Safe Arrival - Vernal, Utah

I took off Wednesday, late afternoon, just as a quick sprinkle was falling from the sky above. But it looked like it was moving in from the opposite direction of my route. So time to go!



The first day was a short run to Fraser to spend a great evening hanging out with a couple of close friends. Up over Berthoud pass, down into Winter Park, then up CR50 to a bud's wonderful home for the evening.



As warm as it was on the front range when I left, it was a little chilly going over the pass. It is very pretty all the way across the pass due to all the Spring rain we have had.

Got up early this morning, hot coffee on the deck, some breakfast and finally on the road about 7:45AM. The sky has clouds here and there, but nothing looked too threatening at the moment. And it was cold, about 40! Down the dirt road to the highway in the cool, damp morning was thrilling. Jumped on US 40 in Fraser with today's goal being at least Vernal and maybe Roosevelt, UT. Beyers canyon was awesome on a bike!

Then I start climbing toward Rabbit Ears Pass.



It just keeps getting colder and I am starting to shiver on the bike, even though I have a lot of good gear on. I look around and see a couple of feet of snow on the ground in the trees. Nothing like driving through an ice box. Grip heaters are on high and I am ready to start dropping down the pass, hopeful for warmer, lower elevation air. Arrived to a fair amount of traffic in Streamboat Springs, but warmer air!

Once I departed Steamboat, I basically had the highway to myself as I headed west. But on the distant horizon were clouds north and south of where I was basically headed. The farther west I went, the bigger those storms got - and darker. Stopped in Craig for gas and a brief rest and kept heading west. Outside of Craig, I started getting into stiff northerly winds and the clouds were getting closer. When I pulled into Dinosaur, CO, I decided to pull into a little spot to go ahead and put my rain gear on as I knew I would not make it much farther until the wet started hitting me. While I am pulling on my gear, a friendly chap parks beside me and inquires of my route of travel. He had just come from Vernal and reported heavy rain. I am on the bike, ready to go when it hit and it was a heavy rain with a very strong wind front - right into my face. I looked to see I was next door to a deli and it was high noon, so I decided I would just stop for a sandwich and see how the storm played out. I got my hot sandwich and sat outside under their generous awning and filled my own tank. The wind was fierce...



So I finished my lunch, talked to some locals, and waited a bit. OK, the brunt of the storm has passed and I need to move. After all, it's only 31 miles to my potential destination (or an additional 30 more if I go on to Roosevelt) so I suit up and roll. It's still raining pretty good but I have a great road surface, which helped immensely. I only felt comfortable cruising in those conditions at about 55MPH - the wind was fierce, but I stayed warm and dry. My biggest fear was some crazy running up on me too fast to see me, but no mishaps or close calls.

I eventually found dry pavement but the sky in the distance was all black, all directions. Nope, not going to Roosevelt, pull into the Best Western in Vernal and call it a day. Lesson of the day: make dang sure you have quality rain gear! Like they say, if you don't ride in the rain, you don't ride. The forecast for the coming days indicates I will get to enjoy rain riding repeatedly.