I'm biking across the country

There were warnings of thunderstorms and tornadoes this morning so I took my time getting out of my hotel, hoping they would pass me by. I grabbed a quick lunch at a fast food place where several of the people there came up to ask me about my trip.

Got on the road at noon or so and it seemed the storms had not passed me by. It was very windy and dark and I could see darker clouds to the west.
I started out pretty slowly and there were a fair amount of hills. It started lightly raining so I pulled over to put on my rain jacket, only for the rain to stop. I continued on and as I rounded a corner I saw a low lying cloud bank and lightning flashes.

“What’s a little rain going to do?” I thought. On my left, the cloud bank hit a tall hill and splashed up over its peak. It was moving so quickly that it seemed like water. The temperature suddenly dropped. Felt like a ten degree drop but it could have been less. Then the rain came. It was pretty cold but bearable until the hail started. Then it got painful. Lots of lightning very close as well. After a mile or two of biking through the hail I stopped at a gas station and waited a few minutes for the storm to pass.

I moved on but a few minutes later the rain and hail came again, this time not lasting very long. I was completely frozen by this point so when the rain stopped I pulled over and put on warm clothes and kept on going.
The miles flew by today. Not really sure how or why, but I never stopped for a second lunch or real break.

I arrived in Tuba city and went to look for a motel when a man walked up to me and shook my hand. He was a native Navajo (did I mention I’ve been in the Navajo nation for a couple days now?) and was hitchhiking to New Mexico to visit family. He walked me to a motel and then asked for dinner. I was slightly disappointed – tons of people here beg for money and I was hoping he wasn’t one of them. But he suggested we eat together so we went to sonic and talked for a while before I bid him goodbye.

Today’s mileage: 70 miles.
Total mileage: 3072 miles.

I slept, watched a couple movies on netflix, and received a package with some tubes and a new pump.

I was up at seven this morning and packed up camp while talking to the other people at my site. Because of all of my bike problems, I had been arranging with my parents to have some extra tubes and a pump shipped to a town 90 miles ahead since I was over 200 miles from the nearest bike shop. And since I had no cell coverage I was making liberal use of the park’s pay phone. That took me back.

But before my long day I decided to see the sights at the park. It was a seven mile hilly road around the park that took me by the three natural bridges. They were pretty neat but the whole situation was a bit too touristy for me, and personally I found the canyons just as interesting as the bridges themselves.

Leaving the park, I had to backtrack another seven miles to turn south and head towards my destination for the day. I was now leaving the ACA route.
The road had more rolling hills but nothing I couldn’t handle. The worst ones are when you think it’s a short hill but it winds up being a fake summit and the hill keeps on going. If I approach these hills with the attitude that they’ll be over quickly, I wind up exerting too much energy and wearing myself out. No matter, at this point I take it all in stride.

After 20 or so miles, I came upon the edge of the mesa. A thousand feet below was the valley floor, and dozens of signs warned of the upcoming dangerous road. The speed limit dropped from 55mph to 5 mph and the road turned to gravel as it wound through tight switchbacks down the cliff wall. Luckily the gravel wasn’t very deep so I didn’t have much trouble with balance.

On the valley floor, walls of cliffs towered to my north and east while impressive buttes peppered the landscape to the south and west. Storm clouds glided across the sky, reaching down with tendrils of rain. It was very flat now and I began making good time.

I reached the town of Mexican Hat, UT for lunch and ate at the sole restaurant in town, a slightly glorified fast food joint. Filled up my water bottles since it had been 80 miles since I last saw a town, then got on the road again.

After crossing the San Juan river, I made my way up some rather steep hills before it turned flat once more. I was hit with intermittent periods of rain but they didn’t really last long enough to warrant putting on my rain jacket. The road curved from the west to the south and I entered monument valley. This is probably where car commercials are filmed – long straight roads with magnificent buttes on the horizon.

