Day 47: Price, UT to Spanish Fork, UT

Total Distance: 71.8 mi
Moving Avg: 9.1 mph
Moving Time: 7:50

Today was a very frustrating day on many many levels. First was the
climb to Soldiers Summit. This was actually the better part of the
day. And calling a 2000' climb better says a lot about the rest of the
day. It also says a lot about how much stronger I've gotten. At the
very top, the summit did a disappearing top trick, but I sorted it out
in short order.

About 5mi short of the summit, a headwind picked up. The headwind
proved to be the main frustration of the day. As I came over the hill,
rumble strips also appeared. So the descent was really not that fast
or fun. I kept having to pop over the rumble strips from traffic, I
couldn't stay to the right because it was too narrow to go fast and I
couldn't stay left due to traffic. 

As it flattened out some, the headwinds really kicked up. They were
strong enough to blow me to a stop on a decent downhill. Headwinds are
far worse than hills. Hills have tops, and you can watch your progress
on an altimeter. You can stop every 100 vertical ft and still be
making progress. With a headwind, there is no top. It just keeps
blowing. I was just so frustrated by the headwinds today. At times I
just felt like stopping and crying by the side of the road. It sucked.

As I neared my destination, I decided to head for Spanish Fork instead
of pressing on to Provo. The headwinds were still blowing and I just
wanted to stop. This proved to be a mistake. I spent about 30 looking
for a motel and found out that bikes are not allowed on I-15 (at least
they had nice little signs saying so) so I will have to backtrack
about 4 miles tomorrow. If you count the distance I went searching for
a motel and the amount I will need to backtrack tomorrow, I could
easily have made it to Provo where I would have a cheaper motel and 15
fewer miles to go tomorrow. Eit.