Day 19: Jacobs Lake, AZ

Day 19

June 4, 2015

Miles: 37

Vermillion Cliffs to Jacobs Lake

Well, today was a tough day.  When we were riding from San Diego to Alpine on our first day of our bike trip, Di said it was going to be our toughest ride ever.  Then, when we rode those 65 miles through the desert, Di said it was going to be our toughest ride ever.  Then, when we spent the day riding up the hills at Yarnell and Prescott, Di said it was going to be our toughest day ever.  Then, when we had to ride 71 miles from Cameron to Marble Canyon, Di said it was our toughest day ever.  And this morning, before we began our ride from Vermilion Cliffs to Jacobs Lake, Di said it was going to be our toughest ride ever.  The problem is Di was right each time.  I wish she would stop making these predictions.

The day started off with a fine breakfast at the Vermilion Cliffs restaurant.  The Vermilion Cliffs Motel and Restaurant is small at only 10 rooms, but its a really comfortable place and the food is excellent.

Di enjoying an excellent breakfast 

   

We went back to the room to get ready for the ride.  I had washed my clothes in the bathroom sink, as usual, but this time I didn't have to string up my clothesline.

A coat rack is perfect for drying biking clothes

    

 Today we were riding 37 miles to Jacobs Lake.  The first 23 miles ascend gradually and the last 14 miles are a much steeper ascent (8% grade).  That's a lot of climbing, but even so, Di took a break from riding to rearrange the scenery:

Di moving big rock to improve the scenery    

Same shot as above but including a vermilion cliff

We would see the Vermilion Cliffs just about all day

House made of stone with boulder roof

We stopped after 5.5 miles to get something to drink and to buy sandwiches.  There weren't going to be any restaurants or gas stations or stores of any kind for the next 32 miles, so we needed to stock up.  So we each bought a turkey sandwich to eat later and filled our water bottles.

Di waiting for the cook to make our sandwiches

 We resumed riding and Di's said her legs were tired.  Without any rhyme or reason you sometimes have great days on the bike, and sometimes you have bad days.  This was going to be a bad day for Di and we had a long way to go, and all of it uphill.

Di wandering aimlessly in the desert

This is almost the last shot of the Vermilion Cliffs

We stopped to have lunch after riding 20 miles.  There was no place to sit, certainly no shade, so the best we could do is sit on a curb built over a drainage ditch.  There was no place to park our bicycles, but we learned a trick from Jen and Ben that you can lean the bikes against each other and they will stay upright.

Di at lunch with self-parking bikes

Perhaps you will be relieved to learn that shot above is the last of the Vermilion Cliffs.

Di checking map before resuming ride

We rode another 13 miles and were coming to the really steep part of today's ride.  Di's legs were really tired, the sun was blazing, the temperature was in the 90's and we were running out of water.  It was enough to cause us mild concern.

Di displaying mild concern

At the point when the road veers sharply from its steady ascent to a steep ascent, we saw a group of buildings.  Di said we should stop to see if we can get some water.  As we got nearer the buildings we saw a solitary bicyclists stopped in front of the buildings.  We could see he was touring because he was loaded up with four panniers and stuff bungeed onto the top of his rear rack.  He waited for us to arrive and introduced himself as Node.  He had ridden from the Washington/Canada border down to San Diego and from San Diego had followed the same route as Di and I.  We figured out later that he must have passed us while we were eating breakfast at Vermilion Cliffs.  Di asked if there was any water available at the buildings, but Node said no.  He then offered us some water from a large gallon container he had strapped to the back of his bike.  We readily accepted!  We filled up one of our bottles and thanked him profusely.

The three of us began the long, steep ascent to Jacobs Lake.  It was a hard climb.  Node is a stronger rider than us, so eventually he said he would meet us at the restaurant and pulled away.  Di and I had to take frequent stops to rest.  With seven miles to go we were both getting exhausted and we started stopping every mile to rest our legs and catch our breath.  With the frequent stops and an average speed of around 3.5 mph, it was taking a long time to climb that mountain.  But we kept grinding away, and each stop brought us one mile closer.  We ran out of water with a mile and half to go.  If Node hadn't given us some of his water, we would have run out a miles earlier, and that would have been a big problem.

You can imagine our elation when we saw a sign saying Jacobs Lake was only a half a mile away!  Even so, we still had to take a break before tackling that last half mile.  We finally arrived at Jacobs Lake at 4:30.  It had taken us eight hours to get here, but we made it.  I was really impressed with Di grinding it out on such a tough day.  What a trooper!

Node was waiting for us at the restaurant when we arrived.  Di went to check us in and I went to the restaurant to order some lemonade for us.  The two lemonades arrived and I drank mine down in one gulp.  Di was still checking in and her lemonade was just sitting there in front of me.  I'd like to be able to say I struggled for a bit to not drink her lemonade, but that's not what happened.  I drank her lemonade without hesitation.  The waitress came by and asked if I wanted refills.  Yes!  She brought the first refill and went to get the second.  I grabbed that lemonade and started chugging it just as Di joined me.  She watched me down the lemonade and then asked, in a somewhat accusing voice, "Where is my lemonade?"  "Its coming, I promise", I said.  Fortunately, Di's lemonade showed up about 30 seconds later, and I watched her down hers just as I had mine.

We were grateful to Node for letting us have that water, so we offered to buy him dinner.  He accepted and we had a good time eating, drinking, and talking about our experiences riding.  Node and I each had an ice cream shake after dinner and that made us happier still!

Di and Node at dinner

Di and I got back to our room a little after nine.  The internet connection was crappy and so was the cell service, so after struggling for a little bit I decided to go to sleep.  Di was already sleeping by this time, so we should be well rested for our ride to Kanab today.  Kanab is only 37 miles away and mostly downhill, so it should be a relatively easy day.  Please.