Day 17: Hall's Crossing to Blanding

Ride Stats:

Distance - 88 mi

Avg Speed - 8.1 mph

Climbed - 6,115 ft

Temps - 70 to 115 F

I knew this was going to be a long day, so I got up early and was on the road by 5:00 am. I would rather not have scheduled such a long uphill day, but there's really nothing in between these two locations. I didn't get to my motel until 13 hours later. My saddle sores that had started to recede were back in full force late in the day, so I'm going to have to make a schedule modification to get some short days in here. I'll go to Dove Creek, CO ( 46 mi. ) tomorrow, Dolores ( 35 mi. ) on Wednesday, and Durango ( 46 mi. ) on Thursday. Hopefully, a series of shorter days, along with the Bag Balm will help the healing process.

In the middle of the day I met another solo bike tourer, Iain Cullen from Scotland, who's going cross country East to West. He'd come from Blanding, so he warned me about the climbing I had to look forward to in the afternoon. He blogs on www.crazyguyonabike.com under the title of, "Fat Man Rides Again."

In mid-afternoon a nice couple from Milwaukee, Dave and Mary Lou, stopped and offered me a cold drink, and some additional water. Dave had bike touring experience, and remembered how important a cold drink is on a hot day. Thanks again.

The morning ride passed through a canyon with some ancient cliff dwellings.

Don't anybody sneeze.

This was an awesome sight, to see the road curling up to the top of this giant ridge of stone, and finding a narrow gap to go through. It was on that climb that Dave and Mary Lou did a U-turn to help a fellow bicyclist.

Here's a closer look at the gap in the rock wall.

It's my base camp to adventure tonight.