Day 3 was a day of change. I was riding out of the Sierras and into the desert and my wife was going back home, meaning I was all on my own from here on out. No more security blanket in the car. From now on I was carrying all of my own food, all of my own drinks, and all of my own stuff. If I had a mechanical issue, I better hope it was something that I could fix on my own out on the road.
To be honest, worrying about a mechanical issue was the worst part of Petoji. I'm a relatively handy guy when it comes to bikes (yet terrible around the house). I do almost all of my own work. The one thing I don't do is build my own wheels. If anything minor happened to my bike, I could fix it. However, there are some things you just can't fix out there on the road. What if my frame cracked? What if one of my shifters broke? I designed Petoji to avoid any major cities. I wanted it to be somewhat off of the beaten path. That's a great thing when you're out there riding, but it's not so great if you need access to a bike shop. I'm not one to worry all that much, but this was always somewhere in the back of my mind. How terrible would it be to not finish because of a mechanical issue? I did my best to avoid any issues. Most of my drivetrain was new or close to new and I was riding new tires and new brake pads. My wheels were relatively new. I went through and rechecked all of the torque settings on my stem, seatpost clamp, etc. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That's all you can do.
Back to the ride. Day 3 was somewhat long, but a lot of it was downhill. I wasn't expecting it to be too bad. I woke up early, ate a little breakfast, and my wife dropped me off where I finshed the night before. I still had a few extra miles to make up for, but I was feeling better than yesterday both physically and mentally. I did the beautiful Tioga Pass descent out of Yosemite down to 395. That's where my wife met me to say our goodbyes.
It's amazing how quickly things can change. As soon as you hit 395 it's like you're in a different world. You can see the Sierra Nevada mountains off to the right, but they seem so far away. Off to your left is miles and miles of desert. That part felt like home to me. I live in Reno, so I've done a lot of riding in the desert. At this point in Petoji it didn't feel like I was riding across the country yet. It felt like I took a long weekend trip out to the Bay Area and was riding back home.
There was a short section on 395 (plenty of shoulder) and then I made a left turn onto 120. I had never ridden that section of 120 before. Now I'm left to wonder why not. It's a beautiful section of road and there was hardly any traffic at all out there. It was a fun road- up and down without any major climbs. I will definitely be out there again at some point next summer.
120 ends and meets 6, which takes you to Nevada. They call US 50 in Nevada the loneliest road in America, but a lot of people say that 6 is actually lonelier. I have driven both and would have to agree. There's really nothing but desert until Tonopah, which is exactly what I love. After Day 2's mess I was carrying plenty of water and had a great time.
My legs felt good for the first 110 miles or so, but I ran out of gas after that. The road was flat for about the final 40 miles, but I just couldn't maintain a decent speed. I didn't think much of it at the time. The first two days covered challenging terrain and I probably needed a few days to recover from Day 2's nutritional mistakes. Day 4 was a short one at 109 miles without much climbing. I expected an easy recovery day on Day 4.
After a difficult first 3 days, Day 4 was a short one at 109 miles without much climbing. I expected an easy recovery day on Day 4. I was wrong.
The day started out well enough. I had some extra time in the morning to relax a little bit, which I really hadn't had since the evening of Day 1. I headed east out of Tonopah on 6, then turned onto 375 towards Rachel. Both roads were great- low traffic with beautiful desert scenery. Nevada at its finest.
I covered the first 60 miles with no problems. Then NV 375 turned south and the headwinds began. The wind wasn't so bad at first, but it picked up pretty quickly and I was struggling to ride 12 mph on the flat sections. As the road turned slightly uphill I was struggling to maintain 10 mph. 375 is a long, straight road. You can look miles and miles ahead and all you will see is the empty road ahead disappearing towards the mountains in the distance. It makes for wonderful scenery. However, when the wind is blowing in your face at more than 20 mph it makes you feel like you're moving in slow motion.
I live in Reno. We get plenty of windy days like this. Riding into the wind is less than fun, but in the back of your mind you know you'll change direction eventually and get a sweet tailwind. Day 4 was different. There would be no tailwind. I was going to have to ride 50 miles into the wind with no reward at the end. It turned a short, "easy" day into a long struggle.