The road took me straight between two buttes after a long climb. Once I passed through them, the wind picked up and dust filled the air. Strong crosswinds with massive gusts blew me back and forth as I squinted to keep sand from my eyes. After a few miles of this the wind died down and I entered Arizona.

More flat and straight roads. A big storm cloud lay directly in front of me, but my road curved and it missed me somehow. The miles kept ticking by, some slowly and some quickly, and I reached the town of Kayenta just as darkness fell.

Today’s mileage: 95 miles.
Total: 3002 miles.

That’s the three thousand mark!

So, being stuck in Monticello, I started looking for ways out. I could try and buy CO2 from a local store but it was Sunday and every store in town was closed. I could get something overnighted but once again it was Sunday and so that would mean taking two rest days. I could get a taxi from the city 60 miles north for a couple hundred dollars. Eventually I called Matt, the local cyclist, and he once again saved the day by letting me use his floor pump to pump up my rear tire and giving me a CO2 cartridge so I could repair a flat on the road. I took his photo and got on the road. If you’re reading this, I’ll send you a cake if you want. Or pie, that’s cool too.

Anyways I headed south and grabbed lunch in the next town. Looking at my map, I had to choose between going south 30 miles to the town of Bluff or going west through 40 miles of lots of hills including a 2000 ft climb to a campground for a more scenic view. Being tired and low on repair supplies I chose the harder route that took me away from towns.

I turned west onto route 95 and headed towards many parks and recreation areas. The road had little-to-no shoulder but wasn’t too trafficked so that wasn’t a big deal. It seemed like half of the cars that passed me were white SUVs, a popular combination down here I guess. I got lots of thumbs-ups and friendly double honks. Lots of bike friendly people.

The ride started out being pretty scenic but after a while the road went through a cut in the rock and opened up into a beautiful canyon. I stopped for lots of photos before moving on and beginning my long climb from the bottom of the canyon up into the hills to the west. The day was already getting late because of my slow start in the morning, but I was slated to arrive in the campground before dark.

Crawling up hills, I watched as storms moved around me, somehow always missing me and keeping me dry. As I reached the summit over 7000 feet, I got a beautiful view of the sun setting into a distant mesa. Also, free range cows.

I rolled into the campground right before dark and all the sites were taken but someone who had passed me on the highway offered to let me pitch my tent in his site. He and his wife had been coming to this exact camp site in this park for 12 years and were there tonight to have dinner with some friends. They fed me an awesome Thai dinner before I got to bed early. Outside my tent, the wind picked up fiercely and rain came down on the high desert.

Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total mileage: 2907 miles.

At the beginning of the day I had two options: try and make it 130 miles without any places to eat or refill water to Kayenta, AZ, or go northwest and follow the ACA maps a little longer. I opted for the latter.

On my way out of town I went to look for the bike shop in town to buy some more tubes only to find that it had closed 3 weeks earlier. I still have a couple tubes though so it’s okay. On the road, I was greeted with rolling hills. Definitely out of the mountains, with miles and miles of visibility.

After a few miles I got another flat in my rear tire. While replacing it, I noticed the tire was getting a bit worn so I patched some thin spots with duct tape, lubed my chain, and moved on.

The day went on pretty uneventfully and I entered Utah. A few miles later I get another flat in my rear tire. This is starting to get old. A couple pulls over on the highway and asks if I need help. I tell them that I’m almost out of tubes, and after a couple phone calls (unlike me, they had cell service) they determine that nobody in the area sells tubes, but they know a road biker who I can contact in the town ahead.

I arrive in town and call up Matt, the biker, and he gives me a tube. Pretty sweet. I get back to my hotel room and decide to change out my rear tire with the spare I’ve been carrying. Then my pump breaks. I neglected to mention that on my last flat I got sick of endlessly pumping my tires up so I used my CO2 cartridge. So now I’m dead in the water, 60 miles from the nearest bike shop and with a flat rear tire.

To be continued…

Today’s mileage: 61 miles.
Total mileage: 2846 miles.