Day 42

Start: Dinosaur, CO
End: Roosevelt, UT
Distance today: 65.3
Total: 2725.8

A new record: 4 flat tires in one day! Ok, technically three of them were last night... Here's the story:

After going to bed early following yesterdays frustratingly slow day fighting the winds, I woke up refreshed and looking forward to a nice long 90 mile ride to Starvation State Park, only to find both my tires riddled with thorns! I don't know what the name of the plant is that did this to my bike, but it should be something like Bikers Bane or Tire Terror Weed. I have never seen anything like it. At least a dozen barbs were embedded in each tire. Sure, only three or four went all the way through and into the tube, but that still leaves me with a tube with four holes in it!

Apparently, Michele and I rolled over this evilest of evil plants as we were walking our bikes from the restaurant to the park where we set up camp. The fact that we weren't riding our bikes, plus the fact that the barbs actually do a surprisingly good job of holding the air in (until you pull the out) let them go unnoticed last night...

So after spending most of the morning de-thorn-ing our tires, double checkin to make sure we got them all, and replacing the tubes (both my tires were victimized, while Michele somehow got away with just her back tire being attacked), we finally got on the road a little before 11.

Our slow start was only worsened by a stop at the Utah visitors center to inquire about a rumored paved bike path over the Wasatch mountains which stand between us and Salt Lake City (they had no info) and a later stop at a bike shop for new tubes for Michele (they didn't have any that would fit) and to inquire (again) about that bike path (no luck).

At this point we had given up on the state park and were aiming instead for Myton, when Michele realized her back tire was flat again! The culprit turned out to be a thorn that somehow eluded our double and triple check of the tire this morning. (Damn you Tire Terror Weed!)

Myton was now unreachable, so we settled for Roosevelt and arrived just as the sun was sinking.... The end of a second very frustrating day in a row...

On a good note: Utah is amazing! We're not even in any of the myriad national parks, forests, or monuments, but we still have super cool rock formations, canyons, and cliffs!

Plus, I came up with a great slogan for the state: It's Bee-Utah-ful!

What makes it so great is that it works on two levels. The first is the obvious play on 'beautiful'... Extra credit to anyone who gets the second....