Post race, Tim, Chris and I decided to do some riding. We hit bear-claw poppy seed after the race. it was pretty busy and we ran into quite a few riders who also thought it would be a good recovery spin. I was pretty excited because I had planned on riding this trail on the way home from 24 hours in the old pueblo. the weather did not cooperate though. Then it was Cafe Rio for dinner...so good!
We stayed in Hurricane with plans to ride Church Rocks and then hit Gooseberry Mesa. It was a bit weird to ride Church Rocks when we did. Chris and I usually hit this trail last when I am completely dead and my undercarriage is revolting against my saddle. This was not the case yet and so it was more enjoyable than normal. I am unsure why this trail is called Church Rocks...the rock part makes sense. It is almost all sandstone once you get there. It is not smooth sand stone either; it tends to rock my hands when I ride it.We stopped on Lin's market in town. As we were walking by I noticed some Amish looking types and told Chris to take a look down the aisle. He did and said the polygamist were in town stocking up. We ran into some more in the produce section and they were making me uneasy. They kept looking at me. Now, I was curious about them but I tried not to stare. They just stared. I am not sure if it was my mismatched spandex or what that caught there attention. Each woman had the exact same dress on but in a different color. Well, one was a girl who looked like she was not older than 14. She was dressed in liliac color and she held a baby wrapped in the exact same color. My worst fear is that it was hers.
After the fun in the local market, we headed to Gooseberry. We passed the trailhead for the Hurricane Rim and noticed it was getting a lot of traffic today especially from the Revolution riders. As we continued to ascend the road, it became clear that there was a great chance that Gooseberry had gotten a significant amount of snow. After some debate we turned back to Hurricane Rim. Hurricane Rim is fun and great for miles, but it is a completely different type of riding from Gooseberry. We were a bit disappointed. The weather was really nice for this ride though. There were a couple of sections where the wind picked up, but it was not debiliating at all. We apparently do it the wrong direction because everyone started off on Gould and finished on the Rim. We will have to do both next time and decide for ourselves. Descending Gould is a blast and I enjoy the climb on Hurricane Rim.It was a great weekend in Southern Utah...66 miles.