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Day 6: Gateway to Moab (skipping the “La Sal” Hut) We actually need an “alarm” to get us up this morning – at 4:30am. Ray and Todd get Mr. Graham to take them up the first couple thousand feet, and set out ahead of us at 5:00am sharp. The rest of us leave at about 5:45 am – we need Jim and Todd’s head lights to see our way out of the hut and to the base of the mountain. The sunrise is starting, giving some beautiful pink hues over the mountain peaks ( I have at least one or two pictures of this in the link at the top of this page). This is the day we have all been both “psyched” for, and dreading. We will climb about 4,000 feet over the next 21 miles to the 6th hut, and from there replenish water and fuel (food) and take a quick rest before heading into Moab. This is supposed to be “mostly downhill”, but I’ll get to that soon enough. The total stats for today will be 6,900 ft of climbing (as much as typically is in a “century” ride of 100 miles), in 61 miles. Why torture ourselves?? If you know anything about mountain biking, you would know that Moab, Utah is the home of “Slick Rock” park – a “mecca” of sorts for mountain bikers. There probably isn’t a book about mountain biking that doesn’t mention how cool the riding is in this place. So… if we want to have some fun on these trails, we can either ride them in the middle of the afternoon (in 100+ degree weather), after riding 40 miles with gear – yeah, like THAT’S going to happen – or we can get in a day early, and ride the following day. We opt for the later plan. We start up the hill, as I started to say, and it is as magnificently beautiful, as it is challenging. There are very few “recovery” zones, but we take our time so as not to “blow up” before we even get close. Jim is feeling particularly good by this time in the trip ( he seemed to get stronger every day ), and he motors up the hill without stopping once, for a time of 1:16. Todd is not far behind him at 1:26. Bill and I stop at least twice (for pictures of course J ). Bill makes it in 1:33 and I bring up the rear at about 1:36... 20 minutes more than Jim - Ouch. That's alright, I’m just glad I made it. Somehow I forgot that the rest of the ride is also mostly up hill, but just less steep, with an occasional recovery area. Bill has already gone through 75% of his 125 oz. of water, and we have many more miles to go to the La Sal hut. Todd gives him half a water bottle and a packet of Gu (energy solution thing), and it keeps him from “bonking” completely. I don’t’ drink quite as much, but I need periodic stops to recuperate while Bill likes to “recover” while he rides. We therefore struggle a bit to stay together, but in the end, we pull each other through. Before we get to the hut, we come across a mountain stream – it looks so good I’m sure it’s a mirage. It isn’t, and I put my whole head in the stream – it gives me the “new life” to make it the rest of the way to the hut. After a 15 minute nap, some food and a full camelback of water, we are ready to do the next 40 miles. We are looking forward to some of this “lots of down hill” we have heard so much about. We get 200 feet from the hut entrance and guess what – the directions lead us UP hill, not down. Here we go again. We climb for the next 3.5 miles. It just seems like “they” (whomever THEY are) are trying to “break us”. But, we have a real hotel room, with hot food at a real restaurant, and a clean shower and clothes waiting for us in Moab – we will not be denied. We climb on, stopping several times for more awesome views. Finally, our tenacity pays off. We hit the top of the canyons, and see that we have a very substantial descent coming up; about 4000 feet of descending to be exact. We stop mid way down the hill so I can check the directions, so we do not ‘blow by” a turn. The directions keep saying “stay straight” for about the next 5 or 6 points on the map, so we “crank it up”. At one point we hit 45 MPH (pretty scary, but fun). The road finally levels out, and we are going through “Castle Rock” area with the most incredible rock formations we have ever seen in our lives. They were breath taking. We draft each other on and off, take pictures, do moving video, etc. Then it occurs to us – perhaps we should check the map again. You guessed it – we missed a turn. We had seen a sign that said MOAB 35 (with a left arrow) and MOAB 30 (with a straight arrow), naturally, we took the straight way. After all, the directions I read a short while ago said straight for most of the ride. Turns out, we should have gone left if we were going to follow the “Hut Tour” way – it was no doubt another “Godly intervention” saving Bill and I from almost certain defeat. The “left” way took Todd and Jim (the kings of the mountains) them over 3 more monster climbs, and of course another 5 miles more than what we rode. Bill and I decided to take the straight road along the Colorado River into Moab. Had we gone left, we might still be in Utah somewhere. Now, it’s starting to get really hot. We are well down from our “cooler elevations”, and the temperature is over 100 degrees. Yes, it’s a dry heat, but it’s still ONE HUNDRED DEGREES. I’m starting to hit the wall, and I’m looking for any shade where I can stop and “regenerate”. There is none – not a tree, not a car “pull off” area, nothing. We continue to hear the tar bubbles bursting as our tires roll over them. By the way, the scenery is still magnificent – we are riding along the river and we have thousand feet cliffs on our left, and occasionally on both sides of us. But the heat is still zapping us big time. Just as I thought I couldn’t go any more, I see a sign that says “Sandy Beach Ahead”. I think it’s some sort of “joke” or “silly name” out here in the heat of things. We get there, and it really is a white sand beach along the Colorado River – and people are swimming there. I quickly park the bike, take everything off except my shorts, and jump in. I’m in heaven again. Knowing we are now getting quite close to Moab (11 miles according to the local swimmers), we are re-energized to go on. As we pull out of the parking area, Bill gets a flat tire – on the pavement. How ironic is that?!? No flats for 200 miles of dirt roads, but we get one on the pavement 10 miles from our destination. We put air in it, and keep riding till we find some shade at a rest area to change it. Had we tried to change it in the sun, without even a warm breeze blowing on us (which we get when we ride), we would have been “cooked” in two minutes. After the only “mechanical” we’ve had between the two of us (a miracle in its own right after more than 400 miles combined riding), we mount up once again for the last 5 miles or so. These become VERY long miles indeed. We’ve been on bikes for nearly 8 hours, our water is beyond warm, it’s down right hot, our “saddles” are mighty sore, and we are SO ready to see civilization. We finally get to the “T” where one left turn takes us right into the heart of town, and we end up passing about 2 dozen hotels before we find ours – at the far end of the other side of Moab. We are the last two to arrive, but more importantly, everyone is in the hotel, everyone is safe, and everyone made it – including the two “newbies” to mountain biking, Ray and Paul. Up until yesterday, we would not have even imagined that they would attempt the “double up” move – even with a hitched ride up the hill (it only cut off about 4 miles and 2,000 feet or so). But here we all are. We showered (slow and long of course) and went and had a glorious meal at the first restaurant our tired feet would take us to. It was beyond a grand day – it was completely victorious!
More pictures for this day can be seen by clicking the button at the top of this page. A sheet of "thumbnails" will be displayed, and you can click on them to see the full size/full picture.
We traveled WEST or Right to Left looking at the map, but the profile below reads left to right.
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