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Moab in October, Week 1 (long with pics) (7 posts)
|  Moab in October, Week 1 (long with pics) | Lucky
Nov 26, 2001 5:29 PM | | I needed a break from work in the worst way, so it wasn't a big sacrifice to drag my carcass out of bed a 4AM to catch a 6AM flight to Salt Lake City. A side benefit of traveling at that hour is that the airlines haven't had all day to accumulate delays. I was right on schedule when I arrived at Salt Lake Airport, but that was the last of the good news for the day. As I retrieved my bike case from the oversized baggage area, I noticed it didn't roll quite right. United Airlines had been kind enough to smash one of the casters so hard it now folded into the case just like the landing gear on their jets. How handy. After haggling with the clerk in the baggage office, I got a voucher for repair and left for Moab on the shuttle bus.
The damaged case, after the return trip. Now both wheels fold up like landing gear.
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Things didn't go too well for me on the first day's ride the next day, either. On Flat Pass, I was happily bouncing down a series of steps, just a wee bit too fast. The last step was a doozy. Two feet down into a wheel-sucking hole. I could see it coming, but not soon enough to change course. Instead, I hit the eject button and launched over the bars, landing about 10 feet away. I scraped my elbow and bruised a knee, but it was the two bruised ribs that would haunt me for the rest of the trip. I rode on slowly, with sense of caution set to "high."
The damage, one week later.
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Another guy in our group of 11 riders, Tom, wasn't having such a hot day, either. He wiped out on a step-up and managed to slice open his upper arm on some part of his bike. Fortunately, we had a nurse in the group, Joe, who patched him up enough to ride. Later, at the hospital, it would take 5 stitches to close the wound.
I managed a clean ride for the rest of the day, but wasn't feeling so hot by suppertime. It's not a good sign when you can ride all day and not feel like eating a nice steaming plate of pasta for dinner. I retired to my room early, and spent a sleepless night with chills and frequent trips to the bathroom. Ugh. It took three days and a lot of acidophillous capsules to get my innards straightened out. Meanwhile, I survived on fruit smoothies and the occasional Gu. It didn't stop me from riding Amasaback, Porcupine Rim and Slickrock, but I ended up walking most of the uphills.
I still had fun watching and photographing the other guys, even if I wasn't feeling up to snuff. I was a rose among the thorns, the only woman in a group of 11 riders. There was Roger, who breakfasted on Fruity Pebbles, 3 Mountain Dews and a cigarette, and then proceded to ride us all into the ground in his middle ring; Mike, with the 4M pixel Sony camera that took MPEG movies; Mike's Ecquadorian friend, Santiago, who had the cheapest bike in the bunch by far, but who could quietly ride up or down almost anything; Paul, CFO of an eastern college; Tom, with gray hair and braces, looking a very young 50+, Dave, who designed the 2002 Titus catalog, on his shiny new Switchblade; Matt and nurse Joe on matching rented Superlights; Mark, on his Schwinn Rocket; and TC, my friend, tour guide and our fearless leader.
We spent some time playing on the steps at the Amasa Back trailhead. Here TC takes a shot at the climb
Then Mike gives it a go.
I managed to forget my camera on the Porcupine Rim ride, so no pics from that day. I was still suffering with an upset digestive tract and fighting mild dehydration in spite of generous water consumption. Getting to the top was a bear, but the ride down was fun. Halfway down the singletrack, I came across Matt, who was having trouble with recurring flats. That's what you get when your tire bead separates from the sidewall and leaves a 3 inch gaping hole. I reached into my pack for my trusty tire boot, only to find tools, chain bits, patches, a kevlar spoke, tire levers, duct tape, a small pocket knife, but no tire boot. Swearword! I used it in August and forgot to put a new one in the pack. We did the best we could with what we did have, which was the duct tape, a Clif Bar wrapper and a couple zip ties daisy-chained together. TC carefully carved a channel in the tread knobs for the zip tie (which kept the tire from expanding fully at that point and letting the tube out). We had to undo Matt's front rim brake so the zip tie wouldn't send him over the bars, but he rode down and back to town without further trouble. At the shop where he rented the bike, he got a new tire and praise for our "McGyver" repair from the mechanic.
Slickrock was another tough day for me, and I walked all the long or steep uphills, but managed to ride the smaller ones. The weather was beautiful, again, and my riding companions provided plenty of entertainment. Dave was a good subject on the climbs.
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The scenery is so unreal there.
This little guy was riding the practice loop with his dad. Seeing him climb a couple hills near the end inspired me to put a little more effort into my climbing. I couldn't be outdone by a 6-year old, now could I?
The next day, most of the gang decided to ride Gold Bar Rim. I definitely wasn't into an epic ride that day, and neither were Paul and Tom. We rode the mild mannered Klondike Bluffs trail in the morning and did the guided Fiery Furnace hike at Arches in the afternoon.
The eerie Skull Arch.
Petroglyphs
Delicate Arch at sunset
After a day of light riding, I was feeling better for the Back of Behind loop. I hiked down White Knuckle Hill, but got these shots of the guys making it look possible.
Santiago eyes the slope...
He commits...
Success!
Rodger bobbled at the top in the loose rocks, but recovered nicely
More fun ledges.
Just about the time I was feeling human again, the week was over and I bade farewell to the gang, except for TC, who dropped them all off at the Salt Lake City airport and picked up 4 new guys for the second week of red rock fun.
Stay tuned for stories from week 2! (Maybe after Christmas...)
Kathy :) |
| Thanks for the write up! | CraigH
Nov 26, 2001 6:24 PM | | I'll have to do the Moab trip soon! (As well as all the rest of the must do destinations.) |
| nice recap | narlus
Nov 26, 2001 8:58 PM | | brought back some memories, and actually got me motivated to try and finish the photo editing/renaming, so i can finish my moab saga. thanks for sharing, and looking forward to week 2 (fruita?) |
| Simply beautiful! ... | ®andyA
Nov 26, 2001 9:05 PM | | ... except for your riding condition, of course. That had to suck some serious... well... ;-D. And the scenery is just spectacular. Thanks for the write-up. Can't wait to read/see pics from week 2.
Randy --> hopes your condition was better that week. |
| Sorry to hear that you weren't 100%, | scorcher
Nov 27, 2001 7:24 AM | | ...but it looks like you had fun anyway. V. nice pics.
Seb |
| I just hope.... | GnarlyOne
Nov 27, 2001 10:54 AM | | ...when we hear about week two, that you were feeling better, and tackling the hills with you usual gusto! :-)
That was a great write-up and some awe inspiring pics, BTW! |
| re: Moab in October, Week 1 (long with pics) | Spike
Nov 27, 2001 12:53 PM | | I can't believe the airline did so much damage to a hard bike case. Sheesh.
That is really too bad that you were sick for much of your vacation. It sounds like you really hung in there though. Thanks for the good pictures and recap. Yours is one of the few posts on this board worth reading.
Spike |
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