Meeker to Vernal Utah

As we woke up early this morning at 4:30, we realized that there was a long stretch of land for us to tackle. We had 103.9 miles of road to cycle, a state border to cross and dinosaur skeletons to see at the Dinosaur National Monument. The fortunate part was that at the last moment we found a church willing to host us in Vernal; we no longer were camping. We love camping but after a Century Ride, I think that is when it reaches our limits.

The first half of the ride was beautiful and some of the easiest riding we have had all year. It was almost all downhill out of Meeker and this started us on a high note for the day. I was sweep with Laura (the designated last 2 riders), and when we got to the first lunch basically everyone was already gone. Generally, Sweep catches up to some riders within the first lunch stop but due to the downhill this was not the case. Basically, everyone went really fast to first lunch!

The next 30 miles to our 2nd lunch stop was not as nice to our group. It was a little more uphill, the wind picked up and the road conditions were not as nice to us. During this leg of the trip, our group just how ‘middle of the nowhere’ we were. We had not seen any type of businesses the whole trip until the 70 mile mark in Dinosaur. We had a great lunch stop right near a store that sold Homemade Ice Cream. Since it was a tourist spot, the prices were much higher than our budget as not many people bought anything from the store. I got the chance to talk to a real nice lady from Aspen who was awed by our group. She let me try her Milk Shake and it was amazing, afterwards she took a picture of our group. It was a nice trade, she got a picture and I got some of her Ice Cream.

I cannot forget to mention that right after our 2nd lunch, we entered into the great state of Utah. We were in Colorado for almost 3 weeks, it is hard to believe that we finally have left the state. Thank you Colorado for a grand time, and the next 5 days in Utah should be fun.

The last 35 miles of the ride were a mixture of up and downhill but what really hurt the group was the heat. The temperature got above 100 and the sun was blaring on us through that dry Utah heat. Most riders stopped at any shady spot they could find between Dinosaur and Vernal. These two spots consisted of an Educational Scenic Outlook and the Visitors Center (there was nothing else!).

As we made our way into Vernal after our 104 miles, we were welcomed by a gigantic dinosaur! Of course people got some great pictures with this fine symbol of welcoming our group. Instead of the picture, I decided to bike into the fountains of water, to cool down from the long ride. I was absolutely soaked but was worth it!