After doing the hike yesterday up Angel’s Landing, we were anxious to get on the bike. There was a forecast of scattered rain, but the day seemed fine enough. It was much cooler than yesterday, but still warm enough that when we started at 8:30 am, we didn’t need any arm warmers or jacket.

We decided to leave from the hotel and head to Virgin Utah (about 13 miles) and then take the road up Kolob Canyon. That climb from the highway is 20 miles and gains 4,700 vertical feet. With all the climbing we were glad it was not hot like yesterday. The sun started to come out from behind the clouds and we were thinking this would be a nice day after all.

The road winds in and out of Zion National Park. After riding about 10 miles up the canyon, it started to get rather windy. I mean very windy and a strong head wind. Biking up a hill into a head wind is not a lot of fun, but were determined to finish the route. The sun was no longer to be seen and as we looked off to the side we could see darker clouds forming.

When the road turned we started to climb again and the wind was not quite as strong, but after about 15 miles up from the highway, the road leveled out and the wind was real strong, so strong that I had to get off the bike because I thought I was going to fall over. We decided that was enough so we turned around and headed back down the hill. The temperature had now dropped from the mid 50′s to the mid 40′s.

We made a stop at a parking lot, about 10 miles up from the highway and chatted with a ranger. He said it was hailing down on the highway. Oh dear we thought. Could we beat the storm? Soon it started to rain and the wet and the cold combined made it a miserable descent. Even though we were going down hill it seemed to take forever to reach the highway.

Oh, if we had only driven the car over to the base of the canyon instead of bike there, but we did not. There is nothing around there and the town of Virgin is not really a town and even then was in the opposite direction from our hotel. With a tailwind now, we decided to just tough it out and make our way back to Springdale.

We were totally soaked (although Ann was smart enough to bring a rain jacket). Even though we were pedalling as hard as we could, we felt very cold. Finally we made it to the hotel, and parked the tandem next to the building. We were not about to take the time to put it back in the car right then. Instead we rushed into the room to get the wet clothes off, even that seemed to be a major task when our fingers were not working very well. I guess this is a ride we will always remember.

Categories: Cycling, Vacation
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