No pics but I thought I would report that I stayed the night outside of Moab last Saturday, and rode with a serious crew. We camped about 3 miles up Gemini Bridges road, and never even made it to town. That’s my style. REALLY perfect weather. 60ish during days, 30ish during the night.
Not much relaxing to be had though on this trip, at least not for me. Drove down with Kris Gray and his neighbor Jake. Was hoping for some chill time at camp and maybe two ten milers, in two days. But…
Instead, we got there and were rushed off on a 25 mile crank with a large climb to 191 from our camp on Gemini Bridges Road. And yep, that large climb was there to tackle at the end of the ride as well. I was easily 40 minutes behind everyone else when said and done. Basically walked up the big climb back to camp. Oh and the 4 or 5 mile spin on the highway, south back to camp, was pure BS. Not sure who decided that would be the way to go but oh well.
In all fairness I did have have the chance to bail earlier in the ride, and looking back, I probably should have. I was a waste case at camp. Bonked and sore. Stumbled around holding various things in my hands that I didn’t need when I first pulled up. Couldn’t think straight, was trying to figure out what to do next. Finally I just dropped everything, walked over to the kitchen, and had a sport beer and an orange. Suddenly I could think straight again. Ha. So I went about recovering with about a gallon of water and more food than I knew I could consume in an evening time frame.
The group consisted of a bunch of great guys and girls, who all knew one another through work relationships and friendships tied to the Wild Rose Bike shop in SLC. But I couldn’t hang with the riding. The 29er, and the culture around that style of riding, is still way new to me. Plus I’m not in pedal shape. At all. So when my bike broke 5 miles into day two of riding I was ok with hobblin’ back to camp and hiking around in the canyon we were camping in. Good chill time to think, reflect and plan for the coming summer.
Camping in the desert at the end of February gets an A+. But trying to hang with that crew, and my lack of preparedness, scores a D on the riding. Apparently they ended up on a sweet single track at the end of day two, so maybe I could have graded the ride better if my bike didn’t break.
All in all though, I am fired up on the 29er. It’s fully rigid and I feel really pure and powerful on that thing. As soon as I get more pedaling behind me this spring, it’ll feel better yet! I need to be forced fed some fitness 😉
