A new wave of loneliness is upon the 2023 Bike America Team. Less and less do signs of civilization appear in sight from the roads we ride on, so much so that the they and their signage are our only company at times. Yesterday’s ride was truly a gauntlet in terms of its length, terrain, heat, and the endurance needed to combat all of these. Our longest official ride of the summer, this nearly 113-mile-long route took us into our twelfth state: the Beehive State of Utah. Luckily, the following day in Vernal came as an opportunity to recover from such a feat. Completing a ride such as this truly demonstrates how far we have come as a team in our fitness and how we incorporate that onto the bike.
Angry veloci-riders at the Utah sign.
Jon and Jean pass by the Kenny Reservoir at mile 53.
Ride Overview
Mileage: 112.8
Elevation: +3964’/-4806’
General Direction: Ride south and onto west state highway 13, then take the right fork to begin state highway 64 at mile 3.7, remain on this road until mile 76.8 and turn left onto U.S. 40/Brontosaurus Blvd., continue for 32.2 miles into Utah and the town of Vernal, turn right onto N 500 E and left onto 500 N, follow for two miles and turn right into the stayover parking lot.
Points of Interest: North end of Colorado Plateau, White River, Green River, Dinosaur National Monument (near), Rocky Mountains
Tales of the Trail
The day began with a record 4:00 AM wakeup call in order to minimize heat and headwinds later in the day. By the time we rode out, the suns rays had barely began to touch the sky. Meeker was gone almost as quickly as it had come, and the sun rose as we began to roll onto one of the loneliest roads of the ride so far, Colorado 64. The road twisted between shrubby foothills, sedimentary mountains, and cool-looking rock formations, turning more into true desert with every mile. A solid start on this mostly downhill 60 miles brought us into the quiet town of Rangely around 9:00 AM.
Just outside of town, pre-sunrise.
Jon (with plate), Jean, Olivia, and Adam finishing an early climb.
Sunny meadows and long bike shadows surround Group 1.
After a breakfast stop at a local café, we climbed an uphill section through some sandy hills littered with very large bugs. By the time we reached the town of Dinosaur (yes, Dinosaur) just a few miles from the Utah border, the heat was nearly in full force at a toasty 90 degrees. We then turned left onto U.S. 40, made a quick stop at the thematic border sign, and admired the desert mountains drawing up from the littered highway. The riders pedalled away and finally reached the century mark at around 1:00 PM. At this time, headwinds were picking up as we crept steadily uphill, and the sun beat down on the ride groups. The last 12 miles were quite grueling as we reached both new lengths in mileage and new levels of perseverance toward finishing our record length ride. As we reached into the town of Vernal, we were greeted by Dinah the giant pink dinosaur, a beacon of hope for the tired but triumphant cyclists.
A delightful halfway point breakfast stop.
Following the White River.
Our epic van driver for the day, Nina, takes the sign’s message to heart.
Tonight and tomorrow night, we will be staying at Uintah High School, home of the Utes. The staff allowed us to use their showers and laundry machines as well as donated a few items of food for the following days. We were also graciously donated an entire meal at La Cabana, a local Mexican restaurant. We went out for ice cream as per usual and slept in, eager for our rest day.
Van crew + Dinah.
Patrick, Hanna, Jonathan, Nabeel, and Paul (NP) finishing out the day.
The team with the epic staff of La Cabana. Thank you Silvia!
The Rest Day
Today, we celebrated the first of our birthdays on the ride: the awesome Olivia Ross! We made sure to celebrate with a cake and a very memorable card right after our Jimmy John’s dinner provided by our hosts. During the daytime, riders mainly relaxed, talked to family, caught up on some sleep, or cleaned their bikes. A few teammates explored downtown, a small group consisting of Paul, Jean, Jaylen, and Sam R hiked to the McKonkie Ranch Petroglyphs, and we added two more Portraits to this year’s compilation.
Breakfast for the early risers.
The Sams and Ed meet a friend at a local shop.
Sam, Jean, Paul, and Jaylen (NP) hiking along the petroglyph canyon.
Cyclist’s Corner
Today’s Rider: Jean Lin
How are you today? It’s really nice that we have a rest day tomorrow, but it seems like there isn’t a lot to do here in Vernal, so it will be great for us to be able to relax and call our families.
In your opinion, what makes a good I4K teammate? Someone who’s patient with other’s speeds, tries to be involved in team activities, and help others if they need it.
Where was the best ice cream you’ve had so far? I liked Black Cat in Des Moines, I had strawberry lemonade sorbet and I really liked it!
How have you improved in handling the bike during the ride? Long climbs were something I had never done before, but I’ve gotten myself into the mindset of “slow and steady”, which helps me to finish them.
If you could snapshot one favorite or at least special sight, place, or moment in your mind that you’ve experienced on the bike, what would it be, where was it, and on what ride day? The day we climbed up to 12,000 feet from Idaho Springs to Frisco, Colorado. It was really cool to see snow on the mountain. It was a super tough long climb and seemed like it was taking forever but by going slow and steady, we were there in time. It’s really ridiculous to think that one can bike up to that height and that it’s almost the same height as the tallest mountain in Taiwan.
In ten words or less, how will you remember this ride when we complete it? Once in a lifetime challenge, memorable lessons learned from this.
Please visit the rider profiles page on the website to learn more about this year’s riders! :)
