Renegades

Today we were naughty. It started last night when we looked at the route from Panguich to Milford. 114 miles, with a 4000+ foot climb. And the weather was not looking good: cold, with a chance of rain.

Tom was looking at Google Maps and observed that Milford is only 78 miles by car. Part of the route parallels I-15, but there are frontage roads the whole way so we would not have to ride on the Interstate. We agreed that shaving off almost 40 miles, and avoiding climbing above 10000 feet in the mountains with threatening weather, was a good idea.

Clouds trapped in the mountains. Would not want to be up high.

We got a late start due to a spate of tire and tube issues. It started yesterday when I got a flat about 10 miles from the finish. Then, last night, we had new tires waiting in Panguich, having shipped them ahead. While changing them out, I discovered that a couple of our tubes had defective valve stems, which caused me to have to start the swap-and-pump cycle over again a couple times. Then, this morning, my rear tire was flat due to a failed patch. (Don't use the self-stick patches; the glue-on ones work much better.) Finally we rolled out about 8:30 under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 40's. About 15 miles in, my front tire went flat due to a wire that pierced the tube. Apparently I patched it in the wrong place because about 5 minutes later it was flat again. Finally I got it right and had no further issues. But between yesterday afternoon and this morning, I patched/fixed/inflated those stupid tires about 10 times.

Our makeshift route involved an early climb of about 1400 feet. It was steep in spots but manageable. Frankly, it was fun to get the blood pumping by cycling rather than changing tires.

At the I-15 intersection, where we had planned to follow the frontage roads, we discovered that they were gravel. Oops! (We had looked at them on the satellite view but the gray line that Google puts over the road makes it look paved.) At that point our choices were to ride the gravel, hitch a ride, or ride the shoulder of the interstate. I won't say what we did but I will say that we did not hitch a ride and we made very good time. Honestly, it was not too bad with the super-wide shoulder.

We may or may not have ridden on an Interstate highway

After 17 tailwind-aided miles we reached Beaver. There is a store there called "Beaver Sport and Pawn." We went in to ask about a place to eat, and to see if by chance they had inner tubes for our bikes. Mostly what they had were guns: hundreds of them, from pistols to hunting rifles to everything in between. But the guy pointed to the back, where they had this esoteric collection of bike stuff: chains, drivetrain parts, helmets, and so on. They had tubes but none that would fit our bikes. But they did have a glue-on patch kit. So for $3.27 we have a proper patch kit that will hopefully see us through to San Francisco.

B is for "Bad Boys"

Then we went across the street into a deserted pizza place. We had brought lunch food, but decided it would be nice to go inside for awhile to get out of the cold. It was not deserted for long; almost immediately it started filling up with high school kids. Apparently they dismiss school early on Fridays.

The rest of the ride was relatively moderate. We had a bit of a headwind for the first half, but then a tailwind, and arrived in Milford just after 3. Tom wanted to stop at the Family Dollar to see if he could get some leggings since the cold weather is forecast to continue. He got a lovely pair in the Ladies' section; I can't wait to see how they look!

Outside, there was a group of boys on BMX bikes that were very interested in our bikes. "What's the farthest you've ever ridden?" they asked. Boy did we have an answer for that. They were also fascinated by the clip-in pedals and the bike computers. "What's the fastest you've ever gone?" As we rode away, they kept yelling "how fast are you going now?"

I'm sure the 114 mile ACA route would have been more scenic, but after 4 very hard days in Utah it was nice to get a bit of a break. I will miss the dramatic scenery though. As it was, we did 77 miles, and are headed for Nevada tomorrow.

Bonus video (courtesy Lisa) from yesterday's uphill/upwind slog: