Utah - less than 1,000 miles!
I was really excited to take on a relatively flat 107 mile day with two of my close girl friends on the team. We passed the time on the road by singing, telling stories, and playing games. We dealt with headwinds and a little bit of rain and heat. By the end of the day, we crossed into Utah, and it felt like a major accomplishment. We were also a bit delirious which led to lots of laughs and joking. All in all, it was a great fun day, but we were excited to get off the bike and arrive at our campsite somewhere around Logan, UT.The following day, everyone was in great spirits. We started the day with a great Mosher, where we sat in a circle and gave the person to our right a back massage. On top of that, we had to compliment the person in front of us. It really shows just how close the team is getting. I feel so honored to be a part of this team and to grow in friendship with them. We were also in great spirits because we knew arriving in Salt Lake City meant we would have the following day off. I was most excited because I knew I would be spending my day off with my cousin, Linda Miller. This was enough to get me to SLC. The ride was great. We were on bike trails for most of the day. Though the heat was pretty tough to deal with and there was barely any breeze. Of course, our ride ended with a huge hill climbing up to the stay-over.Salt Lake City was absolutely amazing. We stopped at the Huntsman Cancer Institute just off the University of Utah’s campus where we meet with three researchers who are beneficiaries of Damon Runyon Research Grants. We discussed research triumphs and ideas over tacos while meeting the future of cancer research. It was incredibly inspiring and motivating to meet the researchers who are using our hard earned fundraising dollars directly. I am honored to be a part of this incredible research and I pray these researchers continue to love their research and discoveries. Being with Linda was amazing. She treated me to a great salad for dinner, a pedicure, and a few drinks. It was just the taste of home I needed to get me through the last two weeks of the trip.I was also lucky to drive the van the day after the event day, which is always nice, especially on the day into Grantsville, UT. There was a crazy, steep, narrow, and rocky climb around mile 25. I was quite happy to not be on my bike, though driving the van up the mountain was also quite scary! The following day, we hit the famous Salt Flats. With some nice tailwinds and flat terrain, we were able to fly through the 95 mile day into Wendover, UT, which lies on the border of Utah and Nevada, on the cusp of the Pacific Time Zone. This is a truly bittersweet feeling, knowing we will be entering our second to last state, but we are pumped to see what Nevada has to offer!