Where to begin... As previously mentioned, we had planned this mountain bike trip for some time but due to a small fracture (is there such a thing?) in her right radius bone (forearm), Julie was unable to go. That means that Dave and Pete got to go unchaperoned, and without adult supervision. Had we been entirely alone, this would have been unwise. Fortunately for us, we went with seven other riders plus two guides provided by Western Spirit Cycling Adventures.
Julie and I have ridden with Western Spirit in the past and had a great time. Their trips are well run, they haul all your junk from campsite to campsite and best of all cook delicious meals. It is glamorous camping, Glamping! The White Rim Trail is 3 nights, 4 days of riding and while grueling at times, not so technical that you walk more than ride. We wanted this to be a great experience for Pete and it would not help for him to get hurt.
The ride starts with a 5 hour drive from Saint George to Moab. I picked up Pete and after 6 trips back into the house, he finally had everything he would need for the trip.
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| 5th trip, last trip was for his wallet. |
Most of us would place everything we planned to take in one strategic locations so that we could efficiently transport it to the car. Not Pete, he wandered around the house finding things he might need. I was not annoyed by this behavior as I am used to it. I was however annoyed by the amount of steps he accumulated in the process!
Once we got on the road, the trip went smoothly. We had the opportunity to visit every rest stop between STG and Moab, but time was not an issue so no big deal. As you can imagine, the scenery along the way was gorgeous. Giant red rock formations as far as the eye could see. Pete began asking me what form or shape I would see in the various rocks. Trying to go along and use my imagination, I would give him my first impression... "King Kong climbing the statue of Liberty?" to which Pete would respond, "No, that is an old steam locomotive". "Can't you see the stack and coal car?" "Ummm, no". Shortly there after he points out another formation..."What do you see?". "Ummm... a field of mushrooms with a bunny sitting in the center?". "No, that is a train transporting cattle in open cars". It went on and on like this, mile after mile, me trying to come up with some clever vision only to find out it always had something to do with trains. All trains! I considered running the Toyota into one of the rock formations just to end my suffering but decided against it as I would hate to damage one of the trains.
Finally we arrived in Moab and checked into the Holiday Inn Express. The town is busier than I remember with tourists and outdoor enthusiasts. We decide to walk to dinner at the Moab Brewing Company at the other end of town. Along the way we saw two ladies off the road with easels set up. Pete is immediately drawn (no pun intended) to them to see their projects. They are drawing the surrounding cliffs with chalk. Jokingly I ask how long we would need to stand their in order to photo bomb their drawing. One of the ladies replied they would include us in the drawings as soon as we left... How rude! We continued the hike into town stopping at a rock shop and a bicycle shop. Pete bought a pair of cycling gloves that were on sale. We also stopped at the Moab Diner, where Cookie had pitched a fit over someone's onion rings that were left under the heat lamp longer than she thought was reasonable. For obvious reasons we did not eat there, but we did get a couple of pictures...
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| Moab Diner |
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| Pete reenacts the time when Cookie went off on a waiter because someone's onion rings had sat too long on the counter...according to Cookie. Note that there were onion rings sitting on the counter at the time of this picture. |
While inside the diner I looked around to see if there was a sign with Cookie's picture and warning, "If you spot this woman, do not let her linger by the counter, and be sure to spit in any food that goes to her table". I'm sure it was there but perhaps in an area reserved just for employees.
We proceeded to the brewery for a total of 3 miles. The food at the brewery was good, the beer even better. Both of us ordered dishes with chicken breasts. When did chickens get implants? I mean I'm not complaining, but they were hu...uge! (Trump) I called my chicken Dolly and Pete called his Amber (Rose). Totally stuffed we walked back to the hotel, another 3 miles.
The next morning we met my much older brother Randy and his lovely wife Lynne for breakfast as they were part of our riding group. As you can see, Pete went light on the breakfast...
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| Pete asked me to let you know he did not finish the pancakes. There was some powdered sugar left on the plate when he was done. |
We decided we would hike in Dead Horse State Park. Because it is a state park, we were unable to take advantage of Pete's senior citizen pass for all National Parks which is the best deal ever. If you are 62 years or older you can purchase a LIFETIME pass to all National Parks for $10. Pete still laments that he lost/misplaced his first pass and had to buy a second for an additional $10. Still a great deal! The hike was amazing. It had views of canyons, rock formations (trains) and the Colorado river. There were also some interesting potholes which contain seasonal pools of water. Don't ask me how they are formed. I guess I could look it up and report out, but I'm retired... Anyway, the potholes actually contained some interesting life forms. In one Lynne spotted tiny fish. It is hard to imagine spending your entire life in a small shallow pool, but some people never leave Iowa. Go figure. In another pothole we spotted Gollum!
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| Pothole Pete! Or whack-a-mole! Randy in the background. |
More pictures from our hike...
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| Lynne (Smiley), Randy (Crusher), Dave and Pete (Pete) |
Whenever I blog about someone new who is familiar with the blog they always want a pseudo name. I'm not sure why that is, but in an effort to please, I have given Lynne the pseudo name of Smiley because she is so darn positive. Randy is called Crusher because of the way he crushed the group riding his mountain bike up hills. It was amazing. Pete is Pete or Gollum.
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| Colorado River in the distance. I have some better shots of the river which I will share later as they came on the ride. |
After the hike we returned to town. I thought there was something suspicious about this truck, but will let you be the judge. It seems to confirm what I have always suspected.... you may have to look closely.
