Sept. 24 – Old Friends, New Friends and Cheat Codes

It was cold when I woke up – no sunshine yet down in the canyon where I was camped. That and the anxiety about the climb coming up led me to linger in my warm sleeping bag for awhile before I got up and got going – so it was about 9am as I finally pulled out of the campground. This is where things got strange and fell into place – I am still mystified. Read on. I pulled onto the road, which immediately went into one of those 14% climbs. Within minutes I was gassed – my heart was racing and my bike stopped. Not knowing what to do, I started pushing my bike up the incline, hoping that the super-steep part wouldn’t be that long. Just ahead there was a pull-out area so I pushed my bike there. There was a Prius parked there with a guy flying a drone standing next to it. I stopped to watch as he brought the drone in and I asked him what he was doing – he was filming aerial footage from different vantage points as he drove up the pass. Just then a cyclist pulled up – and it was Max! Remember Max from way back at Middlegate? I was so surprised that at first I didn’t recognize him. Then we started telling each other the stories of our travels since then. All along the drone flyer (Vadim) stood listening. I told Max that I was having a lot of anxiety about this climb as the Cedar City climb had wrecked me for a couple of days. Vadim looked at me and said “I have a bike rack in my car, if you like I can give you a ride up the pass”. Wow – what a dilemma! It’s like someone just offered you a cheat code to a game you are playing and losing! Do you take the free points or remain a purist? Hmmm. I looked at Max and he said “Jeff, you should take the ride – this pass is really tough.” And so, with that endorsement I said “Let’s Go!” Vadim rearranged everything in his car, put a bike rack on the back for his bike (which was in his car) and my bike. And within minutes we were zipping up the pass. We stopped a couple of times on then way up to enjoy the scenery and Vadim took more drone footage. What a friendly and super-intelligent guy. I probably won’t get all this right, but Vadim is originally Belarus, and came to the US with his family when he was 9. This came up because at our first stop there was a group of Russian tourists taking photos and Vadim started talking to them in Russian. I was like, HUH? He grew up in upstate NY, went to Cornell for undergrad, UC Davis for graduate school, is currently at U of Kansas for post doctoral study and then will be going to the U of Maryland for a professorship (he is 32!) I gathered that in the big picture he is a Marine Biologist, but studies planetary problems, ecology, and mathematical analysis of biological systems and lots of other stuff that my brain cannot comprehend And he is a big fan of IPA’s. Another big-hearted guy that I could have talked to for hours – but he was on his way back to Lawrence, KS and I had a cycling tour to work on. So at the top of the pass we exchanged contact info. and said goodbye.

I’m glad I took the “cheat code”! I made a new friend, and my legs thanked me as I cycled hard for 50+ more miles. I grabbed a late lunch at a Subway in Torrey and headed on towards Fruita and Cainville, just past Capitol Reef State Park where I intended to find a campground.

Easier said than done! First I went to the National Park Service campground at Capitol Reef – but they were completely sold out and have no cyclist spots available. Very disappointing. There was a campground called “Sleepy Hollow” about 10 miles or so down the road, so I headed there. I arrived to an unkept campground that looked almost abandoned. But there were 3 RV’s in the park. I went up to the office, which was locked, but a sign said to go around the corner and call with the number listed – ? I went around the corner and there was an old pay phone that, surprisingly, had a dial tone when you picked it up. I dialed the number and a guy answered. I explained that I was a through cyclist looking for a tent spot for one night (which a sign said was $25). The guy immediately said “sorry, we are sold out for tonight, I have a lot of reservations coming in”. To which I replied “All your tent sites are reserved? There is no one here and it is 6pm.” It got even stranger as he said “I have to manage my water and sewer capacity and cannot help you.” And he hung up. Bizarre. So I got back on my bike and rode down the road a bit until I saw a dirt road veering off on then right. I took it and ended up finding a nice little campsite right by the creek for $0. A much better deal.