Thursday, August 14, 2008

The visuals as promised and a Utah update




Rattlesnakes in the trail and Utah for better and worse.


Making dinner in the desert and road pops along the way.





















Overlook at the CO Trail.... and a Durango Bat.







Kicking back on the Animinas River after a day of riding the CO Trail.


















Riding in Durango






















CJ, Rachel, and Peri












Hermosa Trail in Durango and cows blocking my line.








































Heading into Durango from Silverton CO.

































Something along the Trail in Gunnison had a very bad day.







Pics from the ride at Heartland Rocks in Gunnison CO.




9-14-08 4:00 o'clock. We just finished a ride in Moab. Four hours and 111 degrees when we got back to the car. Luck for us there were a few coldies waiting for us and we are now comfortably hanging out at Zaxs in Moab waiting for a pizza and have a Cutthroat Pale Ale. Our last day in Durango was laid back as our legs were feeling the eight straight days of high altitude rides. We are sunburned and sandy at this point and survived an interesting night in the desert. We hit Moab around eight o'clock at night and pulled into the first trail head we could find. We hit the Behind the Rocks trail and rode up to the high point to watch the sun set. We drove into the desert a few miles to set up camp and make dinner and at 11 o'clock it had finally cooled down to a nice 80 something degrees. We set off on a night ride with an almost full moon and lights on the bike. A half mile into the ride Bruce calls out "did you see that snake?" I had been looking up a head and was oblivious to the rattlesnake that had struck my back tire just missing my ankle. We got a few good pics of the guy and were happy we were not making a trip to the ER for some anti venom. We rode into the wild further until we hit the sand flats and decided to call it a night. Back at camp I crashed out while Bruce stayed up all night waiting to see if the pack of coyotes were going to attack our camp. They howled for awhile from the rock outcrop just a 100 ft of our camp and finally decided to take their party elsewhere. Today we rode Amasaback / Cliffhanger in Moab which is a four mile out and back. We played on the rocks in the 100 plus degree heat until our brains were as cooked as our skin. After a close call with wall ride gone wrong I decided I needed to take it on home (the car) and find some AC. So here we are anticipating if we are going to do a shuttle run up to 12,000 ft and ride 40 plus miles tomorrow in Moab or to hit the road and cruise to Fruita hoping for some cooler temps. It is off to the La Salls tonight to camp at 10,ooo ft plus in hopes of no coyotes and a cool nights rest. The weather forecast for Fruita is calling for 85 degrees tomorrow so there is a good chance we will be on the move tomorrow.

Breakfast at the trailhead in Gunnison





















Riding with Jake Kirkpatrick in Golden CO






















More of Golden CO.


1 comment:

Anna said...

I'm so super excited that you guys are TEARIN IT UP cross country. I would love to be out west right now... Soak it in!