2008-10-12 moab

Today, even though it was Sunday, we didn't go to church. Instead, we spent the day out in the outdoors enjoying the creator's work. We woke up and made some breakfast (pancakes, eggs & sausage) and then loaded up for some bike riding. We headed into town to check out the visitors center for some information regarding the local trails and decided we'd ride one in the morning and then one in the afternoon. We headed first out to the Monitor and Miramax trail. The trail seemed pretty simple and straightforward so we felt good about what we were setting out to accomplish. The ride started out pretty well until my front tire got caught in the sand at the bottom of a hill and I did a little endo. Luckily, there was quite a bit of sand so the landing was fairly soft. Upon getting up, I realized the my front tire had come off in the wreck so that took some evaluating to ensure everything was in order and then off we were again. The ride consisted of some fairly soft sand interspersed along a four-wheeler trail-type road. While the road wasn't bad to ride on, the sand made for some interesting challenges. A little further into the trail, we were climbing up some rocks and I made the mistake of trying to shift gears and broke my chain. Lucky enough for me, once again, I have a pretty sweet bike tool that I carry with me and I was able to put the chain back together with the help of Jeremiah and Lance. Once again, we were off on the trail. The ride from that point on was a little smoother regarding my bike. The views and scenery were amazing. It was incredible to be there amongst these rock formations that are so wonderous. We finished the ride and loaded up the bikes to head off and find somewhere to eat lunch. We drove up towards the Pot Ash area and checked out some of the rock climbers on our way to find a picnic area. The rock climbers were so much fun to watch and it made me want to try it though not anything like what they were climbing. After watching them for a little while we headed further up the road and ended up at Gold Bar Recreation Area. We found a picnic area and made some lunches and then went down by the river for a little bit and hung out. We stopped by the campground to fill up our water packs and then headed down to Hurrah Pass. Turns out, this ride wouldn't be as entertaining and I think a combination of being tired from the morning ride and most of the ride being uphill, we didn't last a real long time on that trail. We headed back into town and found our way to Eddie McStiff's for some dinner. Dinner was pretty good, a little spicy, but good overall. We stopped by City Market for some cookies and ice cream and then back to the campground for some relaxing in the hot tub. The pool and hot tub closed at 9 so once that time came, it was off to the showers to get cleaned up and head to bed. All in all, pretty awesome day. This area is beautiful and we're lucky to live so close.

Pics will be coming!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile