Phil's and Sand Canyon

Sand Canyon Ruins. Many on the main Sand Canyon Trail.

The Jabberwocky.

Sophia negotiates a techy turn.

Sophia descending down West Rock.

Laura descending down West Rock.

I was a busy person on my 3 day weekend. Friday I had to drive over to Dove Creek to register one of our cars which is a 70 mile drive one way. Damn county lines are jacked up around here. That's what I get for living in hill jack country.

Also on Friday I attempted to ride Phil's but only did the first loop as the snow and mud were bad in spots and shouldn't have been ridden on. There were a handful of cars in the parking lot and most people just went for it regardless of the damage to be done to the trail. I had heard the high school bike team was out there and rode on it. They should know better. The trail was pretty damaged in spots from the many bikers riding on the trail and I decided to get off the trail and head back to the car.

On Saturday Applesauce (my wife Laura), Pork chop (my sister-in-law Sophia) and I went out to Sand Canyon to ride. (long story on why Sophia is called pork chop) It was perfect weather and the trail dry. Sand Canyon is located about 12 miles West of Cortez on the Airport road. There is about 15 miles or so of single track and reminds me of Sedona single track. Pretty fun. I rode the Vassago Jabberwocky single speed with a carbon rigid fork. Day 2 on the rigid fork and I am trying to get used to the way it feels. It has been 2 plus years since I rode with a rigid fork on a regular basis. Rode my Ti Airborne with a rigid Ti fork 2 1/2 years on the KTR. That was rough. Anyways the ride was great.

Afterwards Laura dropped me off at at the end of highway 145 coming into Cortez and I ran to Dolores; a 10 mile jaunt. Took me 1 1/2 hours to do this and I felt worked. It is mostly uphill to Dolores before the drop into Dolores. about 1000 feet of elevation gain. The marathon program has me doing big miles on Saturdays and next Saturday is to be a 12 mile run. I will see how that works out as we will be on vacation and doing a lot of bike riding in Vegas and Southern Utah.