Day 50: Escalante, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT

• Distance: 49.33 mi
• Elevation: 3,658 ft
• Dedication: Spencer Wiersberg and Uncle Tim
• Ride group: Rose and Bethany, later picked up Santi
• Host: Ruby’s Inn RV Park and Campground/Best Western

One thing I forgot to mention about yesterday– it was a mail drop, which meant that our pack-up this morning was a bit of a mess. We have limited personal packing space which means that people often don’t have space in their bags to add the boxes of stuff they receive, which means those boxes get stuffed in the vans. Add the additional challenge of downsizing to a 13-passenger van and you have a chaotic morning!

We started off with only a mile-long ride to a nearby park for breakfast. Our hosts in Escalante were so wonderful and really treated us well while we were there. After breakfast I started out riding with Rose and Bethany. We have quite a few injuries/ailments and are down two teammates since we started so our groups have been a little smaller recently, which I don’t mind, especially when I have a group like today and we’re all committed to taking it easy.

The first 20 miles were slightly uphill until a steeper climb up to the summit for the day. It wasn’t too taxing but also wasn’t easy– it is mentally challenging to be grinding up what looks like a flat or gently uphill road for hours. Along the way we picked up Santi, who started out in Bryce’s ultra-fast 4K birthday group but dropped back. Santi is a very strong rider but has been having some knee issues, which sucks but does mean I’ve been riding with him a lot more as our ride groups shift throughout the day.

We made it to the top and had a nice water stop at the summit pull-off, where we met several groups of friendly tourists who were interested in our ride. One couple on their honeymoon even donated and added some names to our “why we ride” window on the van. We then had the best part of a climb: a descent! The road was beautiful with smooth curves so I finally broke 40 mph (by far, 47 mph!). Descending can be scary but it’s also exhilarating. My eyes were watering by the time I reached the bottom but all the strife of climbing for 20 miles was gone.

The rest of the ride was pretty straightforward. We “had” to hide out in a coffee shop for a while to avoid an encroaching thunderstorm (we would’ve stopped there anyway) but only had 10 miles left from there. About half of that was a decent climb through what I believe was part of Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a beautiful route and steep, but honestly not that bad after all we’ve been doing the past few weeks. Bethany did half of it with a flat rear tire! On Day 3, one of our toughest climbing days, Bethany famously refused to take breaks as we were climbing because she said she would not be able to get started again if she stopped. She has not lost that mentality in the past 47 days and decided pushing a little harder with a flat was better than stopping entirely to change it.

After changing the flat at the top we only had a few miles to cover to our host. Unfortunately, the storm that missed us hit our campsite very hard after host van had already set up our tents. By the time we got there it was fine, but I think a lot of people got spooked by the idea of sleeping in a wet tent and reached out to a nearby hotel. They were able to get a few rooms donated, but I was partial to sleeping outside instead of in a hotel room with seven other people. The hotel rooms were very large but I really wanted to camp! Typically we avoid having the team sleep at two separate locations but the hotel was right next to the campground and we had a small enough group camping that it wouldn’t be a total logistical nightmare to get us all back. Maggie, Bailey, Mike, Mary, and Greta joined me camping and had a really nice night talking, attempting to grill hot dogs, and hanging out in some hammocks. I’m going to try out sleeping in my hammock for the first time– I really don’t know if I’ll like it but I want to try it out at least once!

Until tomorrow,

Lauren