Saint Dan

Yesterday, I said a bit about re-connecting with family that I had not seen or in some cases barely knew. Dan Minert is my cousin, 45 years old living here in the Salt Lake City vicinity. He is a REAL Cyclist and agreed to escort us through his City and on to our present stop, Garden City, Utah. Garden City sits right at the edge of gorgeous Bear Lake. You can see Dan at the top of this post. That drowned rat looking guy next to him is me.

I simply want to say that without him, we would probably still be at the Salt Lake Airport. He provided direction, support, encouragement, and many stories about his life, the lives of his family members, and the Mormon Church of which he is a committed member. It was a pleasure for us to have an opportunity to ride with him and we are so grateful for his willingness to take two precious days, and see us through a huge and complex metropolitan area.

The other picture tells the whole story of our biking experience today. We rode almost 70 miles today most of which were up he mountain. After lunch it started raining, and kept raining until it turned to snow at the top of the Pass. When we arrived at the top rather than a "summit" sign, it had a sign signaling that we were about to cross over into RICH COUNTY. I cannot tell you how cold I was right then. When I tried to smile, my face wouldn't work...sometimes this ride is just plain painful. When we rode down the other side of the mountain we were riding into what seemed like driving rain. The rain on the face felt like little icy razor blades. At one point I had to stop to give my face a break. The ride wasn't really that hard, but the weather made it miserable. Are we having fun yet?