The wind can really mess with your mind. It seems like it would be simple to just accept the fact that you're going to ride slower for the same amount of effort, but it's not. There's just something annoying about it. There's the slow speed, the dust blowing in your face, and the never-ending noise. Personally, I find myself thinking too much about what should have been.
"Day 4 should have been an easy day." That was the big one. I had a difficult first 3 days and Day 5 was a long one at 178 miles. I really wanted that easy day in between. On top of that, I was doubting my physical condition. Day 1 was a good day, but I made my mistake on Day 2 and didn't feel like I was riding up to my potential on Day 3. What about Day 4? Obviously I was slow, but was it me or was it the wind? I don't have a power meter, so there was no way to know for sure.
I decided it was me, and that's when doubt started to creep in. Day 4 (109 miles) ended up taking 8 hours of ride time and 9 hours of total time, and I felt way worse than I normally would at the end of this long of a ride. How was I going to finish 178 miles on Day 5? Even if I finished Day 5, how much would it take out of me and how could I finish the rest of Petoji? Why was I feeling worse than I felt in training and how could I train so hard all year and ride so poorly now? Everything seemed to be falling apart. I waited over 10 years for this and it was supposed to be fun. Was 130 miles per day too ambitious? What would I do if I had to quit? How could I live with that?
I tried to push the long-term questions out of my mind. One of the things I learned from Everesting is that if you push through the difficult moments and just focus on doing one more climb, sometimes that next climb is a little bit better and you can start to build some momentum. I turned my focus to Day 5. If I could somehow finish Day 5, then maybe I would be OK. I had my doubts, but I wasn't going to focus on the whole of Petoji. It was all about Day 5. Could I finish Day 5 or not?
Day 5 was a make or break day for me. I was either going to finish the day and build momentum for the rest of Petoji or I was going to have another bad day and have to quit. My confidence wasn't high (you can hear in the video), but I decided that I wasn't going to quit unless I ended up in a hospital.
I ended up having a good day on Day 5. I would like to say that I
responded well to the pressure and had a good ride when I needed it, but
the truth is that I had favorable winds for most of the ride. I did the
first 110 miles in about 8:20, which isn't that good. After that there
was a good stretch of 40 miles that were either flat or downhill (with a
tailwind) and I made up a lot of time there. Up until mile 110 I was
averaging 14.7 MPH. For the rest of the ride I averaged 16.8. I got
lucky with the profile and the weather. Most of the climbing was done
early and most of the tailwinds picked up late.
I rode into Cedar City that night around 7:30 with a huge sense of
relief. Maybe I could do this after all. In the moment I wasn't thinking
about the wind or the elevation profile. I was under the delusion that I
stepped up and had a good ride when I needed it the most. I can look
back now with a clearer mind and a little more humility, but in the
moment it certainly helped to feel that way. I had a renewed belief in
myself, and that belief carried me through the rest of Petoji.
Southern Utah is one of the most spectacular areas of the country. I've seen more of it off-bike than on, but I was in Cedar City with my bike to watch the Tour of Utah back in 2013 (CPW link). On Day 6 I was riding some of the same roads I rode back then and I even rode right past the campground where I stayed.
The ride started on UT 14 with a beautiful climb up through Cedar Canyon. The climb reaches an elevation of about 9,500 feet, at which point you feel like you're on top of the world. Then comes the junction with UT 148, which climbs further to 10,500 feet towards Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, where I went back in 2013. That wasn't on the schedule for today, so I continued straight on UT 14 through a beautiful meadow.
The rest of the ride was mostly downhill to Kanab. There was some headwind towards the end of the ride, but nothing like Day 4 and my mind was in a much better place. Riding was fun again. I didn't care about the slow pace. I was out there in the sun just enjoying the scenery.
I made it into Kanab in the early afternoon and had a lot of time to relax. The hotel was right next to a grocery store, which meant that I could eat some healthy food for a change. I took advantage of the time and the good food and did my best to recover for Day 7.
