Ahoy from Cedar City, Utah

They call Highway 50 the "Loneliest Road in America". It's true, and it was awesome to bike with barely any traffic - probably about 10 or 15 cars all day! Nevada is much more mountainous than I ever realized, and while we were in the state we had between 2 and 4 climbs each day. By climbs, I mean mountain passes - the kind where you get to the top and there's a green summit sign featuring the elevation. As a biker, I've never been so relieved to see green :) It's hard to believe that we started out at sea level in San Fran and we've been going over passes with up to 7700 feet in elevation. I think the biggest climb we've had so far was about 3000 feet in 20 miles. That qualified as Category I for the Tour de France, which is the toughest category besides the "hors", which is just insane. It's really empowering to get to the top of a 10 mile uphill and realize you've accomplish something most people would write off as impossible.

Better yet are the sweeping descents that usually follow the climbs. On the stretch from Eureka to Baker a few days ago, I actually started crying while flying down a mountain at about 40 mph, greeted by a huge open valley and another range of mountains ahead. It was breathtaking, and my favorite day of riding thus far, in part because once we got into the valley, we had an incredible tailwind that kept us pumping along. After another challenging climb following lunch, we went to the Great Basin National Park for a tour of the Lehman caves, which was way cooler than I anticipated. The stalactites and stalagmites where incredible and we had fun clowning around in the back-lit passages.

Once we got settled in Baker, population ~300, the town had a potluck for us at the town hall where we were sleeping (as usual, on our thermarests and sleeping bags - it's funny how you adapt so quickly to this lifestyle). My friend Mark (med student from Kansas) and I were sitting with these 2 elderly sisters who've been part of the community for quite a while and they were a kick in the pants to chat with. The homemade food was a huge bonus, too :) Andrew Suchocki presented our Global Health 101 lecture (I gave the same one last week to a high school in Fallon)

After dinner, some of us split off with different members of the community: some folks went to shower and have homebrew with Loren, our awesome park service ranger who led the cave tour. I had the incredible fortune of walking with 4 of the guys to check out the home of a woman named Laurie Crookshank. I knew Laurie seemed interesting from the moment she walked into the town hall because she looked like the mountaineering type: beanie, hiking pants and boots, and fleece jacket. In contrast to the flannel and viking-horn hats of some of the other community members (I'm not kidding), she stuck out. Turns out Laurie built herself an underground adobe house with a Hogan roof adapted from the Native Americans - with her own two hands. From the wood beams of the ceiling, hand cut and dragged down from the mountain, to the composting toilet set in her plastered floor, to the carefully placed abalone shells that acted as candlelight-reflecting wall sconces, every inch of her house was created with the utmost intention of simplicity and self-sustainability. The 5 of us riders sat crosslegged in her round one-room abode, listening to her tell of how she came to live in Baker as the moonlight filtered in through the salvaged french doors and gently illuminated the white-washed adobe floor. Eventually she pulled out her handmade didgeridoo (of pvc and epoxy putty), and got us practicing on that while she picked some incredible tunes on her 10-string (12-string minus 2 broken) guitar and I played the little bongo she had. Laurie said to us, "here's an easy song you can sing as you're going over the mountains", and lifted her melodic voice with the lyrics "This too shall pass..."
What an incredible night.

Then next day (Monday) was my group's day to run support, so my legs got a break from climbing and I helped with cooking and sag wagon all day. We made the transition into Utah about 7 miles out of Baker, and after the riders tackled two horrendous climbs, we set up camp at the top of Frisco Pass near an old mining ghost town. Paul made incredible vegetarian fajitas and we all huddled in a tight pack to keep us warm from the wind ravaging the mountaintop. There we stood under the tarp we'd strung between the roof racks of the 2 vans, listening to Deathcab for Cutie and making jokes over a couple beers in our little penguin huddle. I haven't laughed so hard and so non-stop for so long, and we all had aching bellies. Deirdre and I shared a tent and shared her headphones as we drifted off to sleep in our cozy REI Halfdome.

The next morning (yesterday), Thomas woke us up at daybreak honking the van horn and we reluctantly crawled out from the warmth of our tents, slipped into frigid spandex and biked down the mountain. It was a quick descent into the little town of Milford, where we broke out of our usual routine by stopping for a cooked breakfast at a cute little 50's style diner. I must say, there are some impressive appetites on this trip :) The rest of the day was probably the most grueling and unpleasant we've had since the torrential downpours of California, because despite the lovely scenery of Utah, we faced the most atrocious headwind thus far. It was unrelenting as we climbed a 10 mile pass, and even once we got over the hump, it kept beating us back for the remainder of the day, which was short in mileage (65) but took forevvvvvvvvver. Once we finally got all cleaned up here in Cedar City, we hit the town for some tasty Mexican food and karaoke. More laughing, more bellyaches, and more getting to know these fine people. I feel so blessed to be having this adventure and already am dreading re-entry into the normalcy of life. I'm actually thinking of just spending the rest of my life travelling around on a bike... once I figure out how to beat saddlesores, that is ;)

Today is our rest day so I'm at the Southern Utah University library getting a sense of what's been going on in the rest of the world and updating this. Mark's giving a lecture on access to healthcare in the Student Union Bldg in about 5 minutes, so I'm off to support him for that, but thanks for all the continued support. I'm safe and healthy and having an incredible time. Much love hasta la proxima...