15th June 2018 Friday – This was a shift and a half

Hello Everybody!

Route: Hanksville to Oak Creek Campground no Boulder instead

For the non-mathematicians out there:

Distance: 83 miles (Total 2,672)	Average speed: 9.5 mph
Calories: 2,740	Cycling time: 8h 46min
Average cadence: 71 rpm	Climb: 6,604t, Descent: 4,334ft
Heart (yes I have one): Max 137 Aver 114	Aver Temp: 29C, Max temp 40C
Temperament: It sounded like a good idea at the time

At long last, I am actually trying to hydrate myself during the night. This involves having a bottle of water in arms reach and drinking whenever I wake up during the night. The first time I woke up in my Hanksville RV (which Ruth mis-booked as we all know) I had a thought. Rather than stop at Oak Creek campground, get the tent up, cook some food, ask the flies and ants to leave my tent, go to sleep, wake up 6-8 times during the night, take the tent down [EDITOR NOTE: Al, they are getting the gist so please stop banging on]. My idea was to carry on past Oak Creek and cycle the extra 18-miles to Boulder as most of it is downhill. I spoke to Ruth in the morning to check my logic and she concurred with my idea.

So after making some breakfast in the RV, I set off around 6.59am.

Now today was different to most days as – oh let’s do a list.

List of why today is different to other days:

I am cycling a longer distance than average
I am climbing over 2,000 metres
The elapsed time will also be more than average

The first half (45 miles) was heading due West, so let us hope the wind was playing nicely. It ended up playing not so nice but the second half was heading due South so that was OK. Some days the wind changes direction as I do and that really gets on my nerves. It was also hot again but as I was trailing the Fremont river I soaked my long sleeve top and head bandana in the river at appropriate points where I could get access without falling in. I also started to wet my gloves and put my feet into the water. Happy days.

I stopped at a rest area and had a rest. I also met Wayne and Mary Ann who were visiting a number of national parks. They were from New Jersey and gave me the requisite two bottles of cool water and $20 donation to the Starlight cause. What lovely people.

Kevin took my photo at the same time,
he thought it would be a good idea

I met a nice chat called Kevin who had already cycled over 4,300 miles and was just going where his heart led him. He also mentioned that Paul, the Irish cyclist, was about half a mile up the road from me. Kevin was travelling East to my West. I left Kevin and rode off in search of Paul. I think he was the guy I heard about 4-5 weeks ago as he was a week ahead of me at that point. Anyway, I eventually caught up with him, we said hello and then I suggested we draft each other so as to share the pain of the wind.

This did not work out too well as our speeds were different and Paul likes to stop much more often than me. In the end, I said that I would carry on myself and maybe see him in Torrey, which is where he was staying.

I had lunch in Torrey at the Castle Rock Coffee. I had a very nice meal, drink and use of restroom while I was there. Also, as you do if you are me, you get chatting to the “staff”.

Shade, Jordan & Shauna

I spoke with the owner, Shauna, and explained what I was doing etc an.d we got on very well – at least she laughed roughly at the right time whenever I said something funny. She also gave me my lunch for free and donated a very nice $20 bill to Starlight. I did tip $5 as the two other staff, Jordan & Shade, should not lose their tip.

Anyway off I went with positive thoughts of a crosswind at worst. I was right it was a worse crosswind but I managed reasonably well. Time passed and the climb was a bit of a “very naughty boy”. I was certainly struggling with the heat and gradient but I plodded on. I eventually got to Oak Creek campground. Now, remember I said earlier in the blog “ as most of it is downhill”, well Ruth agreed with me but she was wrong yet again. It is mostly downhill but only after you have cycled another 4-5 miles of fairly tiresome upbits, which did my legs no good at all. I think my left leg stopped talking to me at about 1.36pm. The right leg at about 2.41pm. And then both legs stopped talking to each other at 3.55pm which is ALWAYS a bad sign.

At last

The three of us reached the summit and conversation started to take place again. It was a very nice 18-mile descent although I stopped 4 miles before the finish line due to cows. They (real cowboys) were moving the cows up into their summer fields, like it’s been snowy and all since I’ve been cycling. Lots of cars and me were required to drive/cycle slowly past the cows, which we did. The result of all this movement was that there were other movements as well i.e. cow poo all over the place. The final 4 miles passed without incident although I was dodging cow poo all the way into Boulder.

Jammy Swinhoe struck again. I went into the local shop, asked where to stay and eat and then booked into the Pole Motel, run by Corry and his daughter, Alexi. I had a fantastic meal in the Grill Trail restaurant which just looked like any run of the mill place but the food was very, very nice.

My motel room was a very pleasant cottage with plenty of room and a very nice bed. I think the bed beats the table but given how my body was feeling I could have slept on a corkscrew.

Happy dreams campers, Alan & Franklin xxx