Baker to Milford

Baker_to_Milford_smallest, originally uploaded by alec_p.

Day 12

Baker to Milford

Distance: 84.70 miles
Total Time (wheels spinning): 7:34:49
Average Speed (wheels spinning): 11.17 mph
Start Time: 7:27 (PDT)
Finish Time: 16:47 (PDT)
Total Time (w/ breaks): 9:20
Average Speed (w/ breaks): 9.08mph
Maximum Speed: 37.2 mph
Maximum Temperature: 95 F
Total Trip Distance: 720.93 miles

Cold headwind for the first hour, only managed about 10 mph on relatively level ground. Then it lightened up, but a flat tire, two big climbs and the length of the ride (this is the longest leg of the trip) made this a slow day.

Also, the road surface changed in Utah. Most of Nevada had smooth roads (though with rumble strips, which I usually road to the left of unless there was a large shoulder to the right of the rumble strips), though there were a few roads that were basically rocks with oil on them. Those seemed to sap about 2 mph off of my speed on level ground (more on descents, less on ascents).

Unfortunately, it looks like most or all of Utah has roads made this way, so it is significantly slowing me down. It is still very ridable, but 2 mph slower on an 85 mile day like today adds about 1 1/2 hours to the ride.

I remember reading on a website about the human powered speed championships that Nevada was going to make more of their roads this way. That sucks. I wonder how much money is being wasted in extra gasoline burned and shorter-lived tires in order to make these (cheaper?) road surfaces?

The next-to-last pass was called "Wah Wah Summit". As I went over the summit, I of course had to put some Jimi Hendrix on my iPod!

At the summit, I met Mark and Sarah who were parked in their RV at the top. They are from Canada and winter in Phoenix. Sarah is recovering from back surgery, and she had a similar disc problem to mine (though her impinged on her sciatic nerve, so needed surgery), so we chatted about that for a while. They gave me some water, which it turned out I needed as I hadn't counted on this being such a long day (there were no services the entire 84.5 miles).