This was my sixth trip to the Torrey/Teasdale area and one of the best ever. I am immensely grateful for the kindness and generosity of Brian's parents Robert and Charlotte Williams who have provided food, hospitality, and lodging. Charlotte rented a house for us this year which is known as the Teasdale Retreat. It is the best place we have ever stayed in the area. If I had a way to pay the bills, I would leave Rexburg and live in that house. If you are ever in Torrey/Teasdale, consider staying there.
The Tour of Utah peleton rode two and a half laps of the 17 mile Torrey to Teasdale loop as a finishing circuit. Rob's built a scarecrow named Slim which the peleton passed three times on the finishing circuit..
Thanks also to Tim who arranged VIP passes for us at the finish, even though he was unable to be there himself. Life is good in the VIP tent. The Kelson bicycle at the finish is Tim's gorgeous new gravel bike Pigpen (full carbon, Di2, hydraulic disc brakes, Enve wheels, top tier componentry).
When a Tour of Utah stage finishes in Torrey, it finishes in dramatic fashion. Two years ago, Michael Schar held off a charging peleton by a bike length. This year, Robin Carpenter took a much deserved solo victory following a 110 km two-man breakaway. You can read about it here: http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/08/race-report/utah-carpenter-takes-yellow-long-range-attack_416899
Brian engineered our big ride. On paper, it looked pretty straightforward: 63 miles, mixed pavement and gravel, with about 6000 feet of vertical. We rode south on Highway 12 toward its 9800 foot summit. At about 9000 feet, Brian, Kelton, Dan, and I took a hard left on gravel and dropped toward Lower Down's Reservoir. We picked up the South Draw 4WD Trail which we rode north through Capitol Reef National Park, exiting by way of the Scenic Drive and the Park Headquarters at Fruta.
The scenery in the Park was spectacular. Plus, we did not see another human until we reached the pavement at the Scenic Drive where Charlotte, Heather, and Kooper met us with desperately needed cold drinks. It was a hot day in Capitol Reef and we underestimated the ruggedness of the South Draw Trail which stretched the limits of drop bar gravel bikes. It was an absolutely epic ride, Harder than expected, I would do it again in a minute, but probably on a mountain bike.
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