Moab Rim Ride 2009 Race

Went over to Moab for Fred's Moab Rim Ride. This was an all out ass kicker. This was a self supported, carry all you need including water. I had 160 ounces of water and a bottle of coke. That was just enough to get me through the day. I rationed it well. If it was any warmer I may have ran out of fluid. The high temps were around 65. Pretty nice. I woke up at 3.30 am on Saturday morning to get ready for the 5am meeting at the Moab town park. It was well below 30 degrees. Not sure how many started or exactly finished the whole route. Maybe 20 or so started. I rode with Andrew Carney (from Ft. Collins as well as a fellow BWR teamie) and his coach Jason (Boulder). Two awesome people to ride with. Both super strong riders. The official start time was 5.45am and five of us finished together at 8pm. So about 14 or so hours to negotiate the route. I logged 97 miles and 9400 feet of climbing. It was definitely one of the harder hundys I have ridden. Very rocky and technical at times. Lots of up and down on rock. Some long sections of sand. Posion Spider route at the end was the worst. Thanks to Andrew for having the GPS unit which made it easier to follow. Otherwise I would have been one lost puppy out there. Looking forward to the next outing. I think the WRIAD is on tap for this weekend. Back to Moab!!!





Pretty sweet campground by the river.

Friday night and me and the bike are hitting the sack. It was cold. Had my tent heater going all night. 3.30 am came quick.

Jason and Andrew on a food break.

The La Sal's in the background.

The Ergon pack was great.

Me eating a powerbar.

The Airborne Ti 29er single speed machine. It rode flawless.

Andrew on the climb up gold bar, I think. It was a blur.

Casey from Colorado was with us for a bit. He had a mechanical and I was able to figure it out. He was about to walk it out.

Jason getting after it.

Andrew having fun.

Climbing that never stopped.

Lots of slick rock around here.

The view from atop Blue Dot trail. Moab is still a few hours away.

Andrew negotiating the cliff drop. I would be on the other side of the bike myself. Whatever.

The sun is starting to set. It was a long day for sure.

Finally what I was waiting for: the pavement.

Matt cruising on the pavement.

Cat smiling after hitting the pavement at the end of Poison Spider. A few more miles and we are done.

Voodoo Dambala (crap)

Received the replacement for my broken frame from Voodoo. Now it's on EBay. I couldn't imagine riding the same frame. I spoke to Joe Murray at Voodoo today and he didn't give me any kind of comfort level of getting back on this same frame. He stated that they have had 20 of these frames break in that general area. Are you kidding me, 20!!!!!!!! Holy crap!!! Recall the crappy frames. He tried to say I must have hit it hard, when actually I told him over and over it has been ridden less than 6 times with no hard crashes or hits at all of any kind. It' the cheap ass tubing/labor overseas they are using. He said they are switching to Reynolds tubing this next year. Wow, you think!

Phil's World

Rode Phil's World in Cortez today. Had a work stoppage at our job site so I took advantage to go ride during the week. Nacho accompanied me and I took him for a quickie after I rode. He was in heaven. There was only one car in the parking lot when I returned from my 2 hour ride.

This is the spot where the green machine broke in half. Shawn found my cover to my bell and hung it on the tree. Look for it when riding Stinking Springs.......you will find it after climbing Moki Hill.

NAcho gettign some trail time.

Weekend

A great weekend of road riding South of Rico and mountain biking at Phil's World in Cortez.

Saturday Laura and I along with approximately 50 people built a new 4 mile trail system at Phil's. I started the day by leaving Rico at 7am in cold weather but it soon warmed as I neared Cortez. Not much climbing going down but 50 miles is 50 miles.

Sunday was a great day in Cortez for mountain biking. A bit windy but got in 35 miles on the mountain bike with a hard effort with Shawn.

Friday!

Did a great 60.5 mile, 4 hour ride on Friday from Rico South on Highway 145 to just North of Dolores. I was well overdressed as the weather was perfect. Around 65+ or so down by Dolores and with a tailwind coming back to Rico it seemed very warm. It was 59 degrees in Rico when I arrived home at 5pm.

West Fork of the Dolores. About 22 miles South of Rico.

I call this the Taylor Creek Arch. Located about 18 miles South of Rico at the Taylor Creek Road.

Perfect!

Road Ride

A beauty of a day in Rico in mid March. Got on the single speed cross bike after work at 6.30pm and it was a nice 52 degrees. When I did make it back home it was down to 35 degrees. I rode South of Rico on highway 145 (you can only go North or South) for 10 + miles and turned around and headed back home. A very nice after work ride during the winter months. Almost Spring time! A view of the On One Mungo Bars. Very comfy bars for any type of terrain riding on the single speed cross bike.

Dolores River starting to defrost.