Day 17: utah, your hills hurt my legs

<p>As promised i will give a few details about the morning after our hellacious night. We got on or bikes by 8 after enjoying two power bars dipped in peanut butter each. And yes, we were still chilled to the bone. We had been told the night before that Panguitch and Panguitch lake was going to be all down hill... That was apparently false, as the first 5 miles of the morning was steep climbing, easily up to 10,500 feet. We were reassured that we made the right decision to stay in the campground shower as it would have been extremely difficult to climb those miles with cold muscles. The descent was beautiful, the first 7 miles of which were Meadows, which i was honestly surprised about. We saw tons of deer, birds, and, Lindsay's favorite, animal carcasses (mainly because of the smell).The morning light on the dew made the grass sparkle. It was beautiful. Riding in the morning is so peaceful.You get to wake up with nature, with the sun, the day. It is a pretty spectacular privilege.

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The descent was cold. The morning air  was very cool and the sun was not strong enough yet to warm us up. We made it to Panguitch lake and got some much neteded coffee, hoping that would warm us up.  As i was walking into the store there tttwere two middle aged men with their sons sitting and chatting over coffee.  One of the men must have seen the worn out and exhausted look on my face, as he didn't hesitate to tell me that they didn't start setting beer for the next two hours.  When i came out of the store, we started chatting.  He and his brother were vacationing at the lake with their sons.  After telling me to be careful on or journey, he asked me what "cure" i was "pedaling for" (it is on our shirts).  When i told him he grew quiet, and for a brief moment his smile was replaced with sadness.  His wife had passed away from brain cancer.  He said it had metastasized from her breast. "out of everywhere else in the body it could have gone, it had to go to the brain... That is what killed her." We chatted for a while. He has a son, and he hopes to make it to Vermont one day.  He and his brother were very encouraging.  It was nice to met them. After a night like we had, we had a nice reminder of why we were doing this.  The night in the shower doesn't seem as horrifying once you put it into perspective.
We had a beautiful ride the rest of the day, traveling through some beautiful canyons, including Bryce Canyotn National Park.  We only had to get insert thte rain fly once to protect us from the hail.  As you probably can tell from my pictures from yesterday and Lindsay's, the scenery is gorgeous.  We ended up in Tropic last night, and thoroughly enjoyed pizza and ice cream. I started having a problem around lunch time trying to stay full.  I ate an entire foot long sub and it felt like we hadn't eaten lunch yet.   The same thing happen after dinner... We were both starving and had top easy something before we feel asleep. (we got a hotel... Bed has never felt so wonderful after sleeping in lawn chairs in a shower stall on top of a mountain... I remember telling Lindsay that "these pillows are perfect" right before i fell asleep.
We woke up this morning early and hit the road.  Again, the morning ride was beautiful and we were surrounded by rocky canyons that glowed in the early sun.  It was the beginning of a breathtaking day. 8 miles away in Henrieville, we began our first climb of the day through the Grand staircase  Escalante National Park.  We weaved in through the canyons, had to wait for some cows to get out of the road, and starred climbing.  We were psyched because the climbs weren't that tough, we hit a steep section  and we were sure that the summit sign was going to be there... After all, it was only a 1000 ft climb.  And then things got real. We looked up and saw one of the most horrifying grades we had seen this whole trip.  Our legs were on fire, our breathing was rampant. It felt like every pedal would be your last, but then you would pedal once more.  We made to the summit, flabbergasted because this climb was supposed to be the easy one of the day, and on the elevation map it was relative in size and grade to the last one we did yesterday, and the summit sign snuck up on us... We weren't expecting it.
Nonetheless, our descent was well deserved. It was nice to be back in the big chain ring again as we made our way through the end of the national park to Escalante, which is was breathtaking. I swear we stop every few minutes to take a picture.  (Instead of describing everything, I'm attaching a lot of pictures.  Intimately i can't embed them in the text)
When we had arrived in Escalante at 12:30, we were starving after our nearly 40 miles. We ate at the Prospector Inn that had been recommended to us the day before by the kind man at the lake.  the salad i had was one of the easiest things in the world.  I haven't had veggies like that in what seems like forever.  A huge sandwich later, and we were both still hungry.  After ice cream, we ventured out again.  At lunch we had discussed what our possible destination of the day would be.  Boulder (29 miles away) was half way up our "tough climb," (putting it lightly) and we thought from the map that we would be able top make it all the way up to the summit at 9600 ft and over to Torrey.  We said "lets see how we feel when we get to Boulder."  We were in for quite the surprise.
