Segment 6: Ride Day 31 - We're on a train!! No, for real, we are!

Route: Duchesne, UT to Heber City, UT (Anytime Fitness – who kindly offered us a lovely little air conditioned yoga room for all 20 of us to sleep in. It was cozy!)

Distance: 72.9 miles

Riding Time: 6 hrs: 7 mins

Average Speed: 11.9 mph (some nice climbing up and over Daniel’s Pass to 8,050 feet… and still feeling a little lacking in energy from yesterday’s stomach bug joy)

Max:  36.0 mph

Weather: Nice. A little headwind part of the way, but otherwise not too bad. It is getting warmer though. I’m just not so sure how I feel about this, Utah.

Extra-Special Bonus Stats

Current Elevation: 5600 feet

Elevation Change from yesterday: just about 100 feet more… which isn’t really fair since we had a good bit of climbing (3,000 feet +) and zooming down the other side to get here today.

Population of Heber City, UT: 12,000 people (biggest city in a while!)

Elevation Profile of the Day:

Not too bad of a day, just a couple longer, more-gradual climbs up to Daniel's Pass and back down again into Heber City. I took it easy today and had a lovely time biking with Melissa (our beloved leader). Here is a little of what our day looked like today and what surprises lay in store for us along the way:

Sunrise over the Starvation Reservoir just outside Duchesne, UT 

Climbing, climbing, climbing... (Yay Melissa!)

And we almost made it! (At the Strawberry Reservoir - Photo by Lindsey and Brett) (Steven, Me, Melissa, Lindsey, Kert and Doug)

And there's the top! Waaahooo! Another pass down!
And I'm getting better and hoisting my bike over my head!

Aaaand, of course I brought the chain ring down on my knee on the way down. Yeah grease tattoo of the day!
Geesh, that bike is heavy... maybe I should take some snacks out of my bag. ;)

Nemisis #1 of the day: Double-trailer gas trucks who don't like to budge for much of anything... especially when we were going 30+ mph on the way down the other side of Daniel's Pass. Yikes!

Nemesis #2: Invisible Rumble Strips. Can you see them? Nope, me neither. Guess we'll try process of elimination. Fun game! ;) Good thing they were only for the last 5 miles or so!

Yup. I think we're at the right spot. Our home for the night. Lookin' good guys! Lookin' good! (Me, Lindsey, Doug and Alex)

Aaaaand then we got to go on a train ride thanks to a wonderful man named Gerry who arranged our whole stay complete with air-conditioned accomidations, a real Utah dinner followed by a train ride and breakfast at a nearby restaurant. Note: This train had a real for-sure conductor and we rode in a train car from the early 1900's! So cool!
(Brett, Doug, Kert and really cool Conductor)

The Conductor was awesome and took Brett, Doug and I into their giant machine shop before the ride. Inside they were completely refurbishing an old steam engine, a newer diesel engine, and a few train cars. It was amazing to see all the parts laid out!

This one's for you, Poppy. Yup, it's an antique lathe still in use that is probably big enough to turn a 55-gallon trash barrel... I have lots more pictures too of you want to see them and tell me what on earth they all do sometime. :-) Unrelated Side Note: I love the smell of machine shops. Brett and Doug informed me that it is the smell of "Tap Magic"... but I still think you could bottle the stuff up and sell it as perfume. I'm pretty sure I'd marry the man who uses that. Yup.

We were fed an amazing authentic Utah dinner complete with... well... everything!

There was also a live group of bluegrass singers on guitars and a banjo. I believe what was happening here was...
"Ghost riders in the skyyyy-eyeeeeee." or maybe "Water. Coool, cleeear, water." Nicole was impressed. Geezerman had too much fun.

All Aboard!!!

It was beautiful.

No really, the whole train ride was beautiful.

Moonrise over the reservoir.

And the rocking of the train just about lulled us to sleep as the sun went down... :-)

So then, we headed for home and tried to figure out how to all go to sleep.

Yup. Lookin' good. At one point I think I said something to the tune of, "Ok, I'm pretty sure this reminds me of camping as a family with six of us and a dog all in the same tent at night." Snarky comments ensued... :-)

Goodnight all!

Closing Story:

Thanks for the day go to.... Doug! Yup. Just before bed tonight I realized I had a flat back tire. I mean, it's great that it didn't happen while I was biking today but - Grrrrrr! I attempted to change it but it was apparently so painful to watch that Doug pretty much did the whole thing for me. Thanks so much, Doug! Couldn't have done it without you. For reals.