Tales From The Road, Part 3: Specialized Bicycles' #ridetovegas
By Kevin Rouse
Day 3: Fish Lake, Utah to Escalante, Utah (108 Miles)
I knew today would be 'rewarding.' You know, the immeasurably hard but justified by mile after mile of hellaciously beautiful landscape, kind of rewarding. And while, on paper, today's ride looked to be easier than yesterday's ride, I was a little hesitant to believe it as I had happened to ride much of today's route earlier this year while on assignment for the 'Open Road' feature story that ran in the Summer issue of Paved.
Specialized's inimitable Sophie Ballo takes a second away from hammering to snap a panorama just outside Escalante, Utah on Scenic Highway 12
And while that ride was ridden at 'Pabst Blue Ribbon pace', it still packed quite the punch. Today I knew it's effect would only be magnified by our 'GU Energy Labs pace.' And, lo and behold, I was right.
Charles de Gaulle, the Specialized Roubaix SL4 that I've been riding, looks out from its perch on top of Hell's Backbone, just outside of Boulder, Utah.
But, to be perfectly honest, that's not the story worth telling. Nope, not by a long shot. Sure, suffering always makes for a pretty decent story, but today's unbelievable scenery showcased some of the world's most underrated landscapes.
Massive slickrock panoramas mingled with high-alpine aspen groves undergoing their yearly gold rush; red rock formations that seemed to defy all sense of possibility, and the day's color palette seemed to know no end.
Today's hard work was not without its rewards. To pair with the incredible views, we had several positively life-affirming descents.
The moral of today's tale? Get to Utah and spend some time on a bike on National Scenic Highway 12—you definitely won't regret it. Just don’t steal my Strava KOMs. But really, please don’t.
Today's roll-out rather accurately prefaced a day full of unmatched scenery.
