My finish today is almost 3500ft lower than my start this morning. That is a lot of downhill mostly on busy highways and mostly with OK shoulders. Not the most pleasant riding, but it was the most straightforward route.

I waited until 8am to start. Heber City temperature said 50F so I was expecting up to 10F cooler. As it turned out my bike thermometer got to 45F so not particularly cold.

The Summit Lodge was a nice place, though I prefer a room with a mini-fridge to one with a fireplace. It was convenient to start with my steepest descent first when I was fresh. Overall not that difficult as I noticed not much more than -6% and only in the first three miles. Rabbit Ears Pass was steeper and longer. The shoulder was good in the steep parts but then had short intermittent spots with almost no shoulder or a bunch of debris. I watched my mirror closely in those parts.

The canyon opened up after ~10 miles and also became less steep over time. This is ~5900ft after having descended ~2100ft. I was happy to turn off busy US 40 onto a short cut small road.

These small roads were nice. Quiet and still slightly downhill.

Views looking down towards Provo Canyon

Eventually back on US 189 as it went around Deer Creek Reservoir. This road was occasionally busy and later became four lanes. The shoulder was better than US 40 and it had these “share the road” signs.

Another view of the reservoir

Oops road construction coming up that put all cars into the left lane. Fortunately I was still able to ride to the right of the cones.

Good thing I wasn’t going northbound on Utah 92… After this point the road was busy and even went through a short tunnel. Still had those “share the road” signs and even saw two other bicyclists.

Hooray! Eventually got to the upper part of the Provo Canyon Trail. From here it was quieter cycling.

Waterfall…

Close to the bottom, around that bend and I was done with the canyon.

Cycling city streets through Orem.

Past some industrial areas including this power plant.

In the distance is Utah Lake. This area had a small field but also a lot of new houses. I zigged and zagged some of these back roads to find a motel not far from Lehi. The first Patel motel in a while…