Sunday, July 12th, 2015
Start/End: Salt Lake City/Honeyville (Crystal Springs), UT
Mileage: 77.1+
Weather: Clear and pleasant in the morning with a lot of afternoon warming
This morning we were back on the road again with the regular routine of waking up and getting the van packed. We had a decent trip ahead of us for the day and we really did not know what to expect from the day! But we were excited. We are just so thankful for the All Saints Episcopal Church who graciously hosted us for two nights. We are so thankful that they had some mattresses for us to use, in addition to a shower and laundry machines on sight! (So basically I am saying that we now smell much better!)
Today’s ride is dedicated to a rider’s grandfather who battled a type of stomach cancer at an older age. He beat the disease but unfortunately due to the harsh treatments he received, he passed away. He had grown up in Salt Lake City so today we ride for him!
As we rolled out, we got to ride down a big hill that we pushed ourselves up just the other day. It was fun, especially since Salt Lake City seems to be very sleepy on Sunday mornings and not many cars were out. We got to ride through downtown this morning which was great to see, for those of us that did not go downtown for the day.
Shortly after that, we got on a bike trail that was pretty hopping on this Sunday morning. The trail was beautiful and shaded at the beginning. We crossed back and for over a small creek and even went through some sprinklers. After a while, we got further from town onto a trail that was not shaded and took a path along the interstate/highway in between small farms. It was a very nice path with a lot of friendly traffic. At one point, many of our groups were very close together and a cyclist came behind us and asked if we would be going any faster (as we casually road at 17-20 mph). We let him know that we wouldn’t, but he stuck with us for a while.
Before lunch, some groups had been cruising along, while others were experiencing what over 3,000 miles on a pair of tires can do (I.e. They get very worn out and prone to flats). Some groups got flats left and right from hitting sticks, thorns and thistles. While some were able to keep going, others put on new tires just to prevent more flat tubes. There were a few other weird mechanical issues with bikes today that will surely be fixed before too long! It is still a bummer to sag in the van when your bike is not working.
In the afternoon, we rolled past so many fruit and vegetable stands. They sold fresh, local peaches, apricots, cherries and so many other things, but unfortunately most of them were closed due to the fact that it was Sunday. One was in fact open though and some teammates took advantage of that. We also passed though a town called ‘Farr West’… Which is kind of an interesting, but cool named town to pass through on this journey- now we can say we are ‘Farr west’! We rolled through Brigham City where we stopped for our final rest stop of the day and some of us grabbed some extra food before arriving at Crystal Hot Springs where we will be camping for the night. There are hot/cold springs that many of our teammates have stopped at, in addition to showers!
We are very thankful for food donations of pizza from Little Caesars in Brigham City. We are very excited to start eating soon and get some good rest as this is our last full day in Utah! Tomorrow is a long day, but we will be ready.
-LAH
