Morning Glory Arch

Morning Glory Arch is the 6th longest natural span in the US (according to the sign). Its right outside Moab.

Its big ya'll

A sweet setup in the campground. Van + popup + canoe=wicked jealous

Porcupine Rim

For fall break I decided to head down to Moab, UT and ride the world famous Porcupine Rim trail. I decided just to go out and back on the trail which makes for a solid 28ish miles. Most people just take a shuttle to the trailhead, and now I know why. It is pretty much all uphill from where I started to the trailhead(and I endo'ed on the first little downhill like 12 miles in). It ended up being a 5 1/2 hour ride with some wind and nice cold rain.

Castle Valley

The La Sal Mountains from porcupine rim

High Anxiety Viewpoint. Its 3000' from here to the valley floor below.

There is a tractor in the parking lot down there.

I had been planning on riding the next morning too but since I could barely move I decided against it. It was a great ride though and I found a CO2 canister, pump, 2 tire levers, 2 water bottles, a sweet beanie, and 5 bucks!! All of which was spread out over about 10 miles. You know its a good ride when you come back with more money than you started with.

spontaneity weekend

This weekend we had hoped to meet up with Tony Zanca and his friends riding their bikes across the country. They were planning on being in southern Utah and Colorado over the weekend, just a few hours from us and TZ said he'd call us when they got in Friday evening to figure things out. So Friday afternoon we loaded up the car and made our way South. We weren't really sure where we were heading, but knew 2 hours away was the town of Ouray, which we had heard was pretty cool, so we made that our stop for the night. We got in after dark, found a European-esque hotel, and made our way to the local pub! Ouray is known as the "Switzerland of America" and is settled in between the mountains- Very pretty.

Main Street...

Ouray from above...We woke up early to a frost, walked around the town, and then got back on the road in search of Tony, who we had not heard back from yet. We continued South without much direction, stopping briefly to check out towns and lakes we came across.

Drive safely... Really, the only town we came across was Silverton, a tiny town that is known for their beer and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge railroad train. The brewery was closed and not much was open, so we walked around and got back on the road... as we neared Durango, still no word from Tony, we decided to stop and check out Durango!

We got in around lunch time and enjoyed a lunch outside. Durango was pretty cool and is a bicycle friendly town, so we had some fun checking out the local bike shops. I found a white Electra Amsterdam at Papa Wheelies that caught my eye... but left it behind, promising to think about it.

Lunch outside... Mountains in the background!

A very Dutch bicycle outside Papa Wheelies...A few hours later we realized we needed to find a bar to watch the South Carolina/ Alabama game! We found a great bar with some Michigan fans (boo Michigan!- but these guys were nice) and settled in to watch us kick some Crimson Tide tushie!! Very exciting game, the entire bar was cheering for Carolina by the end!! We left hours later still on a high from winning and me still thinking about the bicycle from Papa Wheelies... so we went back and made the purchase!

Still no word from Tony, we found a campground and got settled in for the night. We finally got ahold of Tony and he said they were doing well and would be in Ridgeway later this week (maybe an hour south of Junction) so Will may head down to see him then. We fell asleep quickly- afterall, we had a very busy and exciting day, and woke up early, packed up, and made our way back home. I got to ride my new purchase downtown to lunch today!!

Lookin good :) This time my bike will remain locked up when left outside...

Friday Morning Ride

Friday morning I got up early and put my lights to use on a ride out to the lunch loops.

I made it all the way up to The Ribbon trail, which is just a bunch of slickrock. It turns out the trail isn't very well marked so I just rode around up there and the went back down on the road to the lower trails.

Acres of slickrock!

On the way down I was riding on a washed out dirt road and zoned out for a second and next think I knew I was on the ground. I got some nice cuts and bruises all over, at least Im insured again!

I got to ride all the way back home through town in rush hour traffic covered in dirt and with thorns all in my leg. Ouch! (my body and my pride)

Fruita Fall Festival aka Guido Spotting

Sunday (9/26) we went to the Fruita Fall Festival.

Which just turned into Guido watching! Who knew? Its like Jersey Shore, with less beaches...
We pretty much spent an hour trying to take pictures of them while being incognito. We really werent all that stealthy probably, whatevs.

Last weekend update

Update time... Last Saturday morning I went for a ride up to the top of the Monument.

Steeeeep

Deer crossing the street on top of the Monument

Its a long way up to the top but once you get there it is pancake flat and you feel like your in Kansas, not at 7000'. Even the roads are dead straight.

Then we went to the Mesa State Football game against Western New Mexico (I think). We won by alot.

Big crowd! Kind of like Williams-Brice with about 77000 less people.

The Edge - The loop, not the guitarist

This morning I decided to ride the Edge Loop, a 30-35 mile loop around the boockcliffs with 3800 feet of climbing (according to IMBA). Like all good decisions it was made on the spur of the moment after drinking a little too much coffee before class. I packed a full pack with food and water and semi-tolerable energy goo and was off.

Excuse #1 My legs were really tired. I made the mistake of going to the gym yesterday, always dumb, and Time says it makes you fat too, and my legs were a bit tired. No Problem! Ill just spin it out and be fine.

Excuse #2 I looked at my trail map after I was about 30 minutes into the ride and saw the little note that says "2100 feet of climbing or descending from here". I was climbing that way.

So Im going the wrong way, as usual, but no worries. I was slightly prepared and had read up on the trail and knew there was a dried up 30 foot waterfall you had to portage. No problem though, there are ropes and its probably pretty easy anyway.

Excuse #3 The waterfall is, in fact, steep and its really hard to get a foothold on slickrock in mountain bike shoes. And if you didnt read before, I was going the wrong way so I was going up the waterfall and not down. Gravity you are a cruel mistress!!!!!!!

Check out that sweet rope, safety first......sometimes.

After lugging myself up the first little pitch, and then dragging the Spooky up with a rope with one hand while holding on for dear life with the other, I was almost there. JK! I left my alpine climbing skillz at home today and after finally making it to the top, I realized there was no way the bike was going to make it up with me. Since walking the next 25 miles didnt seem to appealing, I decided to head back from whence I came and skidded and flopped my way back down to the bike. Then I repeated the process of getting the bike up, just in reverse. Turns out this is harder than it should be.

Hearing the sound of your bike smacking into rocks is rather unpleasant it turns out. it was even worse for my Singletrack Solution bar-end, may it rest in peace (probably not good for the carbon handlebar the bar end was on either...). At least the ride back home was mostly downhill, and even more importantly, no one saw my 15 minutes of shame and ineptitude. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you a 30 foot vertical portage of rock in bike shoes, make for the car. Life lesson right there.