51.6 miles

Today I did something that I never thought I would ever do in my lifetime. At least growing up I never imagined I would do something like this.

This trip we brought our bikes with us. Before we left UT we talked about riding our bikes to Payson from Heber. (AZ towns, not UT towns). I thought the ride was 45 miles, but when we got to AZ my mom's neighbor told me that Payson was 53 miles, not 45 miles. I figured, what the heck, what's another 8 miles when you are going that far.

We got ready for the trip and had my sister Lori take us to a paved road as the road my mom lives on is still mostly dirt and it pops tires.

We left Heber at 9:30 am and rode our bikes to Payson. I think it was the hardest ride of my life and I'm thankful that I didn't get killed. We had a few semi trucks and another truck pulling a tractor nearly run me off the road. I wanted to give them the 'bird' but I was so shaken that I had to just hold tight to my handle bars.

The wind was at our faces the whole way. By mile 38 I didn't know how much farther I could go and I knew I was pretty far from my destination. At about mile 46 Brett told me we could stop and just wait for my sister to pick us up. I wasn't about to do that either. I know myself too well. If I had stopped I would have felt like I failed. So, I pushed through the burning in my legs and finished the ride just after 1:30pm.

Thanks Lori for driving to Payson to pick us up. I don't think I could have turned around and ridden home to Mom's.

Sorry to those who have to listen to me talk about this ride. I'm proud of myself for being able to do it and I'm even more proud to say that I was able to do it with my best friend - Thanks Brett. I love you.