We had a relatively short 56 mile ride from Moab to Green River yesterday. The vast majority of the ride was great! We spent the first 15 miles on an awesome bike trail that passed over the Colorado River and along more steep, beautiful red rocks. The last 20 miles after lunch were great too. We were on the interstate the whole time, but the shoulders were huge and even the mild headwinds couldn't keep us from flying. Not sure what got into us, maybe it was the conversation, maybe it was motivation to beat the heat, but whatever it was we were definitely booking it.
The 20 miles in between had some shaky moments. We were on a two-lane highway with a high speed limit and a lot of trucks. It was fine for a while...until the shoulder basically disappeared. At that point we no longer felt like the road was the safest place to be, so we decided to walk our bikes until the conditions improved. At one point we even ended up walking on some railroad tracks because it was the easiest place to walk. Eventually the shoulder came back (although still very narrow) and we got back on the road after walking about 2 miles total. It added quite a bit of unexpected time to the day, but our safety is always worth it.
Today we had a build day in Green River with Epicenter, a group that is working to revitalize the community in a myriad of ways, including improving housing. Due to the rural nature and small size of the town their focus is on repairing existing homes with a goal to make 100% of homes comfortably livable.
We worked on two sites - one was a trailer in which we removed a leaky swamp cooler and redid the surrounding roof and walls that were water damaged. The other project was building a ramp at an elderly woman's house so she could get around her backyard easier. We made some repairs to her porch as well and repainted the whole thing.
We had a fun time in Green River and are all looking forward to/kind of nervous for the next 9 days: a 733 mile stretch of biking through the desert without any build days or days off. Wish our legs luck!