One of the most important roles an individual in our group takes on is that of the Support And Gear (SAG) driver. Normally, one is responsible for his or herself and on a rotating basis, your team of three people take on additional duties (like preparing dinner, cleaning up at departure from a host site, planning an upcoming route, etc.). Compared to being the SAG driver, these are fun and easy chores. The SAG driver is responsible for 22 people and provides the momentum to keep the Bike-Aid group moving forward.

I woke up early and helped the host clean up crew tidy up the Newman Center in Salt Lake City. Next on the agenda was helping to pack the SAG van. My bike was packed in the back of the SAG van along with the other gear. I made a shopping list, filled the water jugs, and after everyone had left for the ride (a late start at 9:45am), I then went to work. I first stopped at a nearby gasoline station to fill the tank and get ice. We've had good luck after filling the tank just asking for an ice donation. I got four free bags. Then on to the grocery shopping. The first store I stopped at wouldn't give us a donation, so I moved on to another store. I struck out there too, but decided to shop anyway. We've noted that larger cities tend to not give us discounts, while the small town stores often give us $25 or more free. Shopping was interesting, since I was buying for 22 hungry people. Five dozen eggs. Ten pounds cheese. Two 32-ounce peanut butter jars. A water melon. A bag of apples. Twenty pounds of bananas. Giant 64-ounce salsa bottle. You get the idea. After grocery shopping I was finally on my way. Our scheduled lunch stop was only 13 miles out on our route, after a long climb up Emigrant Canyon southeast of Salt Lake City. About half the riders were beyond the lunch stop by the time I got there. They were prepared for this, understanding the late start we had in the morning. Fortunately, we are not in the desert and there are more alternatives than the SAG for getting some lunch.

Arriving at lunch on his own power was injured Yasu, who had taken a spill about a mile up from our lunch stop. His wheel slipped (while braking) on a downhill and his bike ran into a guard rail. (This was not the route - he and some others had taken a side trip and his fall was on a steep access road.) He went over the guard rail and he hit his knee badly on the guard rail post. Luckily, the other side of the guard rail was not a sheer drop off cliff. He has been icing his knee all day, and became my passenger. We have a bike rack hanging off the front bumper for such instances. Yasu is our first crash injury on the ride, although others have SAG'd into our destination due to fatigue.

I drove to Heber City without passing our other riders, who I knew had gotten off the road in Park City for their own lunch. In Heber, I contacted our host, the head of the county recreation department, Tom Bonner. Tom met Yasu and me at Wasatch County's Southfield Park. This is an irrigated picnic area, playground, and baseball field complex. Not really set up for camping, but Wasatch County is making an exception for us. So we have flush toilets and nice picnic shelters (for shade) and nice grass for our tents. They have shut off the sprinklers (we hope!) for us tonight. While Yasu sat in the shade with ice on his knee, I unloaded the SAG. Then I got back in the van and back-tracked to our lunch stop in order to provide water or assistance to the riders. I only found a couple of my riders (which didn't concern me too much, it was only about 3:00pm.) When I got back to Heber City a second time, I met the lead riders in town, explained the camping and shower situation (we have access to the community swimming pool until 6:30pm, but the pool is located over a mile from the camp site!)

I had a couple more errands to run. I stopped at a hardware store to get some bolts to use to repair the bike rack, some more ice, cookies for a treat for everyone, and scrounged up some cardboard boxes (we still have a very disorganized SAG vehicle, I hope the boxes make it a little easier to pack and to unload - at least until they get wet!)

My last duty as SAG driver is to plug the cell phone in and recharge its batteries, settle up with the treasurer to be reimbursed for today's grocery purchase, and give the SAG key to tomorrow's SAG driver, Signe.

Today's route looked very pretty; I wish I could have bicycled it. The Emigrant Canyon is a winding two-way road with bike lanes up the side of the Wasatch Mountains - the foothills of the Rocky Mountain Range. Then we took a little I-80 over to Park City and Deer Valley (ski resorts and site of 2002 Olympic events) and then got on Hwy 40 down to Heber. To get here we went over several 6% grades on mountain passes. We'll be on Hwy 40 all day tomorrow too, a mountainous 100+ mile ride.

There is fire west of us, we can see and smell the smoke. As the sun set, some ash drifted down on us. It is very dry here. The locals say they've had three dry years.