We started out ascent as soon as we left Escalante.  The landscape reminded us of the desert, and so did the temperature as the heat started to pick up.  It remained a lovely 89-93 degrees for the easy of the afternoon.  Sweating profusely and not feeling like we could get enough water, neither of us could comprehend how we survived the 105 heat in Sacramento on the day of our climbs.  Again, we were fooled by the hill, and thought we were making progress towards our climb towards Boulder.... Nope. Just a super hard warm up.  Love the burning legs.
Towards the top of this endless hill we met a couple who had started off from Southern Florida and had taken about 4 months to get to this point. They seemed as though they were in no rush, and their final stop was Washington state.  They did a lot of camping, but i can't fathom how on earth they would be able take that much time off from work... Or afford the food (judging by the amounts that we are consuming) not only that, but they had to worry about dog food for the poor Jack Russell Terrier that they were towing, or incubating, rather, in a trailor.  it was infuriating.  They told us that we were about to have a nice descent once e reached the top of the hill they neglected to tell us that we were about to be blown away with what we saw.... Canyons that went on forever, that contained every color in them, that tangled the road around the rocks.  I have few words to describe what we saw when we first reached the top of the hill.  I will say that i remember telling myself that if my grandmother (Nana) was there, she would tell me to close my mouth so the flies don't get in.
We followed the 8% grade road down about two miles. My wrists and hands were toured from grasping the brakes.  And just when we thought we had reached the end, we saw another canyon that was completely red, the rocks had changed in shape and consistency. wee flew down those canyons, too.  The road weaved around this incredible red stone, and i was still too blown away by the sights and sounds to think about the fact that we were going to have to start climbing soon.  But it wasn't.the climbing we were used to.  It took the first hill of the day and made it seem easy. This was a leave it all behind, is the bike even moving kind of climb.  And it just kept going.  Everytime i finished a tough section, i would think, there cannot possibly be anymore of these, and then i would turn the corner and Surprise! An even steeper section!  the heat didn't help.  I remember thinking how strange it was that two says ago we were trying to do anything and everything we could to get warm. Now, we were swimming in our sweaty shorts... The other extreme.
We got closer to the top, and a man was driving slowly in.his truck to pull off and take a picture, looked over and got so excited and opened his door and said, "holy moly! Are you out of your mind coming up that mountain?." The next person we saw had been a river guide in the grand canyon  for 36 years.  The first thing he said to us was "are you girls out of your mind."  We told him we were headed to Boulder, and his response of "your almost there" made my day.
We continued on after a lovely conversation as we caught our breath.  We laughed about the v fact that we actually thought we could make it over the entire mountain at lunch. We were running out of energy. And that odd when. We saw the sign on the other side of the road.  It was a warning for caRs about top go down what we came up, and it read: "14% Grade, next 4 miles." I swear my chin dropped to the ground. It made sense why my legs no longer wanted or felt like they could work, why that climb felt so wrong.  I wouldn't have wanted to do that without panniers and with road tires on a good day. Luckily we hadn't seen that sign from the very beginning, as the mental struggle would have been far worse than it already had been.  I am pretty proud of us, though.
Or legs had nothing in them. We stopped for a snack with 6 miles let to go. That didn't do anything either. Neither did the point of ice cram we split when we first got into town.  We left everything we had out there today.  And while it seems impossible to satiate out hunger (as i sit here hungry after the burger, free piece of pie that the lovely waitress have us, eating fig Newtons like it is my job) we have to refuel as well as possible and get some much needed sleep.
Tomorrow will.be difficult. We have the rest of the mountain to climb. We know that the grades won't be as bad as they were in the beginning (or so we have been told), but we know it it's going to be tough. If we can do 4 miles of 14%  at the tail end of a 68 mile day, what is a 10-12% grade first thing in the morning (still tough, and not something i would seek out). What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?