There are two kinds of riders.

We woke up and began our second day of riding with an egg sandwich and a fine cup of Joe from the Green Rive Coffee Co. And if you’re ever in Green River, I highly recommend stopping in for a cup. The weather was beautiful and the ride through Utah’s parks couldn’t be prettier.

But, as the saying goes, there are two kinds of riders: Those who have been down and those who are going down. On day two of our trip I made that fateful rite of passage into the first group. As I pulled off the road into a gas station driveway, I hit a large patch of gravel and the front end of my bike washed out from under me. I went down and skidded a bit across the gravel and dirt road. The bike landed on top of me, pinning me under it until Paris could lift it off. I was immediately surprised to discover that my head was OK and I felt like most of my body was working. (Repeat after me: all the gear, all the time.)

Almost instantly, a huddle of five to 10 people formed around me. Everyone was yelling different directives “Move her up to the gas station!” “No! Don’t touch her!” “Take off her boots!” “Get water!” I knew nothing was broken, but boy, did it hurt a lot. I asked Paris to help me get my boot off so we could see if my ankle was ok. Then a guy who was watching bald eagles just moments before, offered to put me in his van to take me to the top of the hill where the gas station was. Feeling faint, in a state of shock, I agreed. Looking back on it, it was a little Silence of the Lambs, but the door wasn’t shut, and hey, I really didn’t think I was going to be able to walk to the top of the hill. At he gas station, Paris took care of the road rash on my side and the gink in my knee. Amazingly, other than those two injuries, I was completely unscathed. (Again: all the gear, all the time.)

Mentally, I wasn’t so good. I did not want to get back on my bike. But, Boulder, Utah isn’t exactly what you’d call a thriving community. In fact, I think the only thing there is the gas station on the hill and they seemed pretty staffed up.... The bike however, suffered a bit more damage (more of that later) but it seemed to ride all right, so after about an hour or so, I finally mustered the courage to get back on.

The next part of our ride took us through The Staircase and Escalante, Utah. It’s probably some of the most awesome country you’ll ever see. Unfortunately, the ride is a bit scary with a two-lane winding road that has very steep, sheer drop-offs for much of the ride. Because of my state of mind (which could be accurately described as scared shitless), I wasn’t fully appreciating the beauty of the scene. We stopped in Panguitch (rhymes with sandwich) because they had a medical clinic and I wasn’t convinced that I wasn’t going to need one by the end of the night.