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Monday, June 13, 2011

Day 7 Up to Bryce Canyon

Out of Cedar City, and by the way just so you all know we ride city limits to city limits – OK. Also we now had Charlie White with us who had flown in on Saturday night from Chicago. He’s a friend of Jacks and is here with us as back up and a good photographer with a camera that takes panoramic pics!! Wow, watch out for his pics. Decent road out for Cedar City, but then into Cedar Pass. Tough going, but as per usual every 5 miles there is the van, our saviour. Great views and a river by the side of the road which was in full flow, definitely because of the late snow. Don’t think the rivers would have had as much water in them if it were not for this. Water drains of the sides of the passes, and it’s really clear, meanwhile the river, dark brown, is carrying loads of sediment.
Felipe is preoccupied by the NBA match tonight, he’s a Miami fan, sad really! But with the new bike man he’s out there ahead of the pack following up at the back is BP as usual. Jack and Andriy are swapping each 10 miles and this is working well for them. Raymond is not feeling well so is taking a break in the morning in the hope that he can get back on and ride later. Charlie loves the views and is just taking pics and encouraging us all. Angel is now good to go after yesterday, when a little too much sun got to him. Although he does try to put his helmet on back to front!
Raymond is back in the saddle and feels much better. We are up on a beautiful plateau, with the canyons way in the background, and it’s an easy ride. But we are up in the snow so it’s cold. We pass what looks like volcanic rocks with snow covering. Pretty spooky. Then a flat upland with a flood plain but again views to die for. We literally stumble into Duck Creek a small town on the edge of a flooded meadow. Most houses and shops are built of wood, so it’s lunch break. I get a text from Suzie Pierrepont which says keep on pedaling – what’s new Suzie and what the hell do you think we are doing!
We are now on Route 89 and headed towards Bryce Canyon which apparently is spectacular. Lots of biking, but now we turn right at Byway12 – Utah’s first All American Road. Man and there’s Red Canyon the first of the canyons, still 17 miles from Bryce Canyon. Lots of tourists and we get one to take a group pic, and then another tourist takes a shot of us all from his camera. Where upon Felipe gets incredibly worried about this stranger taking his pic!!??
On we go and there is a terrific bike route by the side of the road so we are all on this. Jack is looking out for snakes, as he seems to think that they are after him and him only! Our Camp site, Bryce Canyon Pines, is up on the right and we bike in. Relief, sore butts, that don’t seem to get any better, tired legs, but a great days riding. I get a pic with a couple of Harley Davidson bikers and think that maybe I’d just take the Harley and ride back! I thought that we would not have internet or any conveniences, but there is internet and a TV. We see the last of the NBA final, and poor Felipe is devastated by the result, a win for Dallas and the series. Will he be able to ride on, even after our rest day?
Pitch the tent make a fire and sit and chat and remember what we have done today. Tomorrow is a rest day and we plan on visiting Bryce Canyon, although there is so much to see there.

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