I seem to never have a chance to catch up on my blog. First I had many excuses, such as the wedding and such. Now I can only say that I have been working some and taking lots of trips. I have found that it is easier to just put in a link to a picasa photo album than it is to put up a bunch of pictures here. This blog is only so user friendly then it just gets annoying. So here are some of the adventures since the wedding...
Shortly after the wedding, Pam and I headed to Moab to meet up with 12 guys from the New Orleans area, including Scuba Steve and Cannondale Tim. That was a super fun trip with lots of friends and riding. On their way back to Denver they took a day of riding the Chair Lifts at Keystone. I was just coming from church, dressed vacation church nice and took Tim's bike for a run. That was a pretty fun time.
Click the link below the below picture for the photo album.
The day after the float trip, we went to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. I almost was tossed out of the park for dropping a dime off of the power tower, but I played dumb and didn't own up to it and they moved on. No pics from that day.
Pam later had to go to Maryland for work for a week, so I took advantage and picked up my niece, Claire, and nephew, Lane, and took them up to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.
Some time after the trip to Moab, a bunch of friends thought it would be fun to go tubing in Ft. Collins on the Poodre River. It was fun, but it was also freezing cold, even in September. Me being me, I was too cheap to go buy a tube, so I just used a tube from my dirt bike. It worked, but it left me pretty much submerged up to my chin the whole time. So by the end of the float, I was almost suffering from Hypothermia, jaw chattering and chicken skin everywhere. But it all turned out good and it was a fun trip. But next time I will have a tube with larger air volume or a wet suit. I found out that Big Five Sports had $5 tubes, better than $17 tubes at a tire shop. (Below, my sister Elizabeth is on the right in a black top, white skirt.)
The day after the float trip, we went to Elich Gardens Amusement Park. I almost was tossed out of the park for dropping a dime off of the power tower, but I played dumb and didn't own up to it and they moved on. No pics from that day.Pam later had to go to Maryland for work for a week, so I took advantage and picked up my niece, Claire, and nephew, Lane, and took them up to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.
That was a lot of fun. We went to Mt Rushmore at night to see it lit up then were going to come back the next day to see it in the daylight, but ended up going to see the buffalo and donkeys instead. So we ended up with no pictures of the monument. After Custer State Park, we went south to the wild horse sanctuary to see the wild horses. They really loved that part of the trip. I think feeding the donkeys carrots and the wild horses were their favorite part of the trip. Ohh, that and making ice cream at the camp site both nights. Photo album below...
Mt Rushmore
After I dropped the kids off in Cheyenne, I drove back to Denver and picked up my truck and dirt bike and headed for some riding in Steamboat and later in Rand. That was a pretty fun trip.
Photo album below.
Moto in Steamboat and Rand
Mt. Bike in San Rafael National Forest
The day after I returned from riding in Steamboat, I headed south to Colorado City and to San Rafael National Forest to do some shuttle rides on my xc bike on St. Chuck trail and Snowslide trail. Those were some fun technical trails. I want to go back and ride them on my moto when I get a chance. The trails were about a 2.5 hour drive south. Photos below.
I think I took 2 weeks off from any major trips, then this past weekend Pam was taking a girls Mt. bike trip to Fruita and Moab. So was escaping on a boys dirt bike trip to the same places, but I was stood up and ended up riding 4 days alone. But since camping space was limited out there due to a busy weekend, I ended up camping with the girls, which was nice, they cooked dinner and breakfast. Other than a bunch of girl talk the first day, it wasn't too bad. We had a lot of fun. Photos below.
I should really comment on the trails that I rode. Peach Valley by Montrose has some good trails and some REALLY GREAT trails. Dark Horse and Eagle Vally are really challenging and super fun, well built trails. The hill climbs are pretty sweet too. I think I about wet my pants from excitement all day. It was hard to eat my lunch before riding when I first got there.
In Grand Junction, I went for a short morning ride in Bang's Canyon. There I did the Butterknife trail which was pretty technical and great single track. Then I came up a nasty jeep trail rated a 9 out of 10 for difficulty. That was a pretty hard trail, but it gave me a chance to work on my bike maneuvering skills. Such as stuck in a pile of rock and popping the clutch to put a wheelie and move the front tire where I needed it then bouncing up a pile of big ol' rocks. Fun fun, but it made me work.
Then the 40 mile loop in Rabbit Valley was super sweet, it truly felt epic. A trail I would love to do anytime I am out there. Excellent terrain and views.
And Moab was fun, but not as much as the rest of the trip, but it was fun to check a bunch of trails off my list. I did do Prichett Canyon, a 5 of 5 star jeep trail that is suppose to be just hard. It was challenging but not as much work as the jeep trail in Grand Junction. I think in a jeep it is harder but not on a dirt bike.
Here is a short vid of the first hill climb I did in peach valley, I found much bigger ones later, but this was pretty exciting just off the truck.
