For her birthday, stephanie wanted to go mountain biking.
here she is.
this video does not do the hill justice. it is 5x steeper looking in real life, both going down and going up.
I'm back from my first epic mountain bike trip
So I have never really gone on any big epic, multi day biking trips. Earlier this summer, a good friend invited me along with some other guys for a trip. I waffled back and forth about going for a while, but I decided it was a trip of a lifetime.
And it was an amazing trip.
So me, and 4 other guys headed off in a suburban and a 30′ camper. The Agenda: Biking in Moab Utah, and then over to the Durango Colorado area.
We left on Labor day, for a planned 9 – 10 hour drive to Moab. About an hour away from Moab, we had a minor engine issue. The tensioner pulley seized.
Here is the awesome parts of this break down. 1. we were on the top of a hill. 2. at the bottom of the 1 mile hill, a small town called Monticielo. 3. At the bottom of the hill, just inside town, an RV park, and a NAPA auto parts. Man were we lucky. we had to stay the night and wait for napa to open at 8am. The local sherif even escorted us to the napa. small towns rock.
9am, we are off to Moab.
we get in, set up camp, and we head to slick rock trail by 11am. Slick rock is a different kind of trail. in fact, its almost one solid rock, with a white dotted line indicating where the trail should be. 45 – 60 degree slopes are pretty normal. The tires grip the rock like you wouldn’t believe. It was pretty intense.
Unfortunetly, one of our riders strained a muscle in his back before we even got to the trail. so it was just four of us riding the 12 mile trail. It was toasty, and I was a bit dehydrated, but an awesome trail regardless.
Wednesday we tried to ride another trail, but it was more sand than any of us liked. 6 miles of super fine beach sand, we had enough, and it was time to head back, and break down. Off to durango. Our camp site was rough. 10 miles north of durnago, backing up to the Animas river.
Thursday was a killer ride. We drove up behind Purgatory Ski Resort, and rode Hermosa trail. This is a 20 mile trail, dropping from 11,000 feet, to 8,500. a great ride.
We ended up having to ride from the bottom of the trail, 9 miles on the road back uphill to camp. 30 miles on the saddle was tiring.
Friday we took it easy, rode our bikes around town. Durango is a way cool town. Lots of cyclists, great shops, bike shops, and good food & beer on every corner.
Saturday we drove up halfway to Silverton to ride the Colorado Trail. We headed west from Molas Pass. Starting our ride at 11,000 feet elevation was tough on my 1,200 feet lungs. The views on the other hand, were amazing.
Sundays trip home was uneventful, and we made it home in great time. I think the 7 days with the boys and bikes was great. But its always good to be home.
the rest of the photos can be seen here
http://flickr.com/photos/mattlikeshockey/sets/72157607114386302/show/
Friday Update 8/22/08
Adoption Update: Our agency didn’t have any referrals this week, it has been since the week of 7/11/08 since the last set of referrals. 🙁
Highchair I scored off of Craigslist for Tom or Jerry (of course, Jackson gave it a test run for us)
Running Update: I didn’t run at all this week. I still have been staying up too late watching the Olympics to bother with getting up early to run, but I have been riding the exercise bike this week. It is so much nicer to exercise in air conditioned comfort.
Push-up Update: We did them this week, well I still have one more set to do, but we did them! We did repeat week 2, so we are a little behind, but I thought it would take more than six weeks anyway.
Matt got a new-to-him toy this week:
Jackson was excited about the box
Carter was excited about the foam (he loves to eat foam)
Matt was excited for the new toy and that his wife let him put it together in the house because it was so hot in the garage
Random stuff from the web:
I was looking for something to do with old magazines and might have to give this a try.
All I have to say on this story is, “Seriously!?”
gas costs on a bike
i thought this was funny.
Cardboard bikes
Ahh my two favorite topics finally merge in a new way. Bikes and environment.
BBC is the best. They have a story out on a 21 year old college student who has designed and produced a bike made of 95% cardboard. And its rideable. The only non-cardboard parts are the chain, tires, crank & rims. Even the spokes are cardboard.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7457220.stm
What I love most about this, is the outside of the box (pun intended) thinking. As an avid biker, I’m glad to see new ideas. As a environmentalist, its great to see new uses for organic materials.
This bike is estimated to be produced for $60. This is 5x cheaper than the bamboo bike I have been drooling over for a few years.
Share the Road
That is the title of a government campaign here in Arizona and I have heard it in other parts of the country, but it seems some motorist just do not want to share the roads with cyclist or pedestrians. For the most part I find motorist perfectly willing to share the road and drive way around me (seriously am I that wide?), but there are a few who refuse to share the road and see how close they can drive next to you (I am talking mere inches). Some people choose to yell or throw things, neither of those have happened to me, but they have happened to Matt plenty of times. Continue reading “Share the Road”
how to get infinity MPG
The best shirt I have seen since Stephanie bought me this one