Todays stats;

distance - 79 miles,

elevation climb - 5,768 feet, 

duration - 7 hours and 26 minutes,

max speed - 43 mph,

number of 74 years olds, also riding coast to coast on a bicycle that overtook me - 1, 

The ride today was excellent. The main reason for this was a tailwind that persisted almost all day. 

I could have easily passed the 100 mile mark, but I had booked accommodation so had to stop. 

I'm loathe to talk about the weather as I have become quite superstitious on this journey, but it did do me a favour.   I'm almost convinced that when days go too well, or the weather is too kind, things come back to bite you very quickly. Fingers crossed for more good luck to come. 

There were 2 main climbs today, each of about 2,000 ft.  

It was on the 2nd climb that Rick rode up alongside me. We chatted briefly and he said he was 60 Years old and part of a group of 5 that were riding with a support vehicle across America. The others were a few miles back and one of those was 74 years old!

The beauty of riding supported means they could use ultra light bikes, had no heavy bags to lug around and only really needed to carry some water bottles. 

Those are my excuses for being overtaken anyway. I mean really, my underwear probably weighed more than these guys bikes. 

Seriously though, wow, I hope and wish I could be in good enough shape to attempt this when I'm 74. 

Dad, fancy riding back across country with me?

Ok admittedly this chap didn't exactly look like he was having fun  when he reached and proceeded to  breeze past me, but I'm sure he was. We exchanged hellos but there was no time for pleasantries. He was gone. I was left to reflect. 

I think his mid day nap may go on until morning, but as he gets up and rides another 50-80 miles the next day, he has my respect. 

The scenery today was mainly rolling green hills with random jagged rock faces dropped in. 

Every now and then some mountain tops would appear on the horizon, in the distance and in no particular direction. In the mean time I have been working closer to my biggest climb, Monarch Pass. 

So I managed to tear myself away from Telluride, the magical wonderland of all and any outdoor activity, great people, restaurants and places to hang out.

I left the house of the hugely hospitable Deane (thankyou Deane) and her flatmates at 7.30am and headed to find some breakfast.

First stop after food was the gondola/cable car for a ride over the ridge to 'Mountain Village' again.
There was fresh rain and snow overnight so the mountain tops looked whiter than previously. One face looked positively silver in the morning sun. There were still some low clouds too, so it was nice to glide up and into them.
From Mountain Village the brilliant start to the day continued. A fast downhill stretch that went on for about 10-15 miles.
After this there was a climb for about an hour and a half pushing back up roughly 2,000 ft to 8,900 ft.
On the climb I forgot I was riding through mountains - It became rolling green fields and tall trees.
Towards the top, on the horizon, directly ahead I saw what I thought was my next obstacle appearing - another giant snow topped mountain. As the road slowly climbed up to its max, the rolling fields either side dropped away and I was greeted by 3 or 4 even bigger peaks. Each appeared to the right of the last one, taller again, like giant stepping stones. Within about 2 minutes of climbing the horizon ahead and everything to my right had became overwhelmed by these peaks that were previously shielded by these green hill.
I had goose-bumps because it felt like they were literally rising up in minutes.

About 5 minutes later I was at this summit of this pass. From here the fastest descent I have ridden started and it seemed to go on for ages. I hit 47 mph!!! And was cruising at a minimum of 40mph for what felt like 10 minutes. There wasn't much wind whipping things up so I was confident I wouldn't get knocked off.

It was a great day in all. 70.8 miles covered in 6 hours including a quick lunch stop in Ridgeway. My legs felt pretty good at the end of it too.

I saw 2 Marmots today, in quick succession. They are like busses. Wait your whole life to see one and then 2 come along at once. Funny looking animals. I loved them. Some people hate them. ;)

Blog is updated. It's just in a weird order for some reason.

I have arrived in Dolores and instantly I like this small town.
Every shop and street seems to have a charm that appeals to me.

My first port of call is the brewery, that apparently does great food and local beers.
It's just reward for putting in an 81 mile day by 3pm. I'm writing from this location so my grammar etc may suffer.
The difference between today and my previous long days is that on those rides I had no option but go the distance if I wanted a bed. This time there were several places to stop short of 81 so I'm pleased with myself for keeping going.

I started out at 7am, riding solo again.
It's been nice to meet a few other riders and join together for a while, but equally I have been very happy to set off on my own.
It's a bit like holidaying with someone else, in that you never do exactly what you want, when you want. It may sound a bit selfish but part of the appeal of this trip is the absolute freedom to go and do as you wish.
The solitude that comes with it has its pros and cons.
I have had plenty of time to reflect, think and talk to myself. I haven't had any life changing epiphanies just yet.
My main observation after having lots of time to analyse life and the world is.........
its best not to think to much, especially if you're me.

Today's ride started out with about 20 miles uphill, but nothing too strenuous.
Soon after the climb finished I crossed the border into 'Colorful Colorado', my fifth state since starting out. It is indeed (so far) colourful. Looking to the horizon all I could see were rolling green fields. More like England. Looking up close though, the ground was still fairly dry and arid between the grass shoots.

According to the map the route after the first uphill section was pretty flat. It's true, there were no mountain passes, but it was continuous rolling hills the whole way, meaning I still climbed 4,400 ft over the 8 hour ride - So no walk in the park.

The theme for today's ride was watching some very imposing mountains in the distance get larger and larger. These I'm told, are the actual Rockies!!!
I had been under the impression that this vast mountainous area I had already been riding through were the Rockies. Apparently not!
The areas I have travelled through have indeed been very mountainous and rocky so from this point forward I will refer to them as the Rockies too.

I hit another small landmark today. I'm now onto the 4th out of 4 maps covering the first 1500 miles of the journey. 360 miles until I join another ACA bike route and hit the Great Plains of America. Can't believe I'm saying this but I already think I'm going to miss these climbs. There is always something on the way up, and the way down which requires you to stare at it in awe.
I'm worried the plains will be a bit plain.
I'm noticing a pattern of places that live up to their names in the USA;

Grand Canyon
Short canyon,
Long canyon,
Red canyon,
White canyon,
The plains (so I'm warned)
Blanding,
Color-ado,
Turkey knob (don't ask)

Milford is not on this list.

Another day, another town, this one is called Telluride.
It's surrounded by steep hilly mountains and by winter its a ski resort.
Looking along the line of Main Street, on the horizon you see a big waterfall tipping over the edge of a steep mountain face. Visible next to it is a zig zagging path which has obviously been carved out for people to hike up. It only takes an hour apparently and I'm tempted to stay a day to explore the town and the nearby off road routes.
I contacted some kind people from warm showers . Com for help with accommodation here. They work in the local bike shop and between them they are finding me a place to stay for the night.
Within 10 minutes of arriving I've spoken to 3 separate people each interested to hear how the trip has been. Everyone here is bike mad. Very cool, funky looking bikes are scattered along the high street/main street. All very expensive I'm sure and very few locked up.
It's a picturesque haven full of cool interesting, friendly, smiley, positive people too. I like. That's my first impression anyway.

Having said all that, my bike will probably get nicked now.

The ride to get here was a slow starter, but finished with a bang. It was 66 miles and the first 50 miles were a straight uphill climb to 10,222 feet.
I didn't have a great breakfast so my energy was low to begin with. I was really labouring and going slowly, but that was probably good news for my joints.
I was also far from hungover, but a couple of pale ales the day before didn't help my energy levels.
After 38 miles of climbing I stopped in Rico, at a nice cafe and had a tasty chicken sandwich and 16 cups of coffee. This was just what I needed and helped me to power to the summit in good time, compared to my pace at the start of the climb.
Once at the top the road magically became perfectly smooth and a flying decent began. The smooth surface is courtesy of an annual mountain bike race that is held here.

The mountain tops were very close by. They were the most towering, striking, atmosphere piercing mountains I had seen so far. They looked great. Flying down this decent was really exhilarating. Thankfully I have good brakes on my bike. Speeds were easily reaching 40+mph just by coasting.

The great thing about this journey, so far, is that every time you are finding things difficult, or having a below average day, something is just around the corner that lifts your spirits.
Mother Nature is really inspiring!
Equally she can be a bit of a b#*tch and slap you down just when you think everything couldn't be better. I'm trying to stop myself from feeling too elated and equally too down, so that whatever is round the corner is not so much of a shock.

Only 5 climbs (and about 300 miles) left. Three small and two big. The biggest peaks at 11,312 ft - Monarch Pass. That will be the highest I have ridden.
I'm not sure I want it to end though.

A day off, getting organised in Bland ing.

Laundry done,
relaxing swim taken,
Tan improved (only mild burning),
energy bars, beef jerkey, emergency food/sweets purchased,
tyres checked,
bike cleaned and tuned (to the best of my ability),
knees pleased,
bags re packed,
batteries charged,
Cash ready,
unnecessary items thrown in the bin.

I'm feeling ready to get moving again in the morning and I'm looking forward to it.

Utah has been the most spectacular state to ride through. Truly breathtaking every day.
Tomorrow I hit Colorado so fingers crossed it is half as good.
It's not a Mormon state so finding a beer after a hard days riding should be a bit easier.

I slept surprisingly well considering it was on a roll matt on concrete floor. No Mosquitos or scorpions as far as I'm aware.

We all set off on the 74 mile journey to Blanding at 6am.

The day was much calmer, beautiful sunshine and very little wind. What a contrast to yesterday.
The roads were really nice and quiet at that time too. We still had to ride out of Glen Canyon so the views continued and were improved by the sun rising behind the canyon walls.

Riding as a group didn't last long, again we all seemed to splinter pretty quickly.

