Duchesne to Provo

My van ride from Vernal to Duchesne as Trip Leader was short and simple. The most exciting part was a hospital that landed in front of our lunch stop in Myton. It is not worth writing about really.

So after a day off the bike, I was ready for another big challenge! This time we only had 95 miles but that included a mountain pass through the Swatche Mountains. I took up sweep again today through a trade with a rider, but that means that I no longer will be Sweep again for the whole route.

The first 55 miles were all uphill as we made our way out of Duchesne. We passed Starvation Reservoir and the bridge we went over tempted me to jump in the water. I decided against it and rode on to find a distressed rider waiting for the van to pick her up. The stomach bug claimed yet another victim for the day!

After the stop, the real uphill started as we went through the mountains. It was amazing how it could go from arid desert like conditions to beautiful mountains so quickly. It was absolutely beautiful on a fun road up a mountain and I was thankful it was not the winter time. Apparantely they get snow by the foot with horrible wind drifts that can close the main road for days.

After our beautiful lunch on Strawberry Reservoir we climbed to the top of the Summit in a group of 4. From there on, it was straight down hill for 25 miles as we took our way down watching out for big trucks and cars hogging the road. The headwind also made it so there was no way to fly down the mountain.

We made it 2nd lunch in no time and it was at beautiful Deer Creek Lake, a manmade reservoir on top of Provo Canyon. We hit up a local restaurante for ice cream as we enjoyed watching all the big boats on the lakes. We finally decided it was time to finish the ride as we went down Provo Canyon.

On the ride down, Avalanche Warning Signs blanketed the road as we went through beautiful mountains. There was a gigantic shoulder for us to bike safely down on, and we eventually found a bike path along the river. We saw Bridal Veil Waterfall and it was absolutely stunning. We also biked past the huge football stadium for BYU as we are in its home for these 2 nights.

As we made it down to the church at 7:15, we realized it had taken us more than 12 hours to get from Point A to Point B for the day. We laughed out of insanity but knew great stories were made. We had a great dinner brought by the parents of Amelia(rider). The hose shower was painful yet rewarding after a long day.

Tomorrow we have our day off, as we enjoy a Build Day with the local Habitat. They are real nice people here and the build should be great!