A Big Update!

Sorry for such a long delay in posting, but I went through a large area of Box Elder County that has no phone or wireless service.

Panguitch to Cedar City: very long day, many hours of false summits and climbing but coming down through Cedar Breaks made it all worth it. One of the hardest days of the entire ride.

Cedar City to Milford: Easy day with a long steady climb and a tail wind. Great over night stay with friends Jim and Kathy Handley in Milford. Buster the dog did not like me at first and never got over it.

Milford to Delta: Marc and Pepper joined me for the next three days. 75 long flat miles. It's amazing how much easier the ride can be with friends. This leg took a little over six hours.

Delta to Vernon: The first part was fairly flat but the last part of the day was a long climb in the hot sun. That night we stayed in Boulter about 12 miles south of Vernon. Marc found a great camping spot about five feet from the railroad tracks. Five feet is not stretching the truth.

Vernon to Grantsville: Easy day, very flat. We rode fast that day to Rush Valley so we could stop for a cold Coke at the Country Store, and when we arrived it was closed.

JJ, the owner, was there and was nice enough to let us sit on her porch and have a drink. It did not take long before she brought out a sandwich and cookies for us to eat. She has moved her store to Penny's on HWY 36 south of Tooele. Stop by if you are in the area.

Grantsville to Oasis, Nev.: This leg proved to be too dangerous to travel on. I took the advice of the Utah Highway Patrol and Marc and rode in the truck this leg of the tour.

Oasis, Nev. to Grouse Creek: A long hot downhill leg. My wife was back in the SAG wagon and will finish the tour out with me. We camped next to an old railroad water spring. There was nothing in sight but the desert and a few trees. A very quiet night.

Grouse Creek to Park Valley: another long hot day in the middle of nowhere with a head wind. A very tiring long day.

Park Valley to Tremonton: I rode to the freeway then had to get in the truck again for the Interstate portion.

Tremonton to Lake Town: A very beautiful canyon but the most dangerous ride yet. There are parts of Logan Canyon that have sharp turns and no shoulder and I came very close to dying that day. I would never recommend anyone try and bike up Logan Canyon.

Lake Town to Evanston: Friend Kathie joins me for a day. We had a great night's sleep at Bear Lake in her summer home. We started late. The ride was easy and the weather was great. Less the 98 miles and I am done!

Resting in Panguich

Well, sorry for the delay in posting after the last couple of days with no cell or internet service (I won't say which plan I'm on). Speaking of the Torrey to Escalcante ride, the climb out of Torrey was brutal, but once I got over the top, it was spectacular. It was about 15 miles downhill going 30-35 mph to the town of Boulder with a couple of short climbs out to the top of the Grand Staircase National Monument. At one point the descent is 14%. I hit 49.5 mph on that one--the fastest I've ever gone on the bike.

Escalante to Panguitch was painful in the fact that I was not fully recovered by the morning, so I did not enjoy that leg much. I have an extra rest day in Panguitch because of a scheduling conflict with my support driver.

I need to thank my friend Jeff Graceffa for his support over the last week, both as the SAG DRIVER and for being a great support. Plus, he paid for a majority of the expenses while he was here. Please visit his restaurant, if you ever find yourself in Crested Butte, Colorado. The Secret Stash is a great place to grab a bite and relax a bit.

Joe

Safely to Escalante

Joe has been without great cell service and the ability to shoot photos up to the mothership for the last couple of days. He's doing well, though. Yesterday was a 14-hour marathon ride from Torrey to Escalante. Today he is moving on to Panguitch. He officially passed 500 miles yesterday. One-third of the ride is over! The countdown from 1000 started today. Keep it up, Joe!

Fry Canyon, Hanksville

Well, After two tough days on Hwy 24 southern Utah, I'm finally in Hanksville. It was hot and especially windy yesterday, today it was just hot. We stayed on a ranchers property in fry canyon, he is a WWII VET, and when he found out I was a vet as well, he allowed us to stay there. Very nice, that's how we vets are.

