The temperature was upper 50’s with blue skies and wind out of the south East. It reached lower 70’s by ride completion. We have been blessed with great weather so far!
Our route took us in a Southeasterly direction. We had many turns on our route sheet. At times it seemed like we were going in circles. The first 30 miles was getting out of Salt Lake City and it’s suburbs. We had great views of the snow topped Wasatch Mountains as we rode.
Our only SAG stop today was at 29 miles. Today we had home-made cookies made by my dear wife. I proudly announced to the riders that were enjoying them that my wife made them and shipped them for the riders to enjoy. Those partaking were enthusiastic in their appreciation and asked me to to pass their sentiments on to Pat. Hetty said that she and Piet had cookies at the SAG stop and also put one in their pocket to enjoy later. Others came up to me in the hotel and raved about them saying be sure to tell Pat Thank You! I think we will be enjoying them a couple more days. There must have been 4 dozen. Thanks Honey!
At one point in the ride we could not find the street for our turn. We took one that was not labeled but we thought was right only to find a street sign sometime later that wasn’t what was called for. So we retraced our route a miles or so but couldn't find the street identified on our route sheet. We finally found a post lady to ask. She informed us that the street names had been changed and directed us to the correct route. This resulted in adding about three miles to the day.
During the second half of the ride today, our route took us on University drive right through the campus of Brigham Young University. It is an attractive campus.
When we were about 8 miles from the finish we saw a Dairy Queen. Rick and I decided to take a little break and get a refreshing dairy treat. I got a strawberry shake and he got hot fudge Sunday. Refreshed we resumed our journey arriving at the hotel at 1:45.
Yesterday on our off day I had a nice conversation with Jose one of my fellow riders. He had set up his computer at a table in the hotel hallway. Jose is from California and was from Laredo Texas originally. He is retired from a career in education as a school counselor. Jose is 69 years young and has dreamed of doing a cross country bicycle tour for years. He has a wife and three grown children. I asked him if his family was excited for him to do this trip. He said they were very supportive and that he decided he should not wait any longer to do it. Jose is a strong rider and we see each other frequently during the ride and sometimes ride in the same group together. He is an enthusiastic man. One day he passed a whole group of riders near the end of the route cheering and taking pictures of riders he passed. It is a pleasure to meet and be able to spend time with people like Jose.
3 comments:
Hello Jay. The Motion Based map of your route today makes it clear that a trip across the U.S. is not a straight west to east shot. You traveled almost due south at the start before veering to the southeast toward the end.
Richmond temperatures have returned to summer normal and have been hovering around 90 and bringing many riders out for RABA rides. There was a good turnout on today's ABC ride.
Keep pedalling,
Ron
HI Jay.
We're really enjoying the descriptions of your daily experiences. I'm sure the rest day in Salt Lake City was a nice change of pace and the recovery time was probably much appreciated.
Although the temperature has moderated in the Shenandoah Valley, 90 degrees with high humidity still gets your attention when pedaling up Mole Hill and some of the other hills in the area. Early morning rides are much more pleasant than the after work ones. I'm surprised that the temperatures you've been encountering have been so cool. Do you know if those temperatures are seasonal or if they are unusually cool?
I am curious about the types of bikes that the tour members have. Are there some recumbent bikes? It would be my guess that the person who went 52 mph(I think I read that on Rick's blog) was on one!
Enjoy the cookies Pat sent you as well as those strawberry milk shakes and keep the big wheels turning.
Hi Jay, Jay here (the other one!)
We are holding small group here tonight and have been hearing the updates from Pat. Hope you are well now and back up to par. I have been following your page about every other day or so and admit that I am envious of the locations you getting to see. Take care of yourself-stay healthy!
Jay
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