The Utah Randonneur

Seattle to Bremerton ferry

The ride begins in Bremerton Washington, but our trip started in Portland Oregon. That’s where we loaded our bikes on the train and enjoyed a nice 3 1/2 hour train ride to Seattle. From there we rode our bikes all of 4 blocks to the Bremerton Ferry terminal where we caught the next ferry across to Bremerton. It’s about an hours boat ride.  (more…)

The highways of southern Utah have been lined with 5 foot tall Sunflowers for much of the summer.  These were the result of the cooler and wetter conditions we have had this year.  The cooler temps have often been accompanied by windier than normal conditions as well, making cycling a little more challenging this year.

For the Beaver 200 km brevet the day started out beautiful but as the riders made their way to Parowan they were already experiencing flat tires and mechanicals. After a leisurely stop in Parowan and some sightseeing along the way and it began to look as though it could be a long day!

After stopping in Minersville and passing through Greenville riders reached the turnaround point in the town of Beaver.  Beaver is famous for winning a national contest on the best tasting water supply!  With the ride over half done it was also time for some lunch.  The local Burger Shack became the choice for dining.

By now the wind was up and the return ride would be mostly back into it.  Riders had no choice but to put their heads down and grit it out.  The temps had also climbed into the mid 80’s and the humidity was about 5%.  It would be hard to drink enough in these conditions.  Riders could get water in Minersville again but it was 35 miles or so back to Cedar City after that with no shops or services in that section.  I placed a stash of water at Minersville Summit to give riders a little extra supply.

In the end, the wind took its toll on riders and the ride times were long. Everybody made it back safely to the finish before dark.  Results are here.