The climb in the Henry mountains just north of Hite (we stopped there to swim for about an hour), was a very steep two miler, that almost killed me, but I just kept spinning. As crappy as Hanksville is, it sure looked good today. Off to Torrey tomorrow, what day is it?

Joe

1st Rest Day

At the end of my first rest day, I'm feeling really good. I can't say I felt that yesterday. The Moab to Monticello route was a very tough leg in my journey. I have to thank My friend Jeff for being there the entire ride, seven hours on the bike! It was allot of climbing and very hot the entire day. As usual Marc (who is a liar, when it comes to telling you how hard or far a climb is) told me it should be an easy leg.



Joe

In Moab!

After 29 miles in the sun and two flats! The first I've ever had with this bike, thanks Tae for helping with the roadside repair. Both on the same damn tire. After the second flat, I just rode the sag wagon in for the last two miles of the day, and of course it was the giant down hill into town, or coastee as I like to call it. Damn. My friend Jeff will be here shortly, and he will be taking over sag wagon duties for a week. Big thanks to my wife Kristina for the great support during the first week. Almost forgot to mention ROLF at the Poison Spider bicycles in Moab, I busted a buckle on one of my sidi shoes on the Price to Green River leg, They had everything I needed to fix both the shoe, and my bike. Plus he gave me a couple of free things. Very Cool.

Joe

Headed to Moab

Joe Johnson and Bike 1500 for Vets made it safely to Green River yesterday evening. This morning they have started en route to Moab. Aside from some inconsiderate truck drivers, Joe says things are going smoothly. The 90+ degree temperatures made yesterday's seven-hour ride seem longer than the first three days. The heat will continue today as Joe heads for Moab.

Safely Into Price

Joe and the crew made it into Tabiona on night one, Duchesne on night two and Price on night three (last night). Today Joe is on his way to Green River with what will be his longest leg so far--nearly 64 miles!

Thanks for all the support from everyone. Feel free to leave your well-wishes in the comments for Joe to read when he finally gets some internet connectivity outside of Dinosaur Country!

Nancy, Marc and Joe at Wolf Creek Pass. Talk about high-elevation riding!

Meeting new friends and collecting Mardi Gras beads along the way.

Trust me when I tell you that you don't want to get lost in the middle of Utah! Mapping out the route each day is imperative.

I wonder how happy these same faces were after twelve hours of riding on Sunday? Way to go Marc, Joe and Nancy!

Off and Rollin'

Joe got off to a great start this morning. Here are some photos of the first few miles of the trek. Good luck, Joe!

UPDATE:

Everyone, Sorry it has been so long since my last update, I've been busy traveling and riding. I spent last week in Crested Butte, CO. riding in the 24 hour townie tour to help raise money for The Adaptive Sports Center, I rode a total of eight of the twenty four hours, drank for four, and covered 85 miles. The course was around town on a 2.5 mile circuit, allot of starting and stopping, mostly paved roads, but there was two sections of dirt. I strained my left knee during the ride, but it's nothing too serious. Last minute prep for my ride is continuing, I think I'll be ready to go as scheduled, if would like to participate in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me through the blog, or my website, or also through the NAC.

Joe

June

Hi, Everyone.

Sorry for the delay in posting new information. I'm still out here (Grantsville) riding among the sagebrush of the west desert. I had a rough week last. I didn't feel well enough to train all week. My doctors decided to change my medication that I've been taking since 1991 to newer generation med, so it's been tough on the body. I'm better, no worries.

One of the great things about being out here is the diversity of wildlife, except rattle snakes, I will see one almost every ride. I saw a beautiful 4ft. mojave green on my ride the other day.

Updates on the ride planning: The route has been approved by the state commissioner of public safety. Hincapie Sportswear are designing and making the ride jerseys. Westside Automotive has donated the use of a cargo trailer to haul all the equipment. I still need many other things, if you any ideas or know anyone that can help. Please let me know.

Joe

Update: I was in Salt Lake all last week, not as much riding as I wanted to do, but I was able to go out with my coach and ride city creek. A long 6 mile pull, uphill, then my chain broke, but I've bought a new one (actually three), it's a long chain. and will have it on tonight.

