A UTAH CYCLING ADVENTURE

DAY 2 -- CEDAR CITY to PANGUITCH

Monday, June 23, 1998

The two things most talked about as we all prepared for this trip were the BIG CLIMB and the BIG DOWNHILL. The BIG DOWNHILL was supposed to be 30+ miles of pure downhill fun on the fourth day. We were all skeptical. But this was the day of the BIG CLIMB. We had heard everything from 2500 to 6000 ft. straight up. We were all skeptical of this also, but consulting a map with elevations shown for key locations put us at 5840 ft. in Cedar City and showed Cedar Breaks National Monument at just under 10,000 ft. The map also indicated the distance from Cedar City to the entrance of Cedar Breaks National Park at about 22 miles. The total distance for the day was advertised as 57 miles, but after the BIG CLIMB, it would be mostly downhill.

We left the motel pretty much as a group at around 8:00 AM with temperatures low enough that most of the group were wearing light jackets. As we left Cedar City on Utah SH 14, the road definitely tilted upward. We were mostly in the shadow of the peaks to the east of the highway, so the jackets did indeed feel good.

The group of about 6 riders that I was with had decided early on to rest frequently so as not to burn out early. We climbed along steadily on the 3 to 4 percent grades, resting about every 5 miles at first. The grade gradually got steeper until it was a minimum of 6 percent and occasionally steeper. Fatigue was beginning to show in the faces of many of the group. We were now stopping every mile or two.

Finally, at about 14 miles up the mountain, most of the group decided to stop and wait for a sag vehicle to haul them to the top. I continued on alone for two more miles. At that point, the grade must have been at least 8 percent. The only way I could propel the bike forward was to stand and pump will all my strength in my lowest gear. I could thus maintain a speed of about 4 mph. I was stopping to rest about every quarter mile. This was just too much. I too finally stopped at a spot that had a view of Zion Canyon, dozens of miles away, and waited for relief spelled S-A-G.

Bonnie, one of our faithful sag drivers, finally rescued me and hauled me on up to Cedar Breaks. I had been climbing steadily for more than 3 hours with absolutely no relief. No downhills to recover, not even a level stretch. The climb had just gotten steeper and steeper. I've ridden in hilly eastern Oklahoma quite a bit, even in the Winding Stair Mountains, and in southern Oklahoma in the Arbuckle and Wichita Mountains. These are quite small mountains by comparison with the mountain ranges in the West, but still had some pretty tough climbs. But I had never experienced a climb that went steadily up, up, up with NO relief. To tell you the truth, I was quite pleased with myself to have made 16 miles of that torture before experiencing "engine failure".

I hadn't ridden more than a mile in Bonnie's big comfortable Town Car, when we rounded a bend in the road and the grade flattened out! I kicked myself hard. One more mile, and I'd have been home free! Well, not quite. The grade did back down to maybe 5 percent, but it still went up. And after we turned off the highway onto the road into Cedar Breaks, there were plenty of steeper grades. But at least, these were relatively short climbs (a mile or less) followed by short stretches of flat or slight downhill. Ah well, I'll never know if I could have made it on my own. I really didn't care. I was beat.

Cedar Breaks was spectacular. I don't really know how to describe it. You stand at the top of a cliff and look out into this vast valley of colorful limestone formations. Limestone is usually white, but some of the limestone here has been tinted various shades of red by deposits of iron and other metals. As I soon came to realize, this type of formation figures prominently into the landscape of much of this region.

After gazing out upon the wonders of Cedar Breaks for an hour or so and snapping several photographs, I piled back into Bonnie's car and we headed for the lunch stop out on the apex of the highway Lunch was a "picnic" of sandwiches, chips and cookies served from the back of the luggage truck.

Several others of the group were at the lunch stop, and after stuffing ourselves, we began the thrilling downhill through the Dixie National Forest toward Panguitch along Utah SH 148 and 143. What a rush! I had never experienced anything like it in my life. Down, down, down we flew at 30, 35 sometimes 40 or more miles per hour. There was almost no traffic, so we could just let it out and go. We were whooping and yelling most of the way down.

At the bottom of that breathtaking descent was beautiful Panguitch Lake. We were told by locals that Panguitch is an Indian... er Native American word meaning "big lake" or "big fish". There was a little convenience store/souvenir shop next to the lake, so we stopped to drink in the beauty of the lake and stretch our legs. We had covered over 25 miles in less than 45 minutes.

As we were browsing about inside the little store, another group of cyclists showed up on mountain bikes. They were bragging about coming DOWN from the peaks on trails. When we told them we had ridden UP the mountain that morning, the bragging stopped. They seemed to not believe us at first, but when each of us confirmed that we had indeed ridden up the mountain, and gave details to support the claim, they seemed in awe. Locals, we were told, NEVER ride UP the mountain, they always just ride DOWN. They probably thought we were just a bunch of dumb Okies that didn't know any better.

The rest of the ride into the town of Panguitch followed pretty closely along a small stream. The terrain was mostly rolling hills with a fairly significant climb from time to time. Pretty much like parts of Oklahoma.

Panguitch was a delight. After a great dinner of Mexican food at a quaint little restaurant /filling station, some of us discovered an amazing museum in an old school building. This place had a huge assortment of stuffed animals ranging from small birds to deer, antelope, mountain lions and more all arranged into dioramas resembling their natural habitats. It was a great surprise to us all to find such a first class museum in small out-of-the-way little town. If you ever get to Panguitch, ask any native about the museum. You don't want to miss it.

While strolling along Panguitch's Main Street just before dark, we couldn't help but notice the abundance of kids running around or riding their bikes up and down the streets and sidewalks. It was refreshing to be in a place where parents felt comfortable letting their children run free without the constant watching that most parents feel necessary these crime-rampant days.

While browsing around in one of the many curio/antique/souvenir shops on Main Street, Jim and I were approached by a young sales person who asked very politely if she could help us with anything. I immediately recognized that she had a European accent, although her English was perfect. The accent sounded German to me, so I asked her if she was German. She said no, she was from Switzerland. I then asked what a Swiss girl was doing in the middle of nowhere in Utah. She said she had passed through here with her family two years before and her parents had become friends with the proprietors of the store. Europeans have much longer vacations than do Americans. The minimum vacation in most European countries is four weeks and most people get five or six, and they generally take it all at once, so Europeans tend to be more relaxed on their vacations. They stay longer in a given location and take the time to get to know people. This young lady had come back to Utah to work though the summer before returning to Europe to attend university. She said this gave her an opportunity to practice her English and to study Southwest Indian lore which she had developed an interest in after her visit two years prior. Cool!

Day's Mileage: 49.0

PICTURES (click on thumbnails for larger view)

created by John Wente, jwente49@cox.net
last modified: July 6, 1998