Well that's most of the mountains done now...

While it may seem that we're trying to break the record for the longest time without posting to the blog, it turns out at the top of mountains and in the middle of deserts there isn't a lot of phone reception or super-fast internet readily available! I'm now writing this from Cedar City, Utah- about 150 miles from the Nevada border. Here's a run-down of what we have managed the last couple of weeks:

Day 29: Pueblo, CO - Westcliffe, CO (60 miles)
Day 30: Westcliffe - Garfield, CO (68 miles)
Day 31: Garfield - Sapinero, CO (70 miles) - Monarch Pass, elevation: 11312 feet
Day 32: Sapinero - Ridgway, CO (68 miles)
Day 33: Ridgway - Dolores, CO (99 miles) Dallas Divide, elevation 8983 feet; Lizard Head Pass, elevation: 10222 feet
Day 34: Dolores - Blanding, UT (82 miles)
Day 35: Blanding - Lake Powell, UT (98 miles)
Day 36: Lake Powell - Caineville, UT (68 miles)
Day 37: Caineville - Boulder, UT (70 miles)
Day 38: Boulder - Bryce Canyon, UT (80 miles)
Day 39: Bryce Canyon - Cedar Breaks, UT (71 miles)

The past few days have been easily the toughest of the trip, but also by far the most rewarding in terms of scenery. Through the second half of Colorado we headed through the Rocky mountains. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed after Pueblo (before it had been flat plains since Missouri). As soon as we were past Pueblo, the climbing started- following a morning off to service the bikes etc we only managed 60-odd miles, including our first major climb. The next day, we attempted to tackle Monarch Pass- the highest point of the entire trip at over 11000 feet- we got to within 3 miles of the top when it got dark and we camped out at the roadside. While this seemed a good idea in the evening, it was so cold the next morning the idea of climbing another 1000 feet didn't seem very attractive! It was a pretty big sense of achievement once we got to the top however- everything had to be downhill from there!

The scenery continued to be pretty spectacular for the next couple of days as we wound our way round most of the major hills until day 33, when we left ourselves two big climbs and around 100 miles to do to get through the end of the major mountains. While it seemed daunting at the start we ended up breezing through, rewarded with stunning views and the last 50 miles (mainly downhill) cracked off in around 3 hours.

Our first day into Utah wasn't quite so pleasant however- steep rolling hills and massive crosswinds meant it was a really tough day into Blanding. At the end of the day, however, we met our first fellow west-bound crosscountry-ers: Greg and Bianca from New England who we ended up following for the next couple of days. It was nice to have a bit of a change of company for once! I think we're now around a day or so ahead of them, but we definitely hope to catch up when we get to California!

I think it's fair to say Utah has been the highlight of the trip so far; while Colorado was beautiful, the last few days has felt like we've been riding through the set of a western film. We've seen canyons and mountains, deserts and lakes- every day has seemed to hold something a bit different. We're now pretty close to Nevada- meaning we have around 800 miles still to cycle to get to San Francisco. Our target originally was to get there in around 50 days- something we're well on track to do- if we push we may even be there in 49!

Pretty sure this might be a bit of a long stretch without much more internet access, so this might be the last blog for a bit, although obviously we will update as often as possible! Wish us luck for the desert!