RPK: October 2008

Our trip started with a delayed flight to Denver. We arrived in Denver about an hour later then we were supposed to. After getting the rental car we started the 5 hour drive to Moab, UT. We had about 2 hours of sunlight, so once the sunset, there wasn't much to look at except for the all the bugs we were hitting. We arrived in Moab around 10:30 PM Thursday night and Eric was waiting for us with our room keys for the hotel. After traveling all day, we quickly fell asleep. The next morning we grabbed breakfast with Eric and then headed down to the race. The amount of people here was crazy, especially since it was a little remote. The weather was crazy too! Windy and dusty for two days straight! Ouch!

We set out to pre-ride the course after getting Laura's bike together. The course was 15 miles long on the "Behind the Rocks" trail, which after the race we found out was for Advanced Riders only! Once we hit the trail, I could see why! The course had some steep, technical rocky sections and was super sandy. I felt like I was riding in Ocean City on the beach! And sand is not easy to ride in because it pushes your bike one way and zaps all your energy. It was going to make for an interesting 24 hour race, just glad I wasn't actually racing.

After the pre-ride we got back to the hotel, showered, and went out to dinner with everyone. It was delicious. For the next two days, we enjoyed watching the race and enjoyed all the scenery around us. I wish we had more time to ride, but I will defenitly be going back. Moab is a bike friendly town and is best known as the Mecca for Mountain Biking! I don't feel like typing anymore so enjoy all the pictures!

On the way back to Castle Valley.

Cool rocks!

A neat hole in the mountain, almost looks like its ear!

Decided to see what would happen if I left my shutter open for 30 seconds. Look at the ghost sitting in the chair, all I see is a head!

Views from the campsite. On the course, you ride behind that big rock in the distance.

More views from the campsite of the pretty La Sal Mountains. Tallest peak: 12700 ft.

It was chilly, but fun!

Cannondale's set up.

Cannondale/MonaVie Team, they rocked!

View on the SlickRock trail, a very famous trail in Moab for mountain bikers. The rocks are like sandpaper, you can ride up even the steepest climb.

Another view from the SlickRock trail.

It was chilly up here too!

View from the road near the Porcupine Rim Trail.

The sign says it all, no explanation needed.

Another view of the La Sal's from a different point.

The black road below is the entrance to Arch's National Park, which we were heading into. Grand-dad, this is where I called you from, so everything after this is what we were going to see.

The town of Moab with the La Sal's in the background.

Another view of the La Sal's from further up the road. I am pretty sure it was snowing up there!

More cool rocks!

Blue skies and red rocks.

Neat rock formations and a little canyon.

I would like to know how these formed!

Laura working hard to hold up Balanced Rock!

"Balanced Rock". Laura and I were discussing how it ended up like this. I explained that its God teeing up for the 9th hole.

Delicate Arch at sunset. Notice all the people to the left of it. You can hike up to it but its 3 miles and we didn't have time.

Pretty view of the moon.

And the sun setting on the other side.

On our way back to the Denver Airport, we decided to make a stop real quick. We drove through Breckenridge which is a cool ski town. Many of the resorts out there started blowing snow already in a race to see who could open first.