Before we knew it, it was Wednesday morning and we all gathered at the Western Spirit office in Moab. We got to meet our guides, Sean and Matt and the rest of the riders, Gary, Wayne, Paula, Sebastian and Jason, the Buck Brothers from England via Los Angeles and Vancouver, respectively. It was a wonderful group and we immediately bonded. Our gear was loaded on a heavy duty 4 wheel drive truck which would serve as our life support for the remainder of the trip. Meanwhile the bikes and riders were loaded on a van to shuttle the one hour out to the starting point, much of which was on a dirt road. Once dropped off, the van would leave and we would be expected to ride the remainder of the trip until we once again met up with the van for the ride back to Moab. Pete was uncharacteristically quiet on the van ride. I suspect there was a bit of apprehension on his part. After all, this was his first trip of this type and Julie was not around to provide nurturing and guidance. Interesting how the roles switch. Once at the trailhead the bikes were unloaded and off we went down a long steep descent consisting of switchbacks and loose rock. Eventually we came to the bottom, some much faster than others. The trail is basically a jeep trail so it can be rough, but not too bad. We road the rest of the day stopping for sandwiches, fruit, salad all provided by the amazing staff from their truck. They get ahead of the group and then set up such so it is ready to eat when we arrive. even setting up chairs to lounge in while eating.
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| Not the actual lunch we ate on the first day, but a fine example of the spread they provided. |
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| Lot's of healthy food. In spite if that and all the riding, it is possible to gain wait on this ride if you do not watch it. |
As mentioned, the food is very healthy. In spite of that, some people have actually gained weight on these trips in spite of all the riding. Right Crusher and Pete? I'm going to avoid giving you a blow by blow of each day because it would be tedious and not so exciting. Instead I plan to share some highlights and pictures to give you a flavor of the trip.
- On one stop we had the chance to climb down a slot canyon which is just what the name implies. Only a few brave soles managed to do it and since I was one of them I will show you some pictures. Many of the pictures include Sebastian since I could not take pictures of myself making these magnificent leaps and spiderman like crawling. Others who braved the slot were Jason and Matt. Pete was willing to try it, but as a loving guardian I had to tell him no...Julie would kill me if he got hurt.
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| Sebastian doing his Spiderman impersonation. |
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| Sebastian working his way down the slot canyon |
- Pete and Dave assisting each other in putting together their tents. To say this was a calamity of errors would perhaps be an understatement. To the best of my knowledge, Pete has never camped or put together a tent which became painfully apparent, not that I'm all the good at it. Generally Julie runs this show and I provide any necessary force to get it done. I'm sure anyone watching Pete and I would agree that two learning impaired chimps could have done better the first time and perhaps the second.
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| Dave's tent |
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| I know it appears that a hurricane hit Pete's tent site, but it was all him. He regularly used bushes for storage and hanging items. On one occasion he left his Butt Butter in a bush...don't ask. And then one day we were about to leave and I asked him where were his sunglasses. I found them in a bush as well. |
If you look closely at the picture above you will note a substantial outhouse. Every 10 or so miles along the trail there are camp sites with one or perhaps more toilet such as this. On the day of our longest ride, about 26 miles, several of us arrived in camp ahead of the others. Keep in mind that the outhouse is sitting out there by the edge of the trail with a sign signifying the campsite name, in this case Airport Campground. As the lead group stood there chatting about 30 yards off the trail in the camp area, Crusher noted that Pete was cruising right on by us. We all yelled, "PETE", but he kept on going. I did not have time to grab my helmet, but jumped on my bike in hot pursuit, continuously yelling his name as I closed his lead. Finally as I caught up to him he realized someone was calling his name. "Pete, didn't you see the outhouse?" "Yeah, I saw it but did not know it was a campsite". "I saw the outhouse up ahead", he added. "Yes, but you road right by that as well!" We all teased him about missing the campsite until Paula did the same thing. Must have something to do with the name....
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| Pete's glasses in a bush. |
- The total miles ridden over the 4 days is about 80 miles. Some days were longer than others and made still longer by Pete missing camp. The final day is climaxed (is it ok to say that) by what was advertised as a 1.2 mile ascent up a very steep and winding hill. As we stood at the base and contemplated the climb out, the Buck brothers assessed what we could see of the climb which was quite a lot and decided it was significantly more that 1.2 miles. They used kilometers but it was still further than we were being told. Just to check I zeroed out my odometer and off we went. 4.4 miles later we were at the top. The climb was not technical, but a grind. I've been requested to say that Crusher finished first in 32 minutes which is a significant accomplishment. Sebastian was close behind. Smiley, Jason and I stopped for a few seconds to look at a Big Horn Sheep and still came in right behind the leaders. Gary who is 74 years old and an amazing rider crushed the hill right behind our group. Pete was right behind Wayne, literally as they both rode in the truck with Wayne in the front seat and Pete in the back seat. Paula pulled the hills herself and rounded out the group with a strong ride.
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| View from the top of the climb. |
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| View of the final climb from the top! |
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| View of final 4.4 mile (or 7.3 Kilometers) climb out from the bottom. |
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| A Big Horn Sheep, just not The Big Horn Sheep. I took this in Zion, but thought you might like it. |
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| Our life line, the support truck carries food, water, snacks, medical gear, our gear and us if necessary! |
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| Lunch on the trail...roughing it. |
The ride home was uneventful and Pete kept me entertained the entire way. We are already planning another trip next year with Western Spirit. They have a ride that starts in Bryce and goes to Zion along trails. It is a bit more strenuous and longer than the White Rim Trail, but I know Julie will be ready and Pete won't have a choice.
Thanks for all the kind support for Julie. She is about 2 weeks from being entirely healed but doing better every day. We are heading to Austin to see nephew Syler play in a National Tennis Championship. It should be both fun and exciting. All the best!
