| Distance | 74.16 kms | 45.98 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Climbed | 328 meters | 1,076 feet |
| Ride time (hours) | 4.91 | - |
| Avg speed | 9.3 kph | - |
| Avg climb | 2% | - |
| Max grade | 12% | - |
| Distance | 26,269.21 kms | 16,322.79 miles |
|---|---|---|
| Climbed | 274,191 meters | 899,577 feet |
| Ride time (hours) | 1,855.22 | - |
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014
I'm in no rush to get up this morning. The longer days have taken the pressure off to get on the road if I'm camping in a place where no one is going to find me (definitely the case today). I'm not up for making breakfast though. I left the stove out last night thinking I would make pancakes this morning but I settle for a banana. I leave the campsite by riding directly across a plain to the next ridge instead of following the weaving dirt road across the valley.
I planned on visiting Arches, I'm pretty close, but the vegetable incident has me low on food which would require me to go to Moab after Arches, and since I already spent a couple of days in Moab I opt to skip it and head for Green River where I can resupply. The wind is a force to be reckoned with today. After some snacks at a gas station in Crescent Junction (the only thing there), I get back on the I-70 heading west. The wind is coming from the southwest; it's a leaning the bike into the wind kind of day.
Green River is a town where modernity coexists with the abandoned vestiges of an earlier era. There's a Motel 6, a Super 8, a Comfort Inn along with an abandoned bank, some old abandoned cafes, and a few gas stations from chains that don't even exist anymore. I stop at the museum/visitor center to ask about the back roads to the south. The woman I speak to is quite knowledgeable about the area, she tries to talk me out of riding down there due to the lack of water, bad roads, wind, and possibly mud. She gives me a free trail map of the county.
Next I stop at the library to charge everything up and get on the internet. The desk is staffed by two nice elderly women who talk about the health status of their husbands and the other senior citizens of Green River the whole time I'm there. I leave fully charged and with way to much knowledge about who's got a catheter and who doesn't in this town.
Then I hit the supermarket for a bunch of food and water. The cashier is super nice. In fact, everyone in this town seems to be so. A last stop at a gas station for directions gets me pointed in the right direction. I go under the I-70 and climb a long hill into a brutal south wind until I reach the dirt road that leads to Horse Shoe Canyon. The bike is ridiculously heavy with my 4 full days of food and 8 liters of water. Neither that nor the wind are bugging me today though, I just do what I can.
I ride the dirt road for 5 miles until it comes close to the river, then I get off on the jeep tracks to reach the riverbank lined with tall trees that I'm hoping will provide a sheltered campsite. I ride up and down until I find a spot in a thicket of bushes that's probably marshy in wet season, but it provides great cover from the wind. I make rice as a base for dinner, for whatever reason I haven't cooked rice at camp in a long time and it shows: I screw it up pretty badly but dinner is still tasty. Afterwards I lay in bed listening to the wind rush like a freight train through the trees while in my cozy thicket the tent hardly flutters.
