A Weekend to Remember

Chris and KC Holley went with me to Moab this past weekend for what proved to be an epic trip. It started with a traffic jam in Salt Lake that put me about an hour behind schedule, a huge downpour in Spanish Fork that left us soaking wet and made the drive through the Canyon to Price a nailbiting experience, and then it only got better.

At about 10:00 p.m. we were 15 miles north of Green River when suddenly we heard a loud bang. Chris and I looked each other perplexed when KC informed us that the back window on my seven month old Honda Element head just exploded! What? No way! I look back and sure enough the window was in a million pieces and falling into the car were KC was sitting. We pulled off the highway, took a few pictures, push the remaining glass to the ground with a water bottle, laughed a little bit and headed to Green River rehashing what a just taken place. Our speed slowed significantly on the remaining drive because we are afraid our gear would fall out the back on to the highway if we got going too fast.

When we arrived in Green River we decided maybe we'd had enough for the day and we'd crash in a cheap motel. To make a long story short, we checked in and I went to the room and I opened the door only to find that it was latched from the inside. My next surprise was heard a man and woman's voice coming out of the dark room stating that it was occupied. Through the crack in the door I reconfirmed with them that they were in room 19, as I was supposed to be. They said it was their room. I went back to the front desk and the confused clerk gave me a key to room 18 which she was certain was vacant. This time I knocked before using the key and found that room was also occupied! Chris and I decided that maybe it wasn't a good idea to stay here so we went and asked for a refund, which was granted. As we were leaving I mentioned to the clerk maybe someone kept a key and decided to have a free night on the motel. To our surprise again, she said somebody probably got in the room through the rear window, that happens every now and again!!! Chris and I looked at each other like "did you just hear what I heard?" and at that point we headed off to Moab.

What we failed to realize before we started this trip was this was the Tour of Moab weekend and every room in town was booked. We tried Sand Flats Campground, but that was full so we drove to Ken's Lake where we found a spot at 1:30 a.m.

Saturday morning we went to the hardware store and found a piece of plastic and taped it on to the back window and were kept out of harms way for the rest of the trip. We ended up riding the Sovereign Trail that afternoon and had a great time. Riding with Chris and KC always pushes me to my limits and I can feel the improvement by the minute. We got back to the car around 4:30 p.m. and headed over to the 24 hour course where we were going to ride one day and one night lap before heading back to Ken's Lake. 10 minutes into the first lap I knew I was in trouble. I couldn't keep up with those two and I had no gas in the tank. Every ledge look like a mountain in each drop look like a canyon as I timidly pedaled through the technical parts of the course. Enough was enough and I took a shortcut back to the start/finish line while Chris and KC completed the lap. After a little bit of discussion we decided to forgo the night lap and head back to camp.

Ken's Lake Area

Sunday was another day of just plain fun riding with no problems other than Chris popping a tire. We rode Amassa Back in the morning and met up with Fred of the Moab Rim Ride fame and quite a few other riders that were enjoying the dry trail, cool temperatures and clear sky. He was definitely a ride to remember, for all the good reasons. This on the way out of town we decided to take one quick lap around the Monitor and Merrimack Loop which topped off a very good weekend of riding.

Now it's time to rest my shoulder and forearms, which were pushed beyond their limits, and hopefully recover the for next Saturday's 24 hour race. I'll be racing on a four man relay team called "Old Dogs, New Tricks". The race starts next Saturday at noon and you can follow our progress by clicking HERE.