Saturday June 15:  Provo, Utah to Price, Utah
Distance:  75.3 miles
Total time:  7 hours 36 minutes
Riding time: 5 hours 42 minutes

We got up early and had some great views of Utah's unique geography.  These guys got up earlier and had better views:

Yes, I know, it's the worst picture ever taken.  It's a hot air balloon that flew over as we were preparing to start our ride.

We rode today with a new staff member, Jake from Vero Beach, Florida.  He rode on an America by Bicycle tour two years ago and enjoyed it so much that he's come back as support staff.  That's Jake on the right, with Michael, Mark and Jamie.

On the road, your toughest foes are the wind, the hills and the road conditions.  After just a few miles this morning, this is the prospect that confronted us - windmills (which mean wind, in this case about 25 miles per hour worth), hills, and you can't see the rough road conditions, but they are there.

It was cold when we set out, so many of us wore jackets.  Here I am about to start climbing.

The terrain was very hilly today.  Most of the day we were either climbing or careening madly downhill.  The scenery was spectacular, but it took a lot of concentration to stay safe so it wasn't easy to enjoy it.  It looked like this for much of the day:

And this:

We climbed steadily for most of the morning, and finally crested Soldier Summit, 7477 feet, at noon.  Here are Michael, Jamie and your humble servant posing at the crest of the mountain.

The descent following the summit was the scariest part of the journey thus far.  We were riding down a very steep grade in heavy traffic, on a very narrow shoulder that had rumble strips.  In places the ride-able shoulder was just two feet wide.  I was gripping the handlebars so tightly that my hands are still tingling these many hours later.

At our SAG stop I met this dapper Brit who is also riding across the continent.  Like us he started in San Francisco but he'll end in Halifax.  He's self-supporting and carrying over 50 pounds of gear.  He averages about 70 miles a day.

One more shot of the Utah landscape, about halfway up the climb.

Tomorrow is relatively short, about 66 miles, with only moderate climbing.  They are letting us sleep in until 6:30 which will be a luxury.  We'll need the extra sleep since the Rockies are right around the corner.