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DAY 11. The morning started with blessed relief - practically no wind, and what there was was actually behind me! I was climbing pretty much straight away,  heading onto the Escalante Grand Staircase scenic route; an amazing road, with some great twisty bits through the canyons. Utah rocks!
The traffic was very light, so I was able to just enjoy the route and marvel at the scenery. It would have been easy to get through many rolls of film,
but I just limited myself to a few shots - I would never have got anywhere if I'd stopped that much too! I made it to Boulder, which included cycling along
a stretch of ridgeline - with a shear drop on both sides of the road, an incredible road to ride across. Then it was 3500ft of climbing to top out with some
awesome views back over the canyons. My left knee was giving me a little trouble on the climb - spasming enough a couple of times to make me yell out
loud. Fortunately it seemed to clear up as the ride went on. Part way up the climb I got my first puncture of the trip as my front tyre went soft. Not too
bad after just over 1000 miles of riding. Despite stopping a lot to eat I always seemed to be hungry today! The necessity of eating gets to you after a
while, every time I stopped I had to eat another 1000 calories..... After a very fast descent down to Torrey, I found my first Subway of the trip for a
sandwich, then it was on into Capitol Reef National Park.
 Another amazingly dramatic piece of road; not so much for the riding, but the views and the surrounding
rocks, sculpted by wind and weather, are just incredible. My head kept trying to swivel right round to take everything in as I rolled past. In places
it was like biking on Mars, surrounded by red rock and sand. But guess what? Yes, the headwind returned with a vengence, back in full blast furnace mode again.
I was granted some respite with a bit of tailwind to Mesa Luna resort, just past Caineville, where I stopped for water. The young girl in the restaurant
very kindly filled my bottles up with ice water which I was very in need of! I had a few more miles of favourable conditions, before hitting the wall
again about eight miles out of Hanksville, my destination for the night. Another dramatic change in scenery out here, with piles of sand/gravel that
look manmade. The locals appear to use it as a natural playground for bikes and quads, judging from all the tracks.
I arrived in Hanksville at a reasonable hour, and went to set up my tent at the campground. As soon as I stepped onto the grass I was immediately attacked
by many mosquitoes - it had just rained heavily (just ahead of me again) and they were massing in the grass. I promptly ran away to the showers, took all my
bags in, showered and came out with socks, sandals, trousers, t-shirt, arm-warmers and cap to try and keep as much skin as possible covered! I still got
bitten on my hands though, the little buggers. I pitched the tent then headed to the market for food. The wind had really got up now, and there was
lightening over the hills.
  . .  DAY 12. I reluctantly dragged myself up to make an early start, only to find that the mosquitoes were up early too - one bit me on the forehead as soon as I stuck my head out of the tent! I breakfasted in the tent before packing up as fast as I could whilst doing the crazy-man-thrashing-at-bugs dance.... The plan today was to ride 127 miles, with the only services after the first 73 miles. 
For the first two hours, the wind was quiet and I was spinning along nicely, averaging 17mph despite
some climbing. I stopped for a break at a rest area, where a hummingbird came and hovered next to me to say hello. The next
leg was not much fun; the wind came back, but really strong and gusty, and the temperature was up at 38 degrees again. The ride
to the services was 40 miles and it took over three and a half hours... I had run out of water and had a major sense of humour
failure by the time I eventually clawed my way through the wind, which was so strong it felt like being blown to a stop. I was
struggling to do 8mph!
I had been fantasising about sandwich and chips, and probably just taking a motel room and calling it a day. But disaster! The
combined gas station/restaurant/motel was shut until 4pm! Desperate for water I wandered around the back, and found a faucet
connected to a watering hose - I unscrewed the hose and downed a bottle of water straight off. Then the owner drove past in his
truck, and told me the motel rooms were all booked up for the night: Lake Powell was just down the road, and with this
being a Friday, lots of people were coming out for the weekend (pickups pulling big boats had been passing me all morning).
