couple of rides

We try to get down to Moab whenever a long weekend rolls around, even if it's going to be 104 F.  Of course, that's about how hot it ended up being in Salt Lake City over the Fourth of July holiday, so it's not like we were missing out on any cool breezes.  We lit out of town Thursday night which gave us all day Friday to play (minus a few hours of work I had to get done).  First things first: a MTB ride at Moab Brand trails.

Focused on not falling off

 We left the house around 7:30 a.m., which put us on the trails by 8.  The temperatures were actually pretty pleasant, clear with a light breeze and a few clouds building up over the La Sals (which had finally stopped burning).  There weren't that many cars in the parking lot; out on the trails we saw two tour groups: one family of four, plus a guide; one big group of fourteen that ended up getting split with each of the guides taking riders.  We did our new regular route: Copper Ridge Road to Rusty Spur to Lazy EZ (back half first), then Bar M to Circle O.  Not too far out onto the slickrock, H's pedal took a hit and he went down pretty hard on his right knee.  We decided not to finish Circle O and instead retraced our path back to the double track, continuing around on Bar M to finish the ride.  H was fine, a little bloody but not as sore as we had worried.  Certainly well enough to go to Woody's in the afternoon for restorative beers.

Not falling off!

On Sunday, we went up to Dead Horse Point State Park to ride.  Despite being higher in elevation, it was definitely warmer than it had been the previous two days; Sunday would be the day we hit 104 F, although we were safely back home and in the A/C well before temperatures approached triple digits.  Amazingly, I didn't feel overheated: H usually tolerates heat better on the bikes than I do, but I must have been in the zone.  H was also riding a little more cautiously than he sometimes does - aftermath of Friday's crash - and as a result, both of us stayed upright and in one piece.  Also of note: in addition to a bunch of big blue-headed lizards (not sure what species), we saw one desert cottontail and two jack rabbits.  Milton would have loved that!

Circle Uh-oh more like it