Joe

City Creek Canyon

Just a quick post. I'm in Salt Lake for the week working, and staying at my friend Marc's house. We are going to ride City Creek everyday, so I can get climbing miles in. I'm up next to the water station, where the road transitions from the new road, to the old narrow road, and this girl passes by, and says "is that easy", and without thinking, I just said "oh yeah, real easy". The more I think about it, the more it just makes me laugh on the inside, when I'm not crying on the outside.

Joe

Long ride

Sorry for the delay in posting, as usual I'm having computer issue's. Last Saturday I decided to do a long ride, to test myself. I woke up early (6am), and was on the rode by eight. The first eighteen miles of this ride is a long gradual uphill climb, the country is so expansive out where I live it seems to take forever to go up some of the roads I'm riding on. But there is a good side to everything, it allows me to reflect on allot of things as I ride.

Last week, I learned of my friend Earl Denet's passing; that really saddened me. Earl was Hopi, and a traditional kachina carver from the 3rd Mesa. He was one the nicest people I've had the privilege to know. I also thought of my friends that are gone, but never forgotten.

LTC Russell Carmody
CW4 Ray Frank
SFC David Garrity
SSG Tracy Tidwell
SSG Pete Shields

They are my Heroes.

ROUTE: From Grantsville, Mormon trail road,W Silver ave to Stockton, Hwy 36 to Erda, and back to Grantsville. 49.65 Miles, awesome ride.
http://mapshare.delorme.com/Consumer/V.aspx?p=zdtx2y34

Joe

After a weekend of dreary weather. I finally had a few hours of good weather on Sunday afternoon. The ride soon turned into a comedy of error's. My 11-year-old daughter has been begging, to go on one of my training rides, so I relented and allowed her to come, with a few stipulations. Don't talk, drink to much, or complain.
1. I dressed way too warm--long riding tights and a long sleeved fleece jacket--way too much.
2. My Daughter would not shut up! (it was like riding with my Mom, nag, nag, nag)! She (Mom) doesn't own a computer, so I'm safe.
3. A ride I thought was twelve miles, turned out to be twenty four miles, at the fourteen mile mark I finally gave in, and let Tae call her Mom to come and get us.

I was proud that she made it that far, but she is excluded from all training rides from this point forward.

Joe

First Blog

Finally, riding weather! Yesterday was my second consecutive ride, 22 miles. I felt really good after.

Route Map

The first ride always kills me, especially my left side. I will try to post my route maps of the different training rides as I do them, and I'll get a few bike pictures as well. If anyone is interested in riding with me, contact through the blog's email, bike1500forvets@gmail.com or my personal email, pltjoe@comcast.net, or call 435-849-4094.

About Joe

Joseph Johnson

After completing his training, he graduated with distinguished honor from class number 88-11 and worked in the Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) in his home state of Utah as well as in Texas and Alabama flying Scout Helicopters and then ultimately, Apache Attack Helicopters, 211th Aviation Group (ATTACK).

A brain injury while on active duty cut short his helicopter pilot career. In 1995 he officially retired from his military career.

He now runs APOCG Supply, a service disabled veteran owned company, and he is a distributor of Off the Wall Products’ safety and security equipment. His products include DoS K12-rated vehicle bollards and K12 active barriers, as well as an extensive line of water-filled barriers for military use. Mr. Johnson brings an assured familiarity with the needs of his former colleagues and the assurance of quality safety and security products.

From Joe: The reason I’m doing this ride, is to get vets like myself out there riding. There is no better therapy than exercise! I want no attention or acclaim for myself, but to use the power of example to get the word out that there are options. As an avid cyclist before my disability, it was one of the things that made a huge impact in my life, when I realized I could no longer do it. I sat on my ass for 13 years yearning to ride, but not knowing the options or resources that are available. It’s not easy to ride when you are paralyzed on one side, but that is the challenge/reward of cycling that keeps me going.