Breaking records

Hello again everyone. I know I just put up a post yesterday, but today is worthy of a post of its own. First of all to mention, this tour is the largest cross-continental bike tour to date. With 128 people biking for Seattle, WA to Jersey City, NJ and another 92 taking part in various sections of the tour. And I'm glad to say that this is no longer a tour, but a huge travelling family. Everyone here gets along great and enjoys themselves. Of course like normal people we have our really bad days and our really good days. And also like most people you learn who and who you can and can't bike with for various reasons (either they are to fast, unsafe, or sometimes kinda annoying). But we all look out for each other.
But on to today. Personally I experienced five new records of my own.
Length - New Record: 167km up from 140km (mind you the route roday was a 156km ride. But me and a few others went into downtown Salt Lake City to see a few sights)
Temperature - New Records: 45C up from 42.5C (again remember that the temperature reader on my bike is exposed to the elements. I'll talk about the heat latter)
Time in the Saddle - 7hrs and 7min up from 5hrs and 30min.
Maximum Speed - 77km/hr up from 75.5km/hr
Highest Altitude - 7061 ft up from about 4700 ft

So today we left the town of Willard, UT on Great Salt Lake and rode for about 100km south to Salt Lake City, UT. The first note worthy event was about an hour and a half into the ride. We were following along our maps and directions when we noticed that a road we were told to take didn't exsist. Plus to make things more interesting, we biked on about 4 different Main Streets and pasted about 3 State Streets. So we rode for about 60km not knowing exactly where we were. But we at least knew that we were heading in the right direction, south. After that we biked for quite a bit into Salt Lake City. While there, for the short time we were, we visited the Mormon Temple Square in the downtown area. Very nice place, and also very impressive. Which makes sense as Salt Lake City is the Mormon "Mecca". After that we visited the First CRC of Salt Lake City for lunch. It was awesome, and also our first real break after biking 100km. After that we left the church and headed east for the Wasatch Mountains to climb up a couple thousand feet to Park City, but to be more specific at Jordanelle State Park. But right after leaving the church we started our first climb, which begun at a 14% grade. THAT WAS RICDIULOUS!
Anyway, the rest of the climb up Emigration Canyon was relatively easy. At the top, another church had set up a refreshment tent. They were the angels at the top of the mountain. After that was some easy coasting downhill for abit until we got onto I-80. That climb kicked me in the face. You knew the grade was steep when transports were inching past, there were also 6 trucks that had over heated and pulled off. The heat was unbarable. My thermometre read 45C at one point. It might not have been that hot, but it felt like it. The sun was cooking you from above, the black asphalt was pushing the heat right back up beneath you. And to make it worse there was zero breeze, as we crawled up. At the top there was an elevation marker reading 7061 feet. The rest of the ride was very beautiful as it looks like we have left the Sonoran Desert as it is actaully green here. We also biked past the site of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, alpine events. I saw the skeleton tracks, super jump ramp and many many ski runs. We are now in Jordanelle State Park, with an awesome view of the Jordanelle Reservoir, beach front camping and all.
Anyway, it's getting late, today has been great. And I'm off to bed and ready to enjoy Zondag in off.
Peace&GodBless
Matt

ps. I miss all you guys back home! But I'm now a third of the way across. I couldn't do it without he support from my friends, extended family, Mom & Dad, Tracy & Rob, Britt, my bro Matt, and with the strength from up above.