100 (gritty) Miles for Andrew Heckman to Salt Lake City

Photos from Wells, NV to Wendover, UT to SLC - iPhone photos

The ride I did yesterday ranks as one of the most difficult I have ever done. And I even had to cheat - I had to call on God to get me through the head winds and some of the other gotchas that kept coming at me. But I am just on the outskirts of Salt Lake City after having been stuck in Elko, NV for ten days.

Nor do I regret not pushing the weather envelope. Not only was I able to see why conditions had to be right for me to make this run, but as I pushed today to honor all those scouts who have powered through countless obstacles on their rides for us, I thought about Andrew Heckman. About six years ago, while doing a Mayors' Ride relay for us, he got caught in a storm. Andrew, who almost died, is paralyzed now.

So the 95 pounds (with food and water) that it took me 13 hours to pedal across the Salt Flats and the Great Salt Lake basin on a 50-inch fixed gear bike are all dedicated to Andrew Heckman. In his excitement to add what he could to make our Greenway real, his life will never be the same. So that Andrew's efforts will not be lost and so that I can keep the NBG flame burning, I chose to wait until the skies were clear.............

In fact Andrew would have been the first to suggest that I sit tight like I did......

Since I am stuck in my hotel room in the middle of yet another thunderstorm which is also forecast for tomorrow, I will better qualify yesterday's ride. My breath was labored from start to finish; as though I was climbing a mountain pass the whole day. The effort sucked almost every last ounce of my gut. Literally. I pushed the pedals so hard to go a mere 6-10 mph, and I cannot coast or I will get launched from the saddle, that once I pedaled the 45 miles across the Bonneville Salt Flats and reached my first shade, an overpass, my urine was blood-colored once again. It took me until the day was over and I could eat real food and cool my body down with cold drink for my pee to return to yellow. Guess drinking well over a gallon of warm Gatorade was just not enough...........

I will say, however, that without rain, I did feel reasonably safe on I-80 even though cars and trucks roared past me at an average speed of probably 90 miles an hour. I especially appreciated the mile markers. They told me when to drink and eat, and they helped me chart my progress (instead of one every 40 or 50 seconds in a car, I saw a new one every 6 to 11 minutes!). And yet there again, it. would have been suicide to be on this part of I-80 in less than perfect conditions. By waiting for them in Elko, I got a view of the Great Sslt Lake Basin that few besides Brigham Young and his early settlers have ever seen. Out there one could only wonder what lay beyond the far away distant mountains that ringed the flat lifeless lands that seemed to know no end. For me, as I am sure was the case with the early settlers, it was hard not to wonder if it was easier in lands that seemed so far away.

At times I did find a way to immerse myself in the present by trying to study the Salt Flat art few people ever see. Once beyond the 40 miles of salt flats, a shoulder traveler such as myself, of which there might be a few a year to make such a trek, can be entertained by the small words and initials people have used rocks, bottles and pieces of retreaded tire to create. There must have been a few hundred peace signs, people's names and other slogans out there. One even had a US flag on it and was fashioned to look like an Iwo Jima war memorial. While that is what I took pictures of,  countless others were buried under the water that covered them. Did I say it's been raining out here?

While it took me 45 miles to get my first shade, I was rewarded with a chance to rest my legs when at mile 56, a small downhill showed up!! As has been par for the course out here on I-80 my final destination was marked by the five miles of speed divots that were cut into the full width of the shoulder that preceded it. But I am here and dry and trying very hard to find things I can eat in what is one of the biggest truck stops in the western US.....

THX for all of U!!

btw: Out on the Flats, I was also getting a great cell phone signal. Also excited about all these new iPhone updates. The Recorder is going to make my life out here a lot simpler. Ditto for cut and paste and the new search feature. WOW!!

btw2: This is by far the wettest June anyone I have talked to has ever seen out here in Utah and Nevada....