Weekend/Ride Report-Loa Fish Lake Loop

We decided that this summer we are going to explore Utah on our bikes. One weekend a month we are going to a new location and doing a bike ride. This weekend was the first trip.

I have to start by stating that small town America rocks. We stayed at the Road Creek Inn in Loa, Utah. It is a newly reopen hotel. We were the only ones there and the owners we so nice and accommodating. They even checked on us after our ride to make sure we made it back. They offered to come find us if we weren't back by dark. The whole town was friendly. Everyone waved as we rode past. Made us consider (briefly) giving up city life.

Road Creek Inn. Main Street. Loa, Utah

 

The building is the old ZCMI.

 Friday evening we went to dinner in Bicknell. We tried the restaurant's "famous" pies, including pickle pie, oatmeal pie, and pinto bean pie. Surprisingly good-but nothing we'd go back for.

We then drove to what was labeled on the map as a bird sanctuary. We didn't see much by way of birds, but the scenery was nice.

 Friday morning, after a basic breakfast provided by the hotel, we headed out on the ride. I was nervous. This was the longest ride I've ever undertaken (53 miles). It was an unfamiliar route where I wasn't sure if there would be a shoulder to ride on, a lot of traffic, and how steep of hills we would encounter.

It turned out there was just a small shoulder, but very little traffic. And the small town hospitality continued as everyone gave us a lot of space as they passed. We did have some pretty steep climbs, but I was better prepared than I thought. The climbing was tempered by rolling hills and a few flat stretches as well.

Nothing but road ahead.

A few miles into the ride. There was a nice down hill before the turnoff to Fish Lake, then a steady climb for several miles.

Made it to the top. All downhill from here.

Rick just built a new bike. We figured there would be a few adjustments along the way. We only had to stop once when his back wheel decided to stop turning just as we headed down to the lake.

Not far now.

First view of Fish Lake. The ride was beautiful. I wanted to take more photos but it was a bit annoying to stop riding every few minutes for a photo op.

We stopped for lunch at The Bowery. It was so delicious! We knew it was a risk stopping for meal mid-ride, but we assumed it was all downhill on the way home, so it wouldn't be a problem. (Little did we know.)

My meal- YUM.

A brief stop to dip my feet in the lake before heading around the other side and back to Loa. The wind was really picking up at this point.

 

The ride back was beautiful, very little traffic, and camp sites every few miles, which meant bathrooms! I was grateful.

It was also open grazing land and we had a scare when we turned a corner and startled a cow who jumped out into the road.

We heard there was one climb on the way back. We hoped the very small incline out of town was it, not so lucky. We then rode around this lake which was beautiful. We saw some pelicans out on the lake and a huge flock of some other birds that were too far away to identify (frustrating). The far side of the lake had a nice climb which we assumed was the single big climb going back. Again, not so lucky.

I thought this was funny. The ride back was spectacular. The road followed a winding river. Shortly after this spot, we found the actual big climb we had been told about. It came after some 8% grade descents which would have been fun except the strong gusty crosswinds had picked up.

After the climb, we were regretting the hour stop and big lunch. Somewhere between mile 35-40 exhaustion set in and I went into "just keep peddling" mode. The last 10 miles were very windy and much harder than anticipated. We came back into Loa via some farmlands. The ride took us about 2.5 hours to get there and 2 hours to get back. Surprising considering how much climbing we did the first half. The wind really slowed us down on the return.

Someone once told me you can tell an amateur biker by grease stains on your legs. I've never been on ride without them. Somehow I had them on both legs this time.

 All in all, a wonderful ride and we are looking forward to our next "Explore Utah" adventure. We learned some things to apply to our next ride- including the importance of applying sunscreen evenly and to pack something to eat for lunch on the road instead of stopping for big meal.

Next month we are heading North.