I was riding and feeling pretty good except for a problem with food.
The only shop in Hite was closed when we arrived.
They did re open in the evening to help us out, but they could only take cash after hours and I only had card. I won't make they mistake again.
The others had next to no cash too!! Pretty poor show between 4 people. Had the shop been open as normal and accepting cards as normal we would have been able to buy dinner, breakfast and food for the journey.

This meant the 74 mile ride would need to be fuelled by a bag of trail mix and 2 slices of bread and some peanut butter. Not nearly enough calories. Doable but the last section would undoubtably be a massive drain.
I was riding and dreaming of eating a hearty meal, so after about 40 miles (of a 50 mile climb) I put my thumb out. I feel a bit bad about getting a lift and saving 30 miles of riding but in the grand scheme it's nothing.
There were some unlucky circumstances that led to going for it.
You can't ride this long without a few things going against you.

A lovely retired couple from Oklahoma picked me up. I was their first hitchhiker in 40 years. I must have looked hungry ;)
I was pleased to hear they were unaffected by the recent tornado that caused so much damage.

I'm now in a nice restaurant, washed and fresh and feeling much more human.

I'm going to give myself a day off tomorrow. I have been making really good time so can afford to slow down for a day. My knees will appreciate it too.

I'm hoping Blanding doesn't live up to its name although it is a dry town so no beer on my day off!

After arriving in Hanksville early Chris and I had most if the day to relax and recover. He went to put his tent up and I looked around for a cheap motel room.
Raechel and Owen, the 2 we left in Cedar City caught us up in the evening after putting in a 119 mile day! So again, we planned to set off together in the morning.

It ended up being one of the hardest days so far. Mentally and physically it took all I had. Yesterday 50 miles was done comfortably in 3.5 hours with time for stopping, eating and exploring. Today it took over 8 hours!!

The wind was back and it was pushing directly against us. I knew it was going to be stronger today but kept my fingers crossed it wouldn't be too bad.

As soon as we got on the Road it was tough.
For the first 10 miles or so we drafted in behind each other taking turns to go at the front. Those behind made the most of the slightly sheltered riding before stepping up and getting blasted.
After that organised start we all ended up splintering apart. We all had very different paces so it reduced to each fighting his and her own battle. Every 6-10 miles we might re group to moan and eat some food. Actually it took the others a while longer than me to start moaning. They were all surprisingly chirpy to begin with. That changed though. They became more English/British.

The wind combined with the arid and sandy environment to create a kind of torture.
It was an assault on all the senses. You couldn't look to the horizon because sand would hit your eyes even more than necessary.
You couldn't hear anyone or make conversation over the rushing air whistling part your ears.
The sand that was whipped up actually stung your arms and legs. Finally the strength of the wind meant you were always being knocked backwards, into the road or into a ditch which was a general physical strain.
It all contributed to wear you down in every way. It was probably more of a mental struggle than a physical but very tough either way.

The only consolation I thought to myself was that the scenery wasn't up to much today so I wasn't missing much by staring the 2ft of Tarmac in front of me the whole time.
That changed after the 30 mile mark when we entered Glen Canyon.
The landscape just grew around us as the road slowly dropped and zig zagged left and right and approached Hite and lake Powell. The views were quite amazing.
As we approached Lake Powell the weather created a bit of a mystical feel. The lake is a lot lower than normal and there was a lot of excess sand around. This was being whipped up to create a violent swirling mist. Great to look at from a distance but awful to be in the middle of.
We arrived in Hite 30 minutes before the only shop was meant to shut. Unfortunately their opening hours had changed so they were already closed. There was somewhere to fill up with water though and between us we hopefully have enough food to make it the 76 miles to the next town tomorrow.

Oh yeah, there was no accommodation here either so its camping under the stars tonight! I thought this may happen so lucky I bought a sleeping bag in Hankesville.

I hit a bit of a landmark today!
I passed the 1,000 mile mark, that's 25% of this bike ride complete!
I have beaten the Nevada desert, Sierra Mountains, the Wasatch Mountains and some searing temperatures in California.
I have 570 miles to go until the Rockies are behind me.
I'm currently in Hanksville, Utah, marked out by the quarter on the maps below.

Looking over the last 20 days I have to say things have in the main, gone really well. I have been quite lucky with the weather, my legs are still going and I'm mentally prepared for more! Fingers crossed it stays that way!

Today I covered 49 miles and was finished with riding by 12.00, giving good time to relax and prepare for the next step.
It was a great day and I was only pedalling for about 3.5 hours.
The weather was perfect, scenery continued to amaze (see pictures) and the altitude dropped about 2,000 ft from start to finish, without any notable uphills.
I wish every day was that easy.

I would say the last 2 days of riding have been the most spectacular I have experienced. If anyone is trying to choose a scenic a route to bike/camp/hike you really should come here if you can.