The road leads us directly in to the desert, this is where navigating via GPS comes on to its own as the track disappears in to rock and shale , without our blue arrow showing us the way, we would waste valuable time checking maps and trying to follow the myriad of trails that zigzag the desert floor.
The trail leads us from rock to sand and then in to a dry river bed that is like riding along a beach with deep sand and rock slowing our progress. After about two hours , with the sun gaining strength we enter Black Dragon Wash, a canyon that has been carved in the red rock by thousands of years of wind and water erosion.
This section turns in to the hardest challenge of the entire trip, as we fight with the bikes to get them through the rock strewn river canyon floor. Rocks and sand have been thrown all around by the flash floods that happen during the heavy down popes that happen in this part of the world.
It takes us an hour and a half to find our way out and climb to the canyon rim, but there is no let up in the technical riding for the next two hours. At this point the sky's start to darken as a storm is building. You don't want to be in a canyon when it's raining, you are in danger from both flooding and lightning.
We find some high ground and watch the direction of the storm, fortunately is moving away from our direction of travel, however we do a few miles on the tar to avoid any bogging issues, these track turn to glue in the rain.
We arrive in the town of Emery at 3pm, fuel the bikes and take on some water. Simon decided to skip the next section and meet us at our scheduled stop. We are told by the locals that the road will be easy on a bike, ummm I've heard that before! It takes Brenton and I 4 hours to get to the motel, by which time we are both totally shattered after a near 14 hour riding day.
Our accent in to the mountains starts well , the road is rocky but we hold a good pace . Our problems start as the GPS route takes us away from the main track and on to a tiny goat track that climbs straight up for a quarter mile. The soil looks like it should have grip, but recient rain has made the surface like grease and it clogs both front and rear tyres.
As we crest the top we feel like we have seen the worst of it, but as we enter the woods, we find that things have only just started as we face a bog of ruts and mud. We skate around in first and second gear, struggling with the physical excursion of wrestling the bikes at 10,500 ft.
Finally we find the main path again and are greeted to a fantastic alpine vista, not what I expected in Utah. With a clear road in front of us we make good progress as we wind out of the mountains on a fast dirt road. We finally make it to our rendezvous with Simon at 8.15 pm, that has without doubt been one of the hardest, but best days on s bike !
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