of the plateau and then down to Boulder where we embarked on a tortuously long and deceptive climb over Boulder mountain (I would have preferred a few less false summits). The views were stunning and I enjoyed more solo reflection time as only 2 other people were planning on trying to finish (Lance and TJ...both much faster than me). We ended the ride in Torrey to top the day off at 65 miles. That totals Cloyd and Kathryn's trip miles to 92 miles.

To account for their other 108 miles, I rode out to the Cotton Bottom (5/1/08) by my mom's place and gave Lance and TJ a run for their money. I started with Lance, he took a little detour to meet TJ, then they didn't catch me for probably 15 miles or so. That was a great 25-miler. I did another killer ride out and over South Mountain. Man that sucker is steep. I rode past the new Draper temple, to the top of Suncrest (the hill felt like it would never end) and then over the back side down to a little school. I then climbed back up the hill and flew down the other side and all the way home. It was a very fun 60 miles (5/3/08)! Lastly I took a good ride out to Fort Union on Wednesday with a goal to maintain 20 mph again and didn't do too bad considering the wind and my big weekend to account for the last 23 miles.

Heidi and Jeremy Lloyd, Nasrin Faezi: I put in some good extra miles with my little work commute. I rode the 7 miles out to my clinic and took Redwood Road north until it ends for Heidi and Jeremy's last 13 miles. I ended out in Bountiful at my sister's house and took Main Street back to that awful frontage road that all of the gravel trucks drive on, then enjoyed a stroll down Beck Street, then past the Salt Lake Temple and up through the avenues to finish 20 miles for Nas.