Thursday, May 20, 2010
Day 18: The Hogback
96.5 miles. Averaged 12.7 mph. Guess the legs were feeling pretty good today. There were some really steep climbs, but we made it to Boulder, UT. We made two stops, one in Tropic (just past Byrce Canyon) and the other in Escalante. In Tropic we met a local who said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid used to hide-out in the area. We'll take his word for it seeing as his relatives were the first white settlers in Tropic. He also said the town looked at him as their Robin Hood aka Russell Crowe.
After that stop we saw two other riders traveling the opposite direction. We stopped and talked to find out they started in Virginia Beach on March 22nd. They said they had been taking a lot of rest days and that Kansas was terrible because of the wind. Sorry to say Corey and Tom, but hearing that made us feel so good. We can't wait to start really cranking in the flats. When we made it to Escalante we weren't surprised to find another Subway/Gas station there. You should not be surprised to hear that we stopped there again. After some needed rest we tacked on another 26 miles. We've been anticipating three of these miles ever since we've received the maps. On them, Adventure Cycling describes this stretch as follows:
"On map 36, the highlight (or terror) on this section is The Hogback south of Boulder. It is a 3-mile stretch of narrow two-lane road along a ridge spline with no shoulders or guardrails and has drops on both sides. Ride carefully and defensively."
Oh, and don't look down. It was a terrifically terrifying view on that road. Their description was very accurate and now we can check that one off the list. In Boulder we found a nice place with a pavilion in the back to camp under. Hopefully no one will mind. Cooked some beef stroganoff for dinner and then went to bed. We have another nasty climb tomorrow but then it's all downhill from there, well, sort of.
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thanks again for the post boys...beautiful country! looks just like Troy (hah!)...have another great day...John
ReplyDeleteOoooh baby - The Hogback... good to see you guys made it through there alright. I went camping last night also, but for an entirely different purpose...
ReplyDeleteMike (and Tim), What a great adventure! Andrew gave me the address today so I can follow you guys. I started touring two years ago. I know, I am little slow. Good luck, have fun and I will keep up with you now. I am watching for when Brooks joins in the fun. Trevor Smith
ReplyDeletePS. I will figure out how to register later so I am not anonymous anymore. Right now I am at school.