Day #89: Woods Cross to Sandy (32 miles)
- chrisbentley349
- Jul 12
- 2 min read
Ater the last three long rides, today was almost a rest day. Most of the route followed the wonderful Salt Lake City bike path along the Jordan River. For some reason I never made the connection to "Sweet Chariot" until just now :-)
I only took 3-4 pictures today, partly because the ride was short, but mostly because I was busy talking with other bicyclists I met... the first was Mike, the retired head of the Family Medicine department at Utah State University. He had grown up north of San Francisco and went to Dartmouth medical school. I of course mentioned Mari's career and he was familiar with the large neighborhood heath center connected to BU. I beamed when I said Mari had been the CMO of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Clinic. We talked about riding and career and retirement. He was lovely and it helped the miles fly by.
After Mike peeled off I quickly met a couple who were both water resources engineers. They were planning to ride 100 miles in a day in the near future. We rode together for miles, swapping stories of favorite rides and places we'd want to travel. She had just returned from a three week trip to Japan, and when I mentioned Oliver loving the Taiwanese night markets, the guy said he was dying to go back and explore the parts of Taiwan that he's missed.
Lastly, I helped Guy pump up a deflated rear tire. I dug through all my tools, but in they end we only needed my better pump. Guy is an engineer making tools that are used to construct satellites. He's 40 and black, and we had a wide ranging talk about the social and racial scene in Boston and Salt Lake City, the presence of Mormon teachings in the background, dating, marriage, divorce. He ended up giving me a bunch of life advice, and I had the good sense to offer him none :-)
After these three long conversations, I was just blocks from my hotel, and I found a nearby Chinese restaurant to have dumplings and General Gao's Chicken :-)
Stats: 32 miles, started at 10:15am, ended at 2:15pm, 4 hours of actual riding:
Ooh, what's the connection to "Sweet Chariot"? Also, one, having all those conversations with cyclists sounds like a ton of fun, and two, you were able to talk about all of that while biking?! That's amazing!
Riding up hill and down hill make us appreciate flat city more. Talking with strangers left and right make us appreciate our life more. That’s the beauty of going out and about solo :-).
Now that’s what we call a “rest day,” Chris! (SMILE!) Only 32 miles, several new friends, deep conversations, and dumplings to top it off! 😄 We loved reading about your chats with Mike, the engineers, and Guy! What a rich day on and off the bike. Alex and I are continually amazed by how much heart, thought, and connection you're packing into every mile. Keep rolling (and sharing) -we’re loving every bit of it! 🚴