Switching it up a bit

I have decided to start a different blog at www.onefromtheride.com that focuses primarily on cycling with an emphasis on photos. I plan to post one photo from each ride that I partake in without description unless someone asks a question about it. Other posts may be stories or funny things that happen but all related to the ride.

Various other artist's stuff that I liked

Some Cool Art

This past weekend we travelled to the home land for my Grandfather's 80th birthday suprise party. We decided to stay downtown Santa Fe so we could walk around and check stuff out Friday afternoon and during the day on Saturday. My Dad came down to hand out during the day on Saturday and while Henry was taking a little nap with Anne at the hotel we wandered around and stumbled into a gallery with some really cool scultures from Liz Wolf. There were many other works that I liked in the gallery but there was something about these that really caught my eye.

Only one trail for the rest of my life

My wife ofter asks me if I only could eat one food for the rest of my life what would it be? I often answer with a question of my own. Can the food be made up of multiple different items (i.e. pizza or burritos) or can it only be one thing (i.e. tomatoes or beans)? This question has had me pondering the dilemma of having to ride one specific trail for the rest of my life and just which trail would that be? I have to start with a disclaimer that states the trails in and around Northern Arizona are excluded. It is very hard to think of trails around home in this dilemma because I am fortunate to get to ride them all of the time but this fact takes the freshness of the trails away. Sooooo.....without further ado I present my selection thus far in my riding life to be the Fisher Creek Loop in between Ketchum and Stanley, Idaho. This particular loop starts with a bit of a climb on a forest road and then once the trailhead is reached the singletrack is unleashed. The top section is super fast and very surreal as the trail travel through a burned area and then continues to rip though amazing forest with a mellow creekside climb sandwiched in the middle. I rode this trail last summer and it still puts a smile on my face to think about. I literally wanted to yell noooooo........!!! when I knew that the ride was coming to an end.

Gettin' riding while the gettin' is good

This past week I have been able to get on the bike quite a few times. There has been some talk over on drunkcyclist.com about the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo as of late so I figured I better be one of those folks that is at least psuedo getting ready for it. The Gnome has assured me that I will be riding under the DC banner so I figured I would throw on the new jersey and get outside. I decided to head up one of my new favorite trails for the occasion and was not disappointed. I did come across a big old tree that had been knocked over during our last bit of bad weather. It is a reminder to be aware of your surroundings because trees come down all the time. This tree down on the trail has an equally deadly brother right next to it that is waiting to come down at any moment also. Today I headed out in hopes to find some aspen trees with their leaves golden but my route over to where I was hoping to get took too long so I had to cut it short. I did end up riding the Sherlock trail which I don't get to very ofter and it sure was sweet. I did manage to find a little pocket of aspen that was pretty nice. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so I can get over to FR418 and head back on the AZT to check out the colors.

Leaking water

Last week during our St. George excursion I headed out early Sunday morning for a long ride in the desert. The ride started with a long steady climb and took place before the sun poked up over the red rock mesas of Zion. Since I was climbing I didn't pay much attention to the dampness on my back instead writing it off as sweat. I arrived at the top of the climb and then proceeded down a really cool section of single track named Gould's Rim. I decided to snap some photos along this section and took off my pack to realize that my bladder had been leaking and that it was not sweat on my back. I had not ridden the trails of the day before and had to think about the options since about half of my water was now wasted and the sun was now shining on me in all it's glory. I made the only decision that seemed a valid one and with one full bottle and about a quart in my pack headed onward to complete the ride. The ride over all was exceptional with one pleasant surprise. I chose to ride the much acclaimed JEM trail in the middle of the ride and end it with the Hurricane Rim trail. The surprise was that although the JEM trail was pretty fun the Hurricane Rim trail was much better. It had fast sections with exposure, some good technicals sections, a few good climbs and exception scenery the whole way. If you find yourself travelling in the St.George area or Zion National Park for that matter I would definitely allow some time for riding. It was well worth taking a bike along for me.

Some more photos from S. Utah