Noodle Time!

Day 55 - July 28. 8:20pm
92 miles. Green River, UT to Capitol Reef National Park, UT

You know how no matter how tired you are when you wake up, as long as you wash up and eat you start to feel fine? Well that works until you get out on a road in the middle of nowhere and start biking for 90 miles. The nodding off was pretty tough this morning due to the 4:30 wakeup and i wasn't the only one feeling it. Its pretty concerning actually since i almost couldn't physically resist closing my eyes. That would not have made for the safest riding.

Today was more of the same ridiculous desert terrain, like sand dune status. Seriously, we might as well have been in the middle of a scene from Star Wars. We were on the road with the sun at 6:30 and it was gorgeous. The temperature was also perfect for riding.

The lunch nap was crucial and in general the ability to sleep on command on this trip has been a much appreciated new skill i've acqured. Though im sure anyone pushed to their physical limits would probably be able to do the same. At lunch today we were visited by the "Grim Sweepers" aka Ryan Farr and Lara covered in black robes and wielding huge scythes. Super props for coming up with that and riding 40 miles in black robes for the sake of a joke. Awesomeness.

The riding really couldn't have been less eventful. The exception was the green swimming noodle we found on the side of the road! Carlie rode with it on her camelbak for 50 miles as we dubbed her Green Vengeance. It stuck out on either side so it was almost like bike jousting which was fun.

Oh yeah, what did happen was we were greeted by the most ferocious headwind ever. And lucky us, it was on an uphill. No creature should ever have to be in first gear struggling for their life to go 6mph on almost flat ground. Headwinds suck, really they do.

Also, we passed by this random motel which randomly had this sign out front saying "Bike and Build Special" Apparently he was not the busiest and heard about us at a gas station and decided to see if he could make a buck giving us a discount. He definitely made sure to emphasize "how far behind" we were from the rest of the group.

The park here is really nice and has some cool huge rocks and cliffs but not mindblowing like the other two we've been to. But camping is still super fun albeit a bit less novel. At the entrance was this nice waterfall where we stopped to take a dip. We also did some cool riding along this narrow fast flowing chute which looked so fun with the little kids flowing along it. Suffice it to say that after riding through it once, we from then on referred to it as the waterslide of death. I can't find my camera charger(ugh!) so pictures are limited for the next few days which is unfortunate.

No pushups for the last two days which bothers the routine craving side of me, but is cool since ive been really exhausted and it would just be pointless and hasslesome to push myself like that. I think working smarter, not harder, is the key to this one.

I'm also happy that i really followed through with my promise to myself to be stress free today despite the long riding. By the 80th mile we were all exhausted and the headwind was still kicking. Most surprisingly, as usual, i was super duper crazy hungry right before pulling into camp(which seemed like it would never appear) but i didn't let myself complain or let it actively affect my demeanor. Fortunately dinner crew came up with 25 POUNDS OF PASTA! for today and tomorrow's camping. Seriously, heaven in my stomach. The only thing i love more than food, is lots and lots of food. And the only thing more than that is probably eating lots and lots of food with a pretty girl. You get the picture. Tonight i was happy.

I'm shooting to sleep in the next 30 min. 9pm will be unprecedented for me. Again it was funny how we all cheered when we heard about the 5:30 wakeup. Its basically like sleeping in! Love camptime!