new state, new terrain

couple of pics that i stole from nate will be posted soon - website isn't working for some reason.

missed a day of blogging so i will try to catch you all up. i noticed that the comment train was on fire for a few days, but then died down quickly. im not going to tell you what to do, but it is very encouraging for me to see little comments, even if they relate to nothing (for example "sonia is THE cutest baby ever", or "don't fall asleep on the bike" or "say team ramrod")

left panaca after being well cared for by the people of lincoln county high school where the students donated 200 dollars to our efforts and the administration gave us access to everything that we needed. thanks again. van and bobby gave what looked to be a phenomenal, interactive presentation to all the students there (just under 200 - for all four grades). because of our long day ahead, we had to leave after the initial introduction. started the day with a big climb up to from 4500ish to 6700 ft over about 12 miles. since it was early, my legs were fresh, but didn't get a proper warm up as the climb seemed to start from the high school. after the climb we all noticed that the cold has officially started. we crossed the nevada-utah border to find cold temperatures and strong winds forcing about 12 people to pile into the jump car to warm up at the first break. i don't even know if it was all that cold, but we had all just sweat our way up a big mountain then descended and were not geared properly for the cold (at least i wasn't). rest of the day stayed windy and cold with the exception of the second climb. descended the mountain to find about 15 miles of heavy side and head wind that made the last few hrs a miserable experience. surprising how much your morale drops when your being slowed by heavy, gusty winds. thought we were heading for a few smaller towns, specifically pioche (PIOOOCHE!) or ely, but pretty much saw nothing until we hit our destination in cedar city. had the two-week guest cyclist, josh, with us pushing us most of the day and added another who looks a bit like lance armstrong and is a serious cyclist (bobby's coworker in atlanta - linc). josh taught us this new game (actually holder told us about it but josh is executing) where every city limit sign, summit sign, or state line you race to - he beat me at the first summit, whereas i got utah and the second summit of that day (thanks to dave running over his own foot somehow).

cedar city has been very nice so far. has about 20-30k people and a small university (suu - providing our showers) but has little comforts like coffee shops with internet, bike shops and multiple food choices. had a 7am lecture about healthcare access, caitlin, chris and i gave a lecture about infectious disease to a few people from valley view medical center where they provided us a great lunch. have another event at 530 today at the church we are staying at (st. jude's episcopal) with dinner and a group of young people. but before then, i have a massage to get (yess!).

and tomorrow, we apparently hit close to 10,000 feet on a two hour climb into the sky. hopefully our guest cyclists are willing to help drag us up the mountains. heading towards more camping and tiny towns, will blog where i can. peace.