Fortunately he took pity on me and let me in, the store only had candy and canned drinks, but very kindly he gave me
two packets of Ramen noodles, which I sat on the porch and cooked. After eating and a rest I got psyched up for the final 55 miles
into the wind, complete with a fair amount of climbing. I rolled out at 3:30 and got on with it. It didn't take long to
start feeling hungry again - only about 800 calories in the noodles. And I didn't have much other food left, but rationed it
out into three stops and pressed on. The road was very deceptive in places - looking at it I was sure it was downhill, but the
altimeter said otherwise - I still had to freewheel occasionally to prove it to myself though! From the map, I knew I had to
climb up to 7000ft, then descend to 5000, before gaining another 1000. As I crawled up to the 7000ft point I really didn't know
how I was going to get up the final climb, I was totally spent already. But after over twenty minutes of freewheeling descending,
and the last of the bread and honey, I had a return of form, and stormed up the final steep slopes, in the middle ring and
out of the saddle.
It felt great to go that hard after such a long, tough day. I picked up a snack when I got to a gas station, and
then only had three miles to roll into Blanding, making it there just after 8pm. I found a nice little campsite right in town,
and had a very long shower after eating lots! I reckon I drank over ten litres whilst on the road today.
DAY 13. After finishing late yesterday, I wasn't in a big hurry this morning, but rolled out before 8am at a nice
easy recovery pace.
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There was quite a lot of climbing to Monticello - the 22 miles took me 1:50. I had hoped to check my
email there, but the library didn't open until 1:30pm, so after a snack I headed off, turning South-East and picking up a
strong and gusty side-head wind. But the wind wasn't too debilitating today - on the map the road was flat, in practice
it was rolling, which gave a good natural rythmn between sitting and standing. After crossing the state line into Colorado,
I stopped at a cafe to get out of the wind for a while, then just got on with it to Dolores, grooving to tunes on the mini-disc.
84 miles down and I made it to Dolores, only to find I'd again missed the library, as this one had shut at 3pm! Doh! So I
made a couple of phone calls instead, before trundling on a further 15 miles up the road to camp at Stoner. The campsite
had a very bizarre bathroom - three shower cubicles, but one toilet, open to the room, and one sink. Fortunately I had it to
myself.
The route was following the same road as the Tour of the Rockies, which is a big charity
ride, and there were some comedy messages painted on the road to keep me amused: 'The Butcher couldn't make it this year. Agent
orange is in control.' And: 'You are not imagining it, it is steep. You can do it!' Yes it was steep, but I rolled
up to the top of Lizard Pass, at 10,222ft and stopped for a quick snack. Whilst I was there, a mountain biker came over to
say hello. He asked if I was going to Telluride; he lives there and there was a big bluegrass festival there that weekend.
Then he said that if I needed a place to stay he had room and would be happy to put me up, and gave me his phone number. I had
intended to ride to Antrose tonight, then take a half day before the big pass over the continental divide. But the offer
of free board and a cool town to hang out in sounded like a better idea! So I rode the 20 miles further to Telluride, and
cruised into town. Very happening little place, bursting with people and music - 10,000 people had descended on this little
town of 1,300 for the festival. I found a phone and called Bill, and then found my way to his condo. Fantastic place to live,
with incredible views. Bill had a ticket to the festival, so I got a ride into town with him, then went to meander round town
whilst he went in. Amazingly the library was open on a Sunday, so after a bit of computer time I found some food and hung out
listening to some music whilst I ate. I was feeling fairly tired, so when the bus came past (they had school buses running a
free service to and from the campsite, which was near Bill's place) I hopped on and got a ride back. Then I just put my
feet up and relaxed. I was feeling a little odd, I think a combination of the altitude (about 9000ft), being out in the sun and
being a little dehydrated. But after drinking plenty and a good night's sleep in a bed, I was fine.
When I caught them, I discovered it was the same three I met outside Eureka back in Nevada.
They had pretty much stayed straight across on HWY50 while I took the scenic route through Utah. We chatted a bit, before I left them
and rode on by myself. It was a Southerly wind today, and I was heading SouthEast to start with, so a bit of a headwind.
At one point I
stopped briefly to sort out my walkman, and made the mistake of it being by a boggy piece of ground - complete with mosquitoes - I got
bitten twice through my shorts before I realised my error. After 33 miles I had reached Sargeant, which is the base of the Monarch Pass
climb. There I met the last two of a 23 rider cross-country group (3 weeks out of San Francisco, en route for Washington DC) - a newly
married couple aged 68 and 76! Then Rex, who was the van driver sag-support for the three guys I had met earlier, showed up. Chatted
to him whilst I snacked, then it was off to hit the climb - 2800ft over 10 miles. But I was heading North now, so I had a tailwind,
which was a bonus. It was a great climb, I found a good rythmn and reached the top in 1:13. There were lots of cyclists at the summit -
the rest of the 23 rider group were up there. Rex had also arrived after seeing his team set off at the bottom, so I asked him to
take my photo. It was a bit chilly at 11,312ft, so it was on with arm and knee warmers and a jacket for the downhill.
Awesome descent -
I added 0.2mph onto my 56mph top speed for the trip! At the bottom of the fast bit I rode with two cyclists from the big group for a
while. It turns out to be part of the Catholic Church, doing the ride to raise awareness of poverty, and staying in churches along
the way. They were stopping in Salida that night; I just paused for lunch before getting back on the route. And into the headwind.... I
thought the morning had been too good to continue! I pushed on for a while, but was struggling with the heat and wind, so stopped at a
shady phone and called a friend, who told me I should get some ice-cream. So once I got to Cotopaxi I did just that and bought a pot
of chocolate Haagen-Daas and ate the lot! Not easy with a plastic spoon when it is very frozen.... But I did feel better after that,
and got on with the next 23 miles - complete with 1500ft of vetical and a very strong cross/head wind. Up the road I came across
a large (about 5ft long) snake basking in the road. I took his picture then advised him that he might get run over if he stayed there,
on which notice he slid into the bushes. After two hours I made it to Silver Cliffe, 110 miles done. I found a cafe for a sandwich, chips
and blueberry pie, and weighed up the options for my next move. I could either stop there for the night, or push on to Pueblo. Why would
I want to keep going after 110 miles at 6pm? Well, the route was going to turn so that the wind would be behind me, and I was keen
to sample the tailwind instead of fighting against it. Plus there was only 1200ft more climbing before it was pretty much all
downhill out of the Rockies. In the cafe they thought I was crazy (and they probably had a point!), but I figured it would be a fun
thing to do, although I knew I would run out of light at the end. So I headed out. I pounded up the climb in 45 minutes, then it was
onto the big downhill. I hadn't been descending long when I heard the familiar 'whoosh, whoosh, whoosh' of a puncture.... as I was
doing about 40mph.... It turned out that the rear tyre had worn out after 1625 miles, and the carcass had just ruptured. I performed
a quick tyre and tube change, and got rolling again. It was a great descent - I saw a group of mountain goats (what is the collective
noun for goats anyway?) in the road at one point, and watched them scramble up the roadside cliff to get out of my way! And a deer gave
me a moment of panic when it almost ran out in front of me. When I got down to the plains for the last leg to Pueblo things were
going well until about 10 - 12 miles to go, when all of a sudden it was a BLOODY HEAD WIND! I couldn't believe that it had swung round
on me, coming straight out of the East. It was getting dark too, and after over 150 miles those last few took forever. But eventually
I found the campsite, rolling in at about 9:30.
I met my first Westbounder at Haswell; Charles was a lawyer
from Illinois who had persauded his boss to give him some unpaid leave to do the ride. He had started on the 12th May and was taking
his time, riding about 60-70 miles a day. I was feeling fairly smug about my choice of direction when he said he had ridden in the rain
for the first three weeks. We compared notes on what each had to come before heading off in our different directions, and I kept on
motoring East into Kansas - state number five. At Eads I made a quick email check and lunch stop, before pushing onto Tribune. I had planned to camp here (120 miles), but
it seemed like a good idea to make the most of the tailwind whilst I could, so I grabbed a sandwich and pushed on. Kruder and Dorfmeister
provided a good soundtrack to Kansas, the road unfolding in front of me into the horizon. There were clouds in the sky, and I saw rain
in the distance several times, with the temperature a bit cooler too, as I cruised along at over 20mph.
The tailwind wasn't very strong,
but with a bit of effort I could keep it rolling very nicely. I saw a tortoise crossing the road - I should have stopped to help him
safely across, but was going too fast - by the time I had realised what it was, I was already way past. I crossed the next time zone and
rolled into Scott City about 7:30pm. I managed to find the city park, where supposedly it was okay to camp. After asking in the adjacent
nursing home they said people did camp there, so I pitched the tent, and then had to make do with a strip wash in the restrooms - not
as good as a shower but very welcome anyway. Dinner consisted of a large pizza from the nearby Pizza Hut, which I ate at a table in the
park with the radio playing and a good book to read. Charles had told me I was now only a day behind the guy from Iowa - who I had first
heard about ten days ago in Cedar City. I had thought I might catch him up with such a big day today, but then he would have had the
tailwind too. It was a hard day today, even with the wind; as hard as a long day in the mountains, just different. Out on the plains it
is just constant effort, especially when you are trying to keep the speed up! In the mountains you get a lot of rest on the downhills,
and much more variance in cadence. Today I was just spinning the big ring at over 100rpm all day.
At one point I got hit by a dust devil as it whirled across the road - it threw me half
across the lane and blew one earphone out! Into Larned just before the shops shut, but nowhere had a gas cartridge for my stove.
Fortunately what I had left was just enough to cook rice for dinner, but it'll be sandwiches until I can find another one.
I checked in with the police to get permission to camp in the park, and when I got there the chap in the pool building knew my name
and was expecting me to come and use the shower; nice folk in these small towns. While I was eating dinner there were lots of boy
racers in cars and trucks circling in the park; well it was a Friday night I suppose. They eventually went quiet after not too long
and I thought I would be able to get some rest. But then two kids started skateboarding round the tennis courts right next to me - until
about 1am, which was great.....
I met a tortoise crossing the road and stopped
to say hi and to take his picture before helping him across. After a couple of (shock!) corners eight miles before Nickerson I suddenly
had a headwind when I was heading Eastwards again, doh! A cooler wind, but still not welcome. After stopping for food, I plodded on, and
fortunately the wind abated somewhat a few miles out of town. I was in a bit of a daze the next few miles to Buhler. I had started
to head into town, when I was hailed by a chap in a boiler suit from his driveway.
Jim was a touring cyclist too, though he hadn't been
on the road in a couple of years. He gave me some cold water and use of his bathroom. He also called the library for me, to be told
they were closed, so that saved me a wasted trip into town. We chatted a bit before I headed back into the heat - he said he tours
with 115lbs of gear, almost double what I was travelling with! Another twenty miles to Hesston, where I paused for ice-cream and a cold
drink, then it was on into Newton. I visited the largest WalMart I have ever seen; surely they would have fuel for my stove?
But no.
However, inside I met a female cyclist who had just come 3rd or 4th in a 12hr mountain bike race, and qualified for the world championships.
She had to lay off the MTB in the summer though, due to major poison ivy reactions. She said she also rides a recumbent! It was good to
have a bit of light shed on the camel mystery too - earlier in the day I had seen some animals in a field and as I'd got closer I'd thought: hmm,
there're not cows, and there're not horses... what the hell are camels doing in the middle of Kansas?! Apparently there is an exotic
animal farm as a tourist attraction. Heading out again it was just an easy eight miles to Harvey County Park to camp. The Park was right
on a lake, and pretty full, this being the weekend. Very friendly folk about though - one lady, Kay, came and offered me a beer, then
another, Sonia, came over to say hi as she and her husband were bikers too. I had just dined on bagels and hummus when Sonia came back
and invited me to go hang out with her and her family (5 kids!). So I did that, which was nice to have people to talk to, but ended up
going to bed a bit late. In the night there was a huge thunderstorm, with lots of lightening and very loud rain. My little tent was
great though, staying totally dry inside.