The landscape has changed yet again from towering snow-capped mountains to arid, red plateaus. We are getting farther and farther along in our journey. Utah is our 10th state. After we leave here, we have Idaho, Oregon, and finally California. We are slowly but surely making our way to Santa Cruz.
Today's ride was only 63 miles, shorter than I expected. My legs did not feel very strong right off the bat. The century from the day before had them shot. It still blows my mind how strong everyone on the team is. A century on the bike is like running a marathon. Normally, after you ride a century, you take the next week or at least a few days off the bike. On Bike and Build, we get up the next morning and do it all again.
Luckily for my legs, shortly into the ride, there was a five mile or so descent which allowed me to recover just enough to warmup. In continued with JD, Emma, and Josh to lunch at mile 40. The next 24 miles of the ride were pretty uneventful. We were all pretty excited to get to the host because we were going to be camping out at a state park on a lake. We were all joking about how we were going to ride our bikes straight into the lake.
We stopped for a little while in a cafe and ate some burgers and drank chocolate milk. We digested the ride together. Most of the trip today had been on a very busy road and we were all slightly stressed. It wasn't anything we hadn't dealt with before, though.
Five miles later, we rode into Starvation State Park. We immediately stripped down to our chamois and ran into the cold water. It was so refreshing! We swam out to the dock and laid on the warm planks as storm clouds rolled in.
It was only 1:45 when we got in so we had a lot of free time! We were all so hungry but dinner wasn't until 5:30 so we set up the tents and blew up our thermarests and five of us jammed in one tent and cuddle-puddles for hours. It was awesome after a long ride and swim.
Dinner was leftover lasagna and Subway sandwiches that Travis DMed. Later, we had s'mores and slack lined the night away.
Cooking s'mores! Notice Emma's look of concentration...
Laini challenged most of the guys to "What Are the Chances" and all of them lost. One by one, all the boys had to paint their toenails. Kevin was probably the funniest one. He refused to let any of the girls help him and he picked out a pretty shade of pink. Later, when asked if he wanted to go in the lake to jump on the water trampoline, he replied in all seriousness, "I can't. My nails are still wet."
Dan's finished product! So cute!
Now, we're all sitting by the lake listening to Dan play guitar. Another perfect end to a wonderful day.
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