I started off the day with a big delicious breakfast at Mark's to give me energy for the day. I then headed to the nearby Staples as I had some paperwork that needed signing for my job starting in September. When I was done, I gave Mark a call and he came to meet me. He rode with me for the first 25 miles of the day and showed me a few sights around the city.
At one junction our path was blocked by a huge convoy of motorcycles running into town. Police cars had blocked the intersection whilst they came riding through. There must've been hundreds of them!
Mark left me where the trail passed under the US 71 and I joined the highway for a short blast towards 'Herrimen'. The road started to climb gradually and with about 15 miles left to ride I hit the start of the 'Butterfield Canyon' trail with the biggest open case copper mine in the world filling my view. This was going to be steep!
It was. It was the steepest thing I've ever climbed! The views over the cliffs were mind blowing though! I could see almost all of Salt Lake and the mountains I'd crossed yesterday. Progress was slow and I had to stop every quarter of a mile to catch my breath. When I did a swarm of flies would come to feast off my sweat, a good reason to carry on up.
At the summit, there was a small gravel car park where a quad bike rider called Brad stopped to shake my hand, ask about my route and say "proud of you". Very nice! The next couple of miles down the other side were gravel too so I had to go slow as it was tough on the brakes. I still had to stop every quarter of a mile but this time to rest my fingers and let my brakes and rims cool!
After the gravel ended the tarmac returned and I could make some good speed. I barely had to pedal the whole 7 miles down to Tooele (pronounced 'Too-ella' I'm reliably informed!). The salt flats came into view as I approached the town, and the shear scale of them.became apparent. Tomorrow is definitely going to be long and brutal.
Once checked into the motel and cleaned up, I found a local Chinese buffet to fill up ready for tomorrow. The Salt Lake area has a large Mormon following so most places are closed on Sundays.
Tomorrow is the day I've been most apprehensive of, with 107 miles across the desolate salt flats. I'm getting an early night and a very early start so that I can be on the road as soon as its light to avoid the heat of the day as much as possible. I'm also filling everything I have with water as there are no services for about 70 miles of the day. Gulp!
Miles today: 48.0
Total miles: 2498.2
At one junction our path was blocked by a huge convoy of motorcycles running into town. Police cars had blocked the intersection whilst they came riding through. There must've been hundreds of them!
Mark left me where the trail passed under the US 71 and I joined the highway for a short blast towards 'Herrimen'. The road started to climb gradually and with about 15 miles left to ride I hit the start of the 'Butterfield Canyon' trail with the biggest open case copper mine in the world filling my view. This was going to be steep!
It was. It was the steepest thing I've ever climbed! The views over the cliffs were mind blowing though! I could see almost all of Salt Lake and the mountains I'd crossed yesterday. Progress was slow and I had to stop every quarter of a mile to catch my breath. When I did a swarm of flies would come to feast off my sweat, a good reason to carry on up.
At the summit, there was a small gravel car park where a quad bike rider called Brad stopped to shake my hand, ask about my route and say "proud of you". Very nice! The next couple of miles down the other side were gravel too so I had to go slow as it was tough on the brakes. I still had to stop every quarter of a mile but this time to rest my fingers and let my brakes and rims cool!
After the gravel ended the tarmac returned and I could make some good speed. I barely had to pedal the whole 7 miles down to Tooele (pronounced 'Too-ella' I'm reliably informed!). The salt flats came into view as I approached the town, and the shear scale of them.became apparent. Tomorrow is definitely going to be long and brutal.
Once checked into the motel and cleaned up, I found a local Chinese buffet to fill up ready for tomorrow. The Salt Lake area has a large Mormon following so most places are closed on Sundays.
Tomorrow is the day I've been most apprehensive of, with 107 miles across the desolate salt flats. I'm getting an early night and a very early start so that I can be on the road as soon as its light to avoid the heat of the day as much as possible. I'm also filling everything I have with water as there are no services for about 70 miles of the day. Gulp!
Miles today: 48.0
Total miles: 2498.2
Tree graffiti from1984!
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