redemption

The last time we rode the Circle O trail at the MOAB Brand Trails, I bailed out.  I needed to redeem myself so that's where we rode on Sunday.  We were surprised to see so many cars in the parking lot ("so many" being relative these days: there were around nine, including a couple of guided tours) but out on the trails, we only saw a few people.  We started with the front side of Lazy EZ, then segued to Rusty Spur.  From there we got on Bar M for the long climb to the top of the ridge, then continued around until we got to the Circle O intersection.  After Circle O, we turned left back onto Bar M, took the parking lot cutoff and then jumped back on the front of Lazy EZ.  My legs were starting to tire, so when H peeled off to do Rusty Spur again, I stayed on Lazy EZ, finishing the loop with that nice climb and the wonderful, swooping descent.  That's really a fun little trail, and very rideable.

Finishing the Lazy EZ climb

I rode pretty well - maybe not quite as calmly as I had up at Dead Horse Point State Park - and I did finish Circle O.  The first part of that trail is more challenging and I tend to be on and off my MTB a lot, walking the more technical bits.  In the second half, the slickrock flattens out even though it's an uphill climb (we go counter-clockwise) and I can ride most of it.  That's a good feeling.

There was also a little bit of cloud cover for the morning which made the temperatures feel pretty good too.  Things did heat back up, however: it was blazing hot when we walked to Woody's around 2 p.m. to put some cash into the local economy.