March 15, 2020
Finally Turning Pedals: First Day's Ride
Wonder of wonders ... we actually biked on our biking trip today, and it was as good as we hoped it would be. First an immense bit of preamble I’ll make you suffer through ... After the Festival was cancelled our intention had been simply to use the routes we would have ridden, except do it on our own. But, a bit of reconnaissance changed that. One of the day’s rides was into Arches National Park, and another up and back a beautiful stretch of road paralleling the Colorado River; Highway 128. Having driven both of those routes convinced that “safety in numbers” was the secret sauce in riding either of them. Too many cars, little or no shoulders, and .. especially in Arches .. drivers rubber necking at the sights instead of watching for bikers really seemed to lower the safety percentages against us. We’re not too twitchy about riding in traffic (especially me) but riding solo on those routes just looked like a white knuckled bit of NO fun.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
There were some safe options though, and the one we rode today was a treat. There is a great bike path system in and around Moab, and we biked every inch of it today. It heads into Moab, winds about 2 1/2 miles up route 128 along the Colorado, and also aims north about eight miles to reach highway 313 which has fantastic shoulders for bikers. For a shakedown cruise then, we covered 25 miles on the path and loved every bit of it.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The stretch northward is the pick of the litter though. It eventually diverges from the highway and head “inland” a bit, with a beautiful but challenging climb that has a sinuous course until it hits the plateau. We were smugly congratulating ourselves in the way we were absolutely Killing It up the climb until we realized we were being pushed along by a wicked tailwind. More on that later. We were also treated to a small bovine traffic jam, and gave them a friendly moo as we rode by, because that’s what you do riding by cows, duh.
Once we reached the end of the path at Hwy 313 (upon which we’ll continue tomorrow) we turned back for Moab. That’s where we realized how enthusiastically that wind was blowing. Oh my it was clobbering us square in the face heading back, so Margaret, being the GC hope for our team, sent me to the front to work my ass off and pull us home. It was my honor.
On a non-cycling side note, we made a quick trip post-ride to visit a bit of All American Roadside Kitsch, the “Hole N’’ The Rock.” It’s an actual home that was carved and blasted out of a hard sandstone cliff face back in the 1940’s and 50’s that originally started as a novelty diner and then became the home of Albert and Gladys Christensen. It’s a 5,000 square foot home with a fireplace, kitchen and bathroom and must be seen to be believed. We paid for an advertised 12 minute tour that maybe lasted 10 minutes led by a guy who seems to have given one tour too many today, but the place itself carried the day. It was the best $13.06 we’ve ever spent. Here’s a picture.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
One lovely habit we’ve fallen into here is to go take a late afternoon “soak” in the motel hot tub/spa. The first two days we did we had some great conversations with people there. Just delightfully great people. One of Margaret’s life skill Superpowers is the willingness to start up conversations with strangers. She will go hard in pulling people out of their bubbles and get to know them. She did just that these last couple days. We had a great chat with Noelle, a first grader from Wyoming who told us about her dog, her grandma’s cats, and her family. We talked with a couple from Salt Lake City and their three year old son, who when out for a drive on Friday just said “To Hell With It” and drove to Moab for the weekend because they could, and then a couple from Colorado who are getting married soon .. she’s a nurse and he works for the power company. Fun Fact is that he went to high school in Kansas with former Packer wide receiver Jordie Nelson, who is beloved in Wisconsin. He said Jordie was outstanding in everything he did, and is just as down to earth as he seems. People are good.
So, the universe has become centered on its axis again, because we are able to ride our bikes. Tomorrow the weatherman says the winds won’t be to aggressive so we are doing the 66 mile ride to Dead Horse Point and back. BTW, that will be Margaret’s 2nd ride of the season. Nothing like an easy build up to the more challenging rides, right?
Thanks for reading!!
Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 25 miles (40 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 3 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |