Brian Head and neighbourhood
We spend a night in Brian Head, the highest situated town in the States, which appeared dormant. I guess that wintertime is the peak of the season there. Next day we reached Brian Head Peak (elevation 3447 m above mean sea level), which was the highest peak I cycled to. The climb was by no means difficult. All mountains in the area were that high. Later we took a whole day trip to the nearby mountains. The landscapes resembled the Polish Bieszczady Mountains. At first we enjoyed a gentle downhill ride, but then – unfortunately – we needed to climb a lot.
During downhill rides I felt like going rough – without using the brakes. As it soon turned out – I went too far. At some point the nice and smooth trail turned into a rocky surface. I could neither jump over the obstacle nor stop at that speed. I tried to keep balance on the rocks, but I was going too fast. Eventually a stone blocked my wheel and I sprung from the bike, as if hurled from a catapult, landing on a roadside meadow. I rolled over, suffering only minor scratches and bruises, as well as an injured fingertip. I said "only" because the situation looked very dangerous. Irek reached the place after a while and scolded me for being so careless. He was right – if I had broken anything, we would have had serious problems getting help.
We continued the downhill ride at a gentle pace. Suddenly Irek got a flat tyre – the valve stem broke. Even though we have a spare tube, we discovered it was punctured. As I have told you – we had bad luck during that trip. Apart from the spare tube I also had patches, so we managed to fix the tyre.
Finally we got to Panguitch Lake. We took a turn to cycle in the wilderness and see the remnants of an extinct volcano. Somewhere on the way we got lost, so we chose to follow the compass. Nothing but wasteland, wilderness, and scorching sun. Finally we reached the lake. I was hungry already, but there was no sight of a bar or restaurant, so we decided to go back. We took a different route, unfortunately uphill all the time. I was losing my strength - running out of fuel, on an almost empty tank. On several occasions, I was too weak to cycle uphill, so I walked the bike, fighting with myself. In that condition I could no longer enjoy beautiful landscapes, reminding me of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains.
Totally exhausted, we arrived in Brian Head. All I was dreaming of was a square meal. We got in the car are drove to Cedar City, where we ate the afore-mentioned giant pizza. Despite my hunger I only handled a half of it.
Next day we took a rest, allowing our muscles to recover after all that effort. We stopped by in a quiet village called Central. Then, a short trip to warm up, and on the following day we covered a 100 km loop in the neighbouring area. The route was magnificent. Neck-breaking downhill rides, challenging climbs, relentless sun, and the incredible silence, broken only by the sound of our bicycles. Although the region is known as Dixie National Forest, there was no forest in the neighbourhood. Still, it was an excellent place to cycle.
In the evening we cleaned the car thoroughly, because we were to return it next day. After a 200 km ride we reached Las Vegas, and set off for Poland on the following day. This is how our expedition to the Wild West ended.
During downhill rides I felt like going rough – without using the brakes. As it soon turned out – I went too far. At some point the nice and smooth trail turned into a rocky surface. I could neither jump over the obstacle nor stop at that speed. I tried to keep balance on the rocks, but I was going too fast. Eventually a stone blocked my wheel and I sprung from the bike, as if hurled from a catapult, landing on a roadside meadow. I rolled over, suffering only minor scratches and bruises, as well as an injured fingertip. I said "only" because the situation looked very dangerous. Irek reached the place after a while and scolded me for being so careless. He was right – if I had broken anything, we would have had serious problems getting help.
We continued the downhill ride at a gentle pace. Suddenly Irek got a flat tyre – the valve stem broke. Even though we have a spare tube, we discovered it was punctured. As I have told you – we had bad luck during that trip. Apart from the spare tube I also had patches, so we managed to fix the tyre.
Finally we got to Panguitch Lake. We took a turn to cycle in the wilderness and see the remnants of an extinct volcano. Somewhere on the way we got lost, so we chose to follow the compass. Nothing but wasteland, wilderness, and scorching sun. Finally we reached the lake. I was hungry already, but there was no sight of a bar or restaurant, so we decided to go back. We took a different route, unfortunately uphill all the time. I was losing my strength - running out of fuel, on an almost empty tank. On several occasions, I was too weak to cycle uphill, so I walked the bike, fighting with myself. In that condition I could no longer enjoy beautiful landscapes, reminding me of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains.
Totally exhausted, we arrived in Brian Head. All I was dreaming of was a square meal. We got in the car are drove to Cedar City, where we ate the afore-mentioned giant pizza. Despite my hunger I only handled a half of it.
Next day we took a rest, allowing our muscles to recover after all that effort. We stopped by in a quiet village called Central. Then, a short trip to warm up, and on the following day we covered a 100 km loop in the neighbouring area. The route was magnificent. Neck-breaking downhill rides, challenging climbs, relentless sun, and the incredible silence, broken only by the sound of our bicycles. Although the region is known as Dixie National Forest, there was no forest in the neighbourhood. Still, it was an excellent place to cycle.
In the evening we cleaned the car thoroughly, because we were to return it next day. After a 200 km ride we reached Las Vegas, and set off for Poland on the following day. This is how our expedition to the Wild West ended.
