God's Country

This past weekend (June 7-10), we planned to go up to Mount Evans in Colorado for our last ascent of the highest paved road in North America, but unfortunately we got snowed out. So instead of going to Colorado, I met Kenton, Brock Holt, and Steve Wilcox in Moab for a weekend of mountain biking. It had been too long since I had seen Brock Holt, who is now teaching kindergarten in Salt Lake City and is expecting his first baby (a little girl) in October. He has been married for about three years to Sommer, who is a third-grade elementary school teacher. Steve is one of Kenton's colleagues at specialized bicycle, and one of the most skilled riders and nicest people I have ever met.

We met Thursday night and stayed at the Bowen Motel in the downtown area. After some delicious (albeit with flagrant and undesired consequences for some of us) Mexican food at the Hacienda restaurant, we arose early the next morning and road the 15 mile Porcupine Rim Trail. We enjoyed the fun trail, the beautiful views, the wild descent and, and watching Brock gracefully do Vietnam rolls after his crashes. We returned to the motel for a well-deserved nap and some swimming. Later in the afternoon we went Bartlett Wash to for another small ride on huge expanses of sandstone and an enjoyed the desert sunset. The evening was capped off with an all-you-can-eat soup, salad, and pizza dinner at one of the local restaurants.

Saturday morning we rode a trail called the Sovereign Trail, which is a new addition to the Moab area. It was probably even more enjoyable than the Porcupine Rim Trail. It was entirely singletrack and had a number of fun technical areas, where Kenton could demonstrate his remarkable balance and groovy bunny hopping skills. We have great videos, but unfortunately we can't upload those to the site. Afterwards we went for a frigid dip in the Colorado River, had a delicious pasta lunch, said our farewells, and headed home. It was a great trip, which was made even better by the welcoming smile of little Tommy when I pulled into the garage.