Durango, Colorado

Day 1:
We started our trip flying into Durango, Colorado at 7am.
First had to disassemble my bike to get it into the hard travel case:

We arrived in Durango early, rented vans, checked into hotel, assembled bikes, then did a quick ride at Horse Gulch.


Day 2:
Took a shuttle to the top of Hermosa Creek Trail, elevation of 9,770'.

We had our first mechanical....flat tire because Sam let his Stan's sealant dry up in the tire...oops. Put a tube in and we were good to go, until he flatted again....and a third time. Tubeless is the way to go, as long as you have fresh sealant in them.

Nice big trees out here.

Day 3:
We rode part of the famous Colorado trail. It goes all the way up to Denver, so we rode about 18 miles of it this day.

This was interesting:
Much of the trail was along the mountainside:

Sam's friend showed up later, so we did a quick ride at Ned Overend MTB Park since it was a few blocks away. This trail was pretty wild, it had some steep climbs, then descending down loose rock ridge-lines. Edges of the trail dropped off into oblivion....

Day 4:

Mike & I did a short ride Monday morning, since we had to check out of our hotel by noon.
We rode the Animas City trail, which was 1 block behind our hotel. We biked right from the hotel to the trailhead. This trail started with a 4 mile climb, and all of it was loose sharp rocks, very tough. The views above Durango were awesome:

Moab Utah

Day 4:

We hit the road for about 3 hours and drove northwest to Moab, Utah.

Day 5: The Whole Enchillada (Burro Down)
Today was the big day. We took a shuttle from Poison Spider bike shop (across the street from the hotel, how nice!) The shuttle took us to an elevation of 10,500' up into the mountains, then dropped us off and left. We started the ride with some climbing, then more climbing.....hitting the top elevation of 11,200'. The trail then descents all the way to 3900'....34 miles of downhill riding!!
Absolutely the best trail I've ever ridden. Starts with steep wooded singletrack, changes to field-like area with shurbs & big banked corners with jumps thrown in. Next it is some doubletack/jeep roads with big loos rocks everywhere. Middle of the trail is typical Moab, riding on large smooth rock slabs. This is followed by more rocky technical riding, drops & ledges starts off nice & small, 1 - 2'. Near the end the largest I rode was close to 5' I think. End of the trail is very skinny along the edge of the rim near the Colorado river. Then we rode about 5 miles of pavement back into town.

This is the top!!! All down hill from here.


Day 6:
We got up way too early so we could see the sunrise at Arch's National Park. We got up at 5am, drove out the the park, then hiked about 1.5 miles out to the "Delicate Arch", one of the most famous.
How is this for a log cabin?

Later in the day after lunch & a nap......
We drove out to a trail called Sovereign. More climbing, more rocks & fun stuff.
Day 7:
Probably my second-favorite trail after Burro Down, the trail we rode this day was Amasa Back.
Tones of rocks, ledges, awesome views, & some smokin' downhills.

We almost lost Sam.....luckily he has some strong fingers......Don't worry, it was only about 800' down.

Here's our group....Left to right...Mike, Tim, Jeff, Mark, Sam.
Later this day, we went out to the most well-known bike trail in the world. Slickrock. We went out late in the day because it is very busy during normal hours. We started the ride around 7pm, and finished the last 1/2 the ride with our lights on. Slickrock is like riding on 40 grit sandpaper. You can ride up and down slabs of rock so steep that it is hard to even walk up them. Riding sideways, tires grip the rock at more than 45 degree angles....very crazy.

Riding with only head-lamps was pretty cool out here. Follow the white lines....
Day 8: Last day to ride....
We drove most of the way back, then stopped in Cortez Colorado. There is a trail called Phil's World that we rode. Fun, fast, flowy, and some roots & rocks thrown in. A nice cool-down ride to end the trip.

Now the trip is over and everyone is home safely.

Totals:
4 flats, 1 bend derailleur hanger, Misc bike repairs at shop, couple bent chainrings, some scratches, bruises, and possibly a cracked or broken pinky. (None of these were mine except a couple bruises).

8 days
10 trails
158 miles
20 hours 50 mins riding time
15,983 feet of climbing (ouch!)

Awesome trip!

Atlanta, GA

We visited friends in Atlanta this weekend. Travis & I rode 2 trails on Sunday.

Yellow River Park, fun singletrack but a lot of mixed up intersections so hard to navigate.

After that, we went over & rode the 1996 Olympic MTB course, that was fun. Lots of huge rock slabs, rocky steep hills too.


Here's Travis:


Here's me:

First Post - new toy!!

Here is a page for one of my hobbies...mountain biking.
We don't have mountains in Indiana, but we do have some sweet single track.

My lovely wife bought me a Garmin Edge 605 (GPS cycling computer), so I got to put it to use today for the first time. I need to figure it out before the big bike trip next week (Durango Colorado and Moab Utah!)

Mike & I rode Cedar Lake trail in Carbondale Illinois. Lots of climbing, technical rocky trails, was a great time. We finished with about 5 minutes of light left....close.