March 6, 2021
Utah Hill
Rachael and I have been delighted with our stay in Saint George so far. We’re staying here almost as an afterthought, one that came to us when it sunk in that this is the lowest elevation, warmest part of Utah. It’s only a few hundred feet higher than Tucson and only about 300 miles north of it. Based just on climate, it’s nearly as reasonable a spot for a winter cycling break as Tucson is.
What it doesn’t have yet is the reputation. We knew Snow Canyon was here from our prior stay, and of course knew that Zion was just up the river; but we didn’t know how much bicycling infrastructure was in place and how many fine rides there are. We’re having no trouble at all filling our 11 days here.
Even after doing research, it’s hard to find out much information. Take today’s ride west out Old Highway 91, for example. It looks like a promising ride just by staring at the map, but I couldn’t find any information about it at all. It was a shock when we took today’s ride and discovered that we were climbing Utah Hill, an obviously well known, well loved route by the local cycling community. People should know about this ride.
But first, the news.
Looking ahead
The coronavirus relief bill passed the Senate yesterday. Help is on the way. Things are going to get better. We all need to still keep our masks on and stay safe, but we’ll be able to get vaccinated, society will open up, travel will become possible again.
We’re optimists, and prefer to believe that by June we’ll both have been vaccinated and will be able to go back to visit our son and his family in Minnesota; and that by late summer, we’ll be able to go to Europe again. With that in mind we did some poking around to start pricing out flights, and discovered that we can get to Minnesota on the first of June (when our Portland AirBnB booking ends) for only $80 each. And in mid-August we can fly to Amsterdam from Newark for only $280 each. Nonstop. Seven hours. $280. Imagine!
So, we did some imagining, and came up with a plan. If the gods are with us, we’re going to bike from Minneapolis to Rome, in two easy steps and a hop. The airlines are still offering flights with no change fees, although I’ll bet that doesn’t last much longer; so we bought our tickets to Amsterdam last night.
We’ll work out the details later, but just as a marker here’s the plan we’re imagining:
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Today’s ride
OK, back to Old Highway 91, and the climb up Utah Hill. Here’s a description of Old Highway 91, from the BLM website:
U.S. Highway 91 (“Old Highway 91”) U.S. Highway 91 was the first paved interstate highway to be constructed through southern Utah during the 1920s. Until the construction of Interstate I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge in the 1970s, all travel north-south through southern Utah was via Highway 91. Service stations and overnight tourist camps were located at regular intervals along the roadway, including one within the boundaries of the NCA. It is the only paved road that crosses the Beaver Dam Wash NCA today and affords visitor access to its special resource values and scenic vistas.
You never know about old highways like this - they may be poorly maintained, with bone crushing rotten pavement. They may be shoulderless twisting death traps. Or they may be awesome. I did some research and came up with zip for information, so today’s ride is just an experiment. If it’s not working out, we’ll just turn back.
The bikes were already in the car from yesterday’s ride to Zion, so we spared ourselves a few miles of city cycling and drove to Santa Clara as the base for our ride. It’s in the mid-sixties already when we start biking at 10, with a high of 75 ahead.
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We knew from our mapping of today’s ride that we had a climb ahead: a steady 15 miler to an apparently unnamed summit, followed by an equivalent descent on the other side into the Mojave Desert and the Arizona border. Our plan is to climb to the summit, and then coast down the other side for just the proper distance before doubling back.
There’s a decent shoulder as we bike west from Santa Clara, which is good because there’s a fair amount of traffic too as we pass a string of desert communities: Ivens, Kayenta, the Shivwits tribal headquarters. We’re biking through the sort of dramatic countryside we’ve come to expect here: to the right, Red Mountain is so bold it almost looks purplish; to the left, the stark eroded land we walked through on the Zen Trail hike.
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West of Shivwits we lose the shoulder, but also nearly all of the traffic. It feels like a perfectly safe ride. The road is in fine shape and looks recently resurfaced. It’s chip-seal, but not bad. What is most surprising though is that it’s a marked bicycle route - the Utah Hill Route - and it sees quite a bit of traffic. I wonder how new this development is, because it’s not marked as a bike route on the maps.
It’s a steady, comfortable climb all the way to the summit. The climb would have been better if the winds didn’t turn into a 15-20 mph headwind for the last five miles of the climb, but at least this should work in our favor on the way home.
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3 years ago
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Beyond the summit, it’s a long drop to the Mojave Desert into the face of a fierce headwind. Rachael’s off ahead of course, and even though the headwind is a challenge for her she persists to the 21 mile point, knowing she’ll get blown back up. I meet her not long after she’s turned back, and we sit on a stone wall by the side of the road, eating lunch and staring at the Joshua trees.
The five mile, 900’ climb back to the summit is the breeze we expected. Along the way we’re given an extra boost from much faster bikes zipping past one or two at a time, giving us thumbs up and encouraging words as they effortlessly race by. Some sort of racing group apparently. We catch up with them at the summit, where they’re congregated and waiting for a few stragglers.
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And what does she see but a bunch of guys.
Each one is young and fit,
Looking fine in cycling kit,
Hubby better not let her escape his eyes.
(Just kidding! You have nothing to worry about.
Those guys are just a downgrade from you, no doubt.
Please don't put this on the Poet's Corner, I beg,
Lest everyone aims their scorn at poor Greg.)
3 years ago
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The descent is phenomenal, as we race down the hill with massive Red Mountain lighting the sky before us. It feels like we’re flying, but we aren’t really - we’re just poking along at a cautious 20-25 mph, but those riders from the summit are the real racers. They blast past my shoulder in ones and twos, traveling at twice my speed. It reminds me of descending passes in the French Alps, with young, fit, courageous racers blowing past like I’m standing still.
Video sound track: from a Tour de France promotional video
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3 years ago
Ride stats today: 42 miles, 3,600’; for the tour: 3,273 miles, 136,800’; for the year: 47 riding days, 2,008 miles, 79,800’, and 3 flat tires
Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 3,273 miles (5,267 km)
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3 years ago
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I’m also hoping Europe will be open for vaccinated travelers by late summer. I have a flight to München booked for mid august. Fingers crossed!
3 years ago
Assuming we can fly to Europe, we plan to follow the Altmuhl part of its way, revisiting a route we followed 25 years ago on a ride from Prague to Paris. I’ll have to check our your journal and make notes.
3 years ago
3 years ago
The route to Salzburg is a question too, of course. One option I’m looking at is forgetting the Altmuhl (how different can it look 25 years since we saw it last, anyway?) and following the Lech south from Rothenburg and cutting east south of Munich.
And, of course, the Dolomites are the other big question. Brenner’s an option, but the Adige or even following the EV7 to Lienz are there too. We’ll probably stay flexible and wait until Salzburg to commit ourselves, depending on how the calendar, the weather and the legs are doing.
3 years ago
The Romantische Strasse Radweg is a nice ride. Noerdlingen and Dinkelsbuhl are nearly as interesting as Rothenburg. The Lech and Via Claudia Augusta all share largely the same route down to Fussen. The Via Claudia would take you into Suedtyrol through the Reschen pass. At some point there is supposed to be a new cycle route up to Nauders and the Reschensee, but it's been delayed a bit. I never actually rode between Fussen and Donauwoerth. That was the year I went in June and it rained every day but one. I ended up taking the train. It's an ok ride, but there are more scenic routes. It's pretty flat though.
Coming in from the Drau Radweg and following the Alpe Adria from Salzburg would be very scenic. The route leading from the Tauern Radweg back to Bad Gastein has one longer tunnel with separate bike path that can be a bit loud and there is a steep climb in Bad Gastein, but the scenery makes up for it and the two of you don't share my aversion for hills. I've ridden the Tauern twice now and it is by far my favorite route, especially on the end between Salzburg and the turn-off for Bad Gastein and the Alpe Adria.
You also could detour to Berchtesgaden and use the Bodensee-Koenigsee Radweg to connect up to the Inn. That would be a little flatter option. The Jennerberg is Berchtesgaden is a really nice hike along with the hike at the end of the Koenigsee.
Basically all my cycling has been in Bayern or Salzburgerland (area around Salzburg.) The one exception was the year I rode the Mosel, Main, and Rhein between Koblenz and Mainz.
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And anyway, we’ve been to Passau twice now, and I’m not going back. Both times we stayed at the same hotel, purely by chance. And both times I brained myself on the same low-hanging beam on the way to our room. Twice is enough.
3 years ago