Messages from the team - week 1

April 5 from Jeff:
“We weren't able to get as far as planned yesterday due to the weather and 3 flat tires.  We sure enjoyed the send-off from the City and County Building though.  Having all the kids from Oakridge Elementary was great.  We're going to make up time tomorrow and get right back on track.”

April 6
“We had a good clear day allowing us to make up for some lost time on Monday.  We rode 111 miles from Lehi and made it to Salina to put us back on track.  We had a very nice tailwind and nice weather helping us out.

We're looking forward to visiting the kids at Salina Elementary tomorrow and then riding a big climb up to Torrey, Utah. 

Thanks to all Marc's fans for the birthday wishes.”

April 7
We started the day with a wonderful visit with the children attending Salina Elementary school. The kids asked a lot of real good questions and were very engaged. After the assembly and "high 5s" with the whole school, we set off for a big day of climbing. We climbed for 48 miles straight. We made good time until the wind picked up around 1:00 pm. We crested the summit at over 8,350 feet. The downhill was our reward for the hard climbing speeds as we topped over 39 miles per hour.

We covered 71 miles today at an overall average speed of 13.4 mph.

We had a new experience at lunch when a senior from Loa convinced us to try kidney bean pie. We had our doubts but it was great.

Tomorrow we are off towards the Colorado river near Hite to camp out for the first time of the trip.

April 7 - Torrey to Lake Powell
We left the Days Inn in Torrey on a crisp clear morning. The trip through Capital Reef was beautiful and mostly down hill. We headed east towards Hanksville traveling fast through rolling terrain. We noticed a south wind picking up as we approached the town. We had a nice lunch at Blondie's and talked with some locals about the message and the purpose of the journey. We headed south towards Lake Powell . To our dismay, a strong south wind was blowing right into our face at 30 mph. Oh well, the scenery was spectacular. Many hours later we arrived at Lake Powell . A total of 91 miles today. We spent a nice night camping under a clear sky with pleasantly strong winds building through out the night.

April 8 - Lake Powell to Blanding

The morning was gray and stormy. Strong winds gusted to over 40 mph coming from what appeared to be all directions. We had a day of climbing ahead of us. We struggled for 26 miles towards Fry Canyon hoping that the winds would become more tail winds as we turned more easterly. We lucked out.

Alan and Shaun, working with Dunn Communication, are great. Alan is a film producer and Shaun a professional photographer. They are getting great pictures and film. They are always there with a smile and words of encouragement.

The rest of the day involved continued climbing with a few fast descents.

We arrived in Blanding 5.5 hours and 83 miles after starting out in the storm.

April 9 - Blanding to Cortez, Colorado and a new rider shows up

The day started out with a 1200 foot climbing heading north to Monticello . The weather was clear but cold. This surely would be a clear and warm day, we thought. We turned east out of Monticello into a stiff head wind. Storm clouds appeared out of nowhere as we entered Colorado . We stopped at the small quaint town of Dove Creek for a quick bite to eat and something hot to drink. We came out of the restaurant and found it had started to snow. We bundled up and headed down the road towards Cortez . As we rode out of town, a rider came up on us from behind. It was Kurt Frankenburg. Kurt works in Salt Lake and lives in Park City . He drove to Cortez on Friday and rode out to Dove Creek to meet us. The three of us headed to Cortez trying to beat the dark squalls building around us. No luck. The squalls drove snow straight at us. We arrived in Cortez cold and ready for a hot tub. We covered 84 miles in all sorts of weather conditions. We are loving it.

April 10 - Cortez to Durango, Colorado

We were greeted this morning to a temperature of 24 F.  It was a brisk but easy 46 miles to Durango .  The ride crossed by the spectacular Mesa Verde plateau.  We wish you all were here to see what we see.  Our dedicated friend Kurt Frankenburg rode with us again today.  Sorry we had to send him home after the ride.  He has a day job. 

Click here for week 2 messages and photos