Roads less traveled are nice surprise

• Most curious highway sign(s): On the "loneliest highway" from the Nevada border to Delta, there are two signs opposite each other. The one on the east says "No services, next 43 miles." The one on the west says "No services, next 40 miles." Besides the two signs and a lot of sagebrush, there is nothing else in the vicinity. It's as if a masochist put up the signs almost exactly halfway between help. They might as well say, "You're Toast."

• Here's to the Second Amendment: It was 7:45 a.m. on a sleepy Thursday morning when I rode by the public gun range outside of Delta. The parking lot was full.

• Note to state mapmakers: The "36" marking the mileage on hilly Highway 191 between Helper and Duchesne is wrong. It should be "44." If you don't think eight miles makes a difference, you go ride it.

• BMOT (Best Meal Of Trip): I thought for sure it would be Lisa's Cafe in Nephi until I had the salmon filet at the Horseshoe in Mount Pleasant. Superb.

• Thanks to the highway department: The rumble strips in the shoulder along heavily-traveled Highway 40 in the Uinta Basin are well-placed to keep traffic from veering onto the shoulder and bicycles from veering onto the roadway. Plus, the shoulder is generally sufficiently wide. This ought to be a prototype for all roads in the state.

• Thanks to Shane and Vonnie of Duchesne: I forgot your last name, but you know who you are, and I won't soon forget your kindness in letting me use your Grand Am to drive back to Price and pick up my bags.

Finally, several readers have inquired about details of making such a bike trek. I ride on a regular road (not touring) bike, with Ultegra components and lightweight sturdy Ksyrium wheels (a perquisite from my inaugural Utah tour two summers ago). I got a new frame this year, an all-carbon Serotta, which may or may not have helped me go any faster, but I'm saying it did. My wife, Kerri, drives support and this year saved the day, once again, when my bike shoe cleat broke and she repaired it with Super Glue.

I ride alone much of the time but welcome companions. This year two biking friends, Walt Chudleigh and Dave Bradshaw, joined me for portions of the ride, as did my sons Eric and Tanner and my brother, Dee, the family genius, who joined me one hot afternoon in Mount Pleasant after riding 97 mostly uphill miles from his home in Sandy into a stiff south wind and then wondered why he was so tired and hungry.

I get the occasional comment that it's crazy to do something like this. But every year when I finish I feel better than when I started. I tore my ACL in my right knee years ago, shortly before I ruined my rotator cuff in my right shoulder. I can't run, play tennis, basketball or a bunch of other stuff any more. But I can bicycle. I think it's crazy not to.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.