Rose Pedals . . .: A Granny Gear Kind of Day

Thursday, September 11, 2014
Day 10 - Evanston, Wyoming to Vernal, Utah
149 miles
9,067 ft. of climbing

Today was the longest and most challenging day of the tour (so far). It was also the most scenic day of the tour, as we rode through the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which took us up an over some beautiful climbs. We met the big climb of the day right after lunch at mile 92 - a 12-mile climb with an average grade of 8%. During the climb, we had amazing views of the Flaming Gorge Dam. After we reached the top of that climb, we had about 16 more miles of ascending and descending terrain before we met a speedy-fast descent at mile 129, which took us to within 5 miles of our destination, Vernal, Utah. There was one last little climb at mile 140, just to keep us honest. We reached our hotel in Vernal just after 5 p.m., and I was more than happy to get off my saddle. I believe the feeling was mutual, because my saddle was not being very agreeable, especially in the last 30 or so miles of today's ride. Let's just say I did a lot of standing on the pedals today. Vernal is a nice little town, the main attraction of which seems to be Dinosaurland, a large recreation area that offers all kinds of activities and dinosaur-related artifacts. Art, Sid, Ed and I walked over to the local brew pub and had a very nice dinner.
It was a long day, in the saddle - just over nine hours of riding time. Another fantastic day on the bike! Now I'm looking forward to a good night's rest. : )