Month: July 2012

Rest day in Hanksville UT Miles 1.0 Total Ascent 0 ft (ascent from www.bikeroutetoaster.com) Can you say VEGETATE? We enjoyed a prolonged and meager continental breakfast at the nextdoor Stan’s Burger Shak.  We did enjoy reading the many wall hanging with cheesy and clever witticisms, e.g.: “I have flabby thighs – it’s a good thing my stomach covers them.” After breakfast, in the adjacent convenience market, Jack and I slowly explored every item on every shelf.  I especially got stuck on all the clever little camping items you can buy, like little pooper scooper shovels and fire starting kits.  I

From Torrey UT to Hanksville UT Miles 49.6 Total Ascent 531 ft (ascent from www.bikeroutetoaster.com) Comfy quiet rest last night, followed by the usual free but ho-hum continental breakfast, including waffles, coffee, raisin bran, and OJ.  Still, an improvement over the trail mix breakfast of yesterday. At first we climbed east on SR24, which then turned into some quick descents, with speedy segments of 8% 2 or 3 times.  We encountered an area of chip seal and more downhills, which our Surlys with 35mm tires handled quite well. At the western edge of Capitol Reef National Park, Jack pulled up

From Calf’s Creek Campground UT to Torrey UT Miles 49.8 Total Ascent 5,511 ft (ascent from www.bikeroutetoaster.com) My trusty Thermarest mattress has started leaking, but it’s a very slow leak, requiring only a few puffs throughout a full evening.  At least the soft red dirt was comfortable all by itself.  The stars were stupendous, and I left the tent fly open all night, peering up into the night sky at all hours. At 7AM, I noticed that Jack was already up and out of the tent.  Immediately I could see that he was looking much better, an immediate relief.   We