Last planned day - Friday the 13th!

It was Friday the 13th.  I woke at 7:00 AM and went to the hotel lobby so Jordan could sleep.  At 8:45 Am I woke him as the breakfast closed at 9:30 AM.  We had breakfast and were leaving the hotel at 10:00 AM.

While there was the change of plans after the 5th day of terrible weather in a row, I think it was a better plan.  The 200 miles from Dennehotso, AZ to Flagstaff, AZ would have been very boring and Flagstaff weather was not promising.   So we changed it up to hit more National Parks and have better rides.  As you know on day 6 we rode Zion National Park and Dixie National Forest (Bryce Canyon).  On day 7th day (yesterday) he rode the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Canyonlands National Park.   The last three days Including today) were beautiful rides, although in very hot weather.


Today we drove to Arches National Park, about an hour away.  Jordan had planned to ride the entire park and then call it a day and head home.  It was already over 80 degrees at 11:30 AM when he started the ride.  Arches as packed with visitors and the access road was very narrow.  There were other bicyclists and most people seemed to respect them.  

Since we decided not to fill up with gas earlier, we realized I need to do so before going deep into he park.  So I cut picture taking short and headed to Moab for fuel.  When I returned, I headed to the end of the park, where I expected to see Jordan. 

About a mile from the end he was riding strong.  I was going tot he arches for photos but when I got there, it was so crowded, i decided just to head back.  I found Jordan and the heat was 90 degrees so he decided to go shirtless for a while.  He said people seemed to be kinder when he was shirtless.  Could be he was more noticeable with his very white skin against all the red rock?

He was riding out of the park faster than I could drive with traffic (although I took about 20 photo's).  It was more downhill and at the end, very steep.  He reached the park entrance before I did and headed south toward Moab.  He was prepared to call it a day at the major rest stop just north of Moab, AZ.  It was where State Route 128 (SR-128), Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway connected to the trail into Arches National Forest.

He was at the rest area waiting for me and I missed the turn.  He was upset at my absentmindedness and decided to ride along the Colorado river on SR-128 and let me find him.  Long story short, I found him, and he wanted to keep riding.  He was going to get a 100 miles in, which would have placed him over 50 miles west of Flagstaff, had we continued.

I was glad we accidentally too that route.  It was a very scenic route, except of the last 10 miles.  It was about 80 miles into he ride, Jordan needed water for the second time.  Although, he said he was cramping and did not want to stop.  So he tossed his water bottle along side the road and I jogged and handed him a new one.  

We made the end of CR-128 which connected to I-70 and had no option but to load the bike.  He had been riding continuously for just under 6 hours and I felt he needed a break.  We quickly drove to Fruita, CO where he did the last 15 miles in McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area. It was 5 miles into that ride he had is second flat.  The last thing he wanted to do was to stop on the quest for 100 miles in less than 7 hours.  He did it in 6 hours and 28 minutes, and that was thought the mountains for a portion of the ride.

I think this says it all - exhausted!

As you can see above, he was spent!  I was proud,  We had our issues, but he rose through so many mountain passes I can't recall, had hail, sleet, rain, snow, and heat all in a few days.  Looking a the rough data, he had more than 42,000 feet of total climb over 701 miles.  THINK ABOUT THAT, that is just under 8 MILES up!  Now I know there were downs, but they are equally as hard as you need to ride the breaks and that causes sever hand cramps.  He surpassed his minimum goal by over 50 miles.  

We decided with the change of route, we would be able to drive back and get to Golden before midnight.  Originally, we had planned to drive all day Saturday from he west d side of Flagstaff.  So the change in plans resulted in much better rides and we now have a day to unpack before we both fly out Sunday Morning.

Over the next few weeks, I will clean up the posts and add more detail.  I am tentatively thinking of having two more posts, one is the top 20 photos of Jordan and the other, my top 20 photos.  We will see what time allows as I now have 700 photo's to process!

But my favorite to date, without looking at them all, is below.