We went to Moab to escape the wet local trails. And we were not the only ones with that idea. We were getting ready to head out from Lion's Park towards Sovreign when the Moffits pulled up. Joe had spotted us as they were heading into town. After a short discussion, we convinced them to join us on the first half of our ride--the Sovreign portion.
We took our normal route crossing the river, taking the old highway, to seven mile canyon, to sovereign. It was more sandy than it has been, but it was nice and warm. Sovreign was great. Kevin and Joe peeled off to go back to the car and Chris and I stopped for lunch at the gas station. Then we headed to Gold Bar, Golden Spike, and Poison Spider. Luckily we were having difficulty with the road cassette that I had been running on my bike and had switched in a mountain cassette. The climbs were killing me. I felt pretty rested from the weekend before, but hopefully that was why it was so much more difficult this time.
We had more difficulty following the trail too. This made Chris cranky. I just smiled--I was having a good time. I was suffering but it was a beautiful day.

This is what Chris looks like just before getting cranky.

Arch's parking lot

A view from the top

We just got back from 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo and it was not so good for a second year. As our first attempt doing 24 Hours as a Duo team, we realized that it may not be for us. The first 12 hours was okay, but as I came in at 12:30 am Chris was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. It had been a good lap for me, but apparently his digestive system was all messed up. He said he was done as in completely done.
I went back to camp, rested and refueled a bit. Chris continued to say he was not going back out so what was the point for me to do so. I tried to tell him because we came out ride our bikes. He still thought I was silly. I went back out for another lap around 1:30 am or so. Upon returning at 3am I decided to wait until light to go out again. This was a mistake. I should have done the same thing--go to camp, rest, refuel, switch lights and go back out. But I fell for what Chris was saying.
It finally got light and warmed up just a bit, then Chris and I went out for a lap together. It felt pretty good. Chris evidently thought it felt really good. After our lap--which was credited to me--he went out for two more laps, riding the first with Racer.
I knew he would eventually feel better. I should have just continued to ride through the night until morning when Chris felt better. Chris says there will be no next time, but if there is...

the expo

our camp

le mans start view 1

the la mans start veiw 2

Arthur and Chris staged bikes

a view of the trail

camp mates from Racer's Cycle Service

Crazy cactus in camp

Another view of the trail--more cacti

Yep, we made Leadville 100 MTB Race Across the Sky. We are excited to take what we learned from the first year and improve.

So Chris and I have been dreaming of Moab. It just has not been that good of a year to be riding there, but we love Moab for winter riding. We decided to plan, once again, to ride there this past weekend. Chris watched the weather very closely. It looked good--40 degrees and sunny. Then he started to wonder if they got snow from the last southern storm. He gave a bike shop, which I will not name, to see what the trails were like namely sovereign. The guy at the shop said it would be muddy. Chris was surprised and responded with "Sovereign muddy?" To which the bike shop attendant said that our tires would sink in a foot. Confused Chris hung up.
He recanted the conversation to me and asked what I thought. We are going to Moab! When has Sovereign ever been muddy? Seriously, it is all sand out there. Gemini Bridges road, I could see being muddy.
We woke up and headed to down highway six to Moab. I was so excited. The plan, of course, was the 70 Miler. A long day climbing on the bike sounded ideal. Approaching I-70 there was no snow. Patches could be seen in the shade while on I-70, but it looked good and approaching Moab looked even better. We dropped off our stash in the lunch spot and it was warm and not muddy. Getting ready at the park was a bit chilly, but we did not need to bundle up--arm warmers, knee warmers, vest, and ear band. Sure we were wearing full finger gloves, but not winter gloves.
It was beautiful. No mud on Bar M, which is actually dirt and not sand. Sovereign was amazing up and down. It was more ridable than ever. We were making our way to lunch. Chris was climbing in front of me when disaster struck. Yep, Chris broke the spindle on another pedal. Son of a... Luckily he was climbing. The last time he did this we were in Moab also. It is crazy that it never happens as he is landing a jump. When you look at it you can see that it started to break before and he just finished it. So I pushed back to the car. Chris limped to lunch. I picked up Tex and drove to get Chris.
We looked at renting pedal, but it did not make much sense as bike shops close early this time of year. Instead of six or seven hours it was around three hours of riding. But it was an exquisite three hours and I was just happy with the opportunity.