ON YER BIKE!: MOAB 5---Flower Power!

Monday, May 31, 2010

MOAB 5---Flower Power!

With not a reason in the world for us to stay home, Mary and I headed out for 5 days in Moab. Why drive further? It is "The Mecca" after all. Normally crossing the Cisco desert between Fruita and Moab is brown and boring. However this springs rainfall and 3 months of snow cover left old, ugly Cisco, in a frenzy of color.

I had taken the previous 4 days off to rest my legs. Last year was constant long, slow days in the saddle. This year's rides have been nothing but 1 hour and 2 hour speed blasts. My legs were rebelling by fatiguing early and never recovering. I hoped the rest would allow me to re-set my system and kick this lack of power.

On Wednesday night I met up with Tim and we headed out to Sovereign Trail for an easy ride before dark. Frustratingly, my legs still felt like lead, but the Moon made up for it by dwarfing the La Sal Mountains on its way up. It was quite a sight.

My plan was to ride through this tough spot in my year. Stress, might have a little to do with it too, considering the unsettled nature of things lately???

The next morning I stopped in Moab Cyclery and everyone was game for an evening ride, a ride built for Mary, and her first real group ride since getting back on the bike. We rode up Klondike Bluffs and then down Baby Steps. The Sun decided to try and trump last nights Moon show. It exploded in yellow/orange light. We watched as it left its final stamp on the day.

In Moab, just when you think the Sun has set, it often decides to blow up again without warning, just to let you know who's boss. After the sun had been set for nearly 10 minutes, it decided to light up a cloud above us, bright pink! It was so pink that the trail was pink, my bike was pink, and my skin looked pink. It is amazing how different these light shows always are. I have never been in one like this.

As we popped out of the trail at dark we leaned on our trucks and watched the yellow glow start behind the mountains. For the second night in a row, we watched the old Moon slowly envelope the mighty La Sals. Prime Time TV!!!!!

Mary's Klondike ride had went very well. With plans to ride in Cortez on Saturday she took Friday off to rest her hands, which left me, Nancy and Tim riding the first Hazard County Down of the year. My legs still felt like lead and to make it worse it was more windy than I had ever seen it before. At times it was our friend. It allowed me the fastest Kokopelli ride of my life. But as the day went on it turned into our faces and stung us with sand. Here is a shot of Tim after getting sandblasted.

We opted for descending down "the climb" and took "Fins and Things" to avoid as much wind as possible. My lead filled legs were so bad I was wondering if medical help might be my next step. As we climbed up a rediculously sandy, windy hill I pushed really hard into the pain in my legs. Crazy thing is, the pain began to subside? The further we went the better I felt. As the wind became stronger so did I. We were laughing at the absurdity of pedaling downhill in our granny rings, 50 mile gusts bringing us to a standstill on pavement.

After 25 some miles on Friday I was stoked to still be feeling fresh. I joked with Mary that I could do another ride that day. Well, I got my wish. My brother in law rolled into the drive way and with only about an hours light left in the sky we headed out to Amasa Back. The wind had settled some, and we had a freakishly fast run down Amasa.

Awaking on Saturday I was curious to see how I would feel after another ride. My legs were sore, but climbing the stairs at the house felt better then when I had arived 3 days ago completely fresh. We took the family down to Mesa Verde. It was crazy busy, but the kids loved exploring the Kiva's and the ruins.

Mary had been dreaming of riding Phils World in Cortez for over a year. Last year, on my birthday, I had let her ride about a mile of the trail. At that time her hands would let her do no more than that. But this year she was ready to rip, and rip she did! Man, what a blast of a trail system! Andy and I were jumping like jackrabbits through the "Ribb Cage" section and we could hear Mary behind us singing and whooping. Four days on the bike was now complete and I was pretty sure I had pushed through my leg problems. It was AWESOME!

We rested on Sunday, and we said that it was good. LOL

This morning however, Andy and I beat the heat and laid down first tracks on Porcupine. We left at 6AM and were done before the first shuttles had left town. Flower Power was still in effect on Porcupine. Spring hasn't stopped springing yet!

While Andy and I were out riding, Mary and Natalie were off on their own ride.

And when we were done with those rides we rode some more, family and all!

Kai thought it was pretty cool that his uncle rode off of a giant crane. His mother was not so pleased that he too wanted to ride his bike on a giant crane.

As if we needed more outdoor activity, we decided to hike up a desert canyon. There are very few places in this world more sacred then these rare canyons flowing with cool, clear water. They have a distinct smell and you can "feel" the water as the canyon walls around you bake in the summer sun.

I am really enjoying taking more abstract pictures. I love how the simple colors of the natural world are tansformed through the camera into a something vaugely familualr, yet mostly unknown.

In the words of Kermit the Frog, "It aint easy being green."

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