almost in colorado

im going to be brief here because im sitting on the patio of a closed coffee shop and because a few nice people at st. joseph's catholic church are cooking us dinner here in monticello, UT. briefly, we went from hanksville, UT to natural bridges state park in UT (no towns anywhere near) and are now in monticello. Luckily we found a few cool places to camp out and have continued to have very scenic riding.

i think the ride into hanksville was about 92ish coming from boulder. the ride was gorgeous as we were told. we stopped at a beautiful state park again (im blanking on it right now) where we got a few citations - one for painting on the road in a national state park and two for having an unplanned event (i guess lunch is now an "event" - i swear, utah is the land of rules) then hit some bad, head/side wind for about 40 miles. eventually caught a tailwind that blew us into the camp grounds.

coming out of hansville, we started a little later while jen finished her presentation at hanksville elementary school (those kids were great, full of questions and comments). the first 30 or so mile to the first rest stop was great as a few of us warmed up then started pacelining at a good speed. the next leg was a bit painful with more bad wind and some climbs that were tougher than we expected. views were still amazing as we crossed through glen canyon and also the colorado river. had a lunch stop that was on a ledge in the canyons that let you see for miles in all directions. next leg was tough because of the climbing, wind, heat and the lack of rest stops as our support team was running errands. nate and i, and later, josh hammered out about 35 or so together then waited for another pack of riders. finished the day in the pack with nate, josh, dave, jen, linc, and van as we crossed the century mark again. was pooped by the end, but had a few hrs to check out the natural bridges before sundown. slept in front of the stars again as the temps dropped to just below 32 - apparently this part of utah has the least air pollution and therefore the best star-gazing in the states.

me: "ill finish up in a while...."

three hours later... (now on bobby's computer)

alright, im back. i know i didn't have to make this chronological, but it only makes sense because now i am not sitting on that patio, i'm in the church. so today was a nice break from yesterday. started out with a fairly easy climb to 7100ish ft (i think) from somewhere in the low 6000's. i got a little cocky after i saw some competitive spirit in the other riders. one specific rider stayed close until the last 100 or so meters before the summit (remember the sprints to the new city limits, summits or state lines?) then took off thinking he would reach first. i toyed with him for a little, letting myself recover then flew by in the last 20 yards. all in good fun though. rest of the day was pretty reasonable. had a bunch of rolling hills, some steep, some not so much. short day though, finished with about 63 or so. the people at the church made a great meal with "navaho" tacos which were on a fried soft bread (something between naan and puri), enchiladas and all the fixings. dinner was great and thier company was as well. afterwards, on the way back from loading some laundry nate and i strolled into this place called "MD Ranch Roadhouse" right across the street from where we are staying and convinced the nice people there to move karaoke from friday to tuesday, which they did eagerly. some notables were "gangsta's paradise" (nate and i), "macho man" (kel), "dead or alive" (nate and kel), "i will survive" (cory, bobby and i) and some classics like "sweet caroline" (jen, steph, marianne and samara), "respect" (all ladies), and "summer lovin" (jen, steph and marianne - nate, van and i). the best part was when all the guys surrounded marianne on stage and sang "that loving feeling". a fun night again. karaoke night #1 a success.

time for bed, a little warm in here and i think it smells a little like a combination of eggs, mothballs, and new carpet. guess it is what happens when you cram a bunch of people in a small space made for serving food.

pictures to follow