MAA – Day 7 – All Roads Are Not Created Evenly

When I headed out today, it was smooth sailing! I was going downhill and even had a bit of a tailwind! What a difference a day makes! And then I hit the service road I would be on for most of the day. Turns out it was a road that is not maintained. They weren’t kidding either! For the most part, keeping up a good pace depends on your fitness level, weight of/on the bike, wind speed and direction, elevation gain and road surface. I learned quickly today that road surface is a really big factor. The road was bumpy and gravelly and beat me up for 30 miles.

It wasn’t all bad, though. I met some really good humans. Work crews were out doing major work on the Union Pacific railway which ran parallel to the road I was on. At one point, a truck stopped near me, and the supervisor got out and came towards me. He asked if I was riding all the way through on the road. When I answered in the affirmative, he radioed along the work line and warned them all that I was riding on and asked all the guys to keep an eye out for me especially when coming out onto the road. How kind! Then, every time one of their trucks passed me, they stopped to ask how I was doing and if I needed anything! LaVoy, stopped to give me cold water and a couple of ketone packs (Pruvit Max). And the last one I saw, offered me a cold Gatorade, a package of nuts, and use of their portapotty. What a great group of guys!

I met up with the Sag Team at 40 miles and then I was off again. The road was nice and smooth and I was making up time – For 10 miles. Then the road turned to gravel. It got deeper and looser the further I went. I made it about 5 miles as it went uphill and then disappeared all together. Needless to say, I backtracked, called in the Sag team, and they gave me a carry of about 20 miles around it until the route connected with us again. Smooth sailing into Salt Lake City! Phew!

As a side note, our coffee maker stopped working so no coffee this morning. Not a good thing if you know me (or Mr. Sag). Poor girl! I had to get my coffee from an Rx bar. I think it saved me from a full blown head ache!

Song of the day: I had to go back to Journey for motivation –

Pics of the day – You’ll see the road surfaces!

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Next up…more mountains!

Ride on!