Salt Lake City and Park City

Friday we rode 77 miles to Payson, which is on the southern outskirts of Salt Lake City. The ride was nice with one or two passes. In Payson we had the evening to ourselves and went first to a pizza place called Fat Jack's then the little bar in town.

The following day we rode into Salt Lake City. The ride was beautiful because we rode along the western shore of Utah Lake with snow covered mountains in the background. In the city we were sponsored for lunch by the Saturn dealership downtown. Then in the afternoon we went to a friendship visit at the Raging Rapids, which was fun. In the evening we went to get some food at Chili's then went to downtown to see The Hangover (my second time). The area by the theater and the arena where the Jazz play seemed like a really cool area.

The next day we had a day off from cycling and went to a friendship visit at the National Abilities Center in Park City. The NAC is a great place for people with disabilities with an equestrian center, ropes course, climbing wall, ski facilities, hand-pedal bikes, and the world's first adaptive bobsled team just to name a few. They also serve as the training base for several Para-Olympic athletes. The day we were there they were hosting a camp for kids with visual impairments. I had dinner with a cool kid named Paul who told me about go ball, a Para-Olympic sport. Afterwards we got to clomb the climbing wall but had to do so with a "disability." I chose to be blindfolded to simulate blindness. It was surprisingly nerve-racking and hard but was able to complete it with a little help from my partner on the ground.

Monday we rode from Salt Lake City to Park City. It was only 25 miles but was challenging because it was nearly all uphill. Plus we had to ride on the freeway for 8 miles on what is purportedly the steepest interstate in America.

From Park City we drove back to Salt Lake City for a friendship visit with a camp for people with disabilities. I struck up a conversation with a guy named Don who had severe cerebral palsy. It was often really hard to understand what he was saying but he was cool and seemed genuinely excited that we were there to hang out with them.