into the salt flats (52)

77 miles to Utah Lake, Provo, UT

First of all, I woke up this morning feeling good for the first time in at least a week, maybe more. I don’t know if I was sick, or maybe really, I mean clinically, exhausted, but I was feeling pretty bad. Waking up with energy was a great way to start the day! I went to a diner, the Balance Rock Cafe, and had to wait for them to open at 8 am. In the meanwhile I got to look around the town of Helper, which is a typical Podunk western town, except for a surprising number of art and photography galleries.

After breakfast I started riding, and started climbing. 20 miles of climbing to Soldier Summit (7477 ft). It was actually an unseasonably cool day because several wildfires have cast a thick haze over the region. (later on the day, I mistook the sun for the moon!) The first part of the ride was easy, but I took my first spill of the trip! It was a trap like no other (picture below, looking back at the scene), the rumblestrips got squirrely and forced me onto the soft shoulder, then I saw a giant pit ahead of me so turned to get back on the real road. My front wheel lost traction, them I didn’t have any momentum to get over the high curb, so just slid along it for a second until down I went. Just a scrape on my ankle to show for it, though I may have tweaked my left pedal out of alignnment.

After Soldier Summit, it was more or less 40 miles downhill to greater Provo. A strong, whippy headwind and A LOT of construction made it less enjoyable than it could have been, but overall a decent day of riding.

This place, this basin, feels like a fishbowl, especially with the thick smog from the fires. It’s like a stagnant pit, though the air is nice by Utah Lake. I haven’t actually seen the lake yet, but I know by its symptoms, birds and mosquitos, that it is there. It’s only a few yards away, but I’m separated from it by a stand of reeds that for some reason made me think of hippos!

Now I have to decide if I’m going to go straight through to Idaho, or hang around for a couple days so I can meet up with Brian and Angel (again!) in Park City on Thursday. As exhausted as I’ve felt over the past week, a couple more slow days are attractive, but I’m a lot more driven now that I’m seemingly back to normal. So again, I guess we’ll see.