Tour de St. George

I rode in the Tour de St. George on the 20th of October. This is the most difficult of the St. George area century rides with about 5300 ft. of climbing. This is also the last big ride of the year.

The weather was perfect until the wind picked up around mile 87, we toughed it out and finished in 5hrs 22min ride time.


Sarah says I am looking thinner. Maybe I need to ride by the photographers next to fat people.

Good news for people who like bad news.

I have been putting off a trip to the doc since I took a tumble back in August. I of course am referring to the post of August 27 where I describe the event in great detail. Feel free to reread the post and get yourselves back up to speed, but I digress.... I had Dr. Andruss check out my wrist first as it has been getting worse. The x-rays looked good so he told me to cowboy up, the bone that looked a little cracked was on it's way to healing and it would feel better when it stopped hurting.
We then moved on to the knee. The knee that he himself had rebuilt in 01', he gave it a couple of quick tugs and said the four words that crushed my soul, "your ACL is blown." He followed that jem up with "when do you want to have surgery to repair it?" So I guess I have been riding my bike all over this state with a knee that is held in place with duct tape, chewing gum and inertia.
I have decided on November 14Th we will do the cutting and I am looking forward to 4 weeks of crutches and 6 weeks of rehab like I look forward to doing a nickel at Chino. For those of you who don't get that joke it means I am loathe to begin the whole process.

Donations are being accepted to help my family cope at Deseret First Credit Union and at 7-11 retailers near you.

Toroweap

Last week I took Maddie and Megan and we drove 90 miles on a dirt road to the Toroweap overlook. It is one of the only locations that you can see the Colorado River from the rim of the Grand Canyon.
Sarah did not join us, she does not enjoy dirt roads.

We arrived just as the sun was setting so the lighting is a little funky.
The view from the top. It is really a long way down;



The girls messing around on the rocks;


There are 10 campsites available on a first come first serve basis and I believe we were the 11th group to arrive. The girls were disappointed until I told them that we could backtrack to the BLM property and camp wherever we wanted.
I managed to get the tent up as darkness enveloped us. Without a flashlight we built a fire and cooked hot dogs, the girls of course thought it was awesome.
The air mattress must of had a slow leak because I awoke at 3am with a rock embedded in my right hip. I toughed it out until 7 when the girls awoke. We got up, packed up and drove home via Colorado City eating Doritos and powdered raspberry filled doughnuts on the way.

I want to give you a list of things to remember if you ever go out there.
1. Go early
2. Bring a flashlight.
3. Check the air mattress the night before.
4. If you don't enjoy bumpy roads don't go.
5. Go out and back thru Colorado City it shaves an hour of the ride each way.
6. At 60mph dirt roads smooth right out, and when you do hit a bump try to go limp and enjoy the split second of zero gravity.

Why don't I live in Moab?

Off to Moab for another century ride, this one benefitting the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
I dragged along my old buddies Dusty and Chris so I didn't have to have dinner alone. We did some 4 wheeling on friday in Dustin's Jeep and they did some more on Saturday while I took a ride. Sorry no photos.


The ride started off a little cold and rainy, I will admit that I should have worn more clothes.

Yours truelly powering up a hill past a bunch of chicks.


There were some other local celebs representing. Kelly and Sally looking smooth.



After about 20 miles riding along the Colorado River the 100 mile course takes a turn up the Castle Valley Road with a 16 mile climb into the La Sal mountains.

This is what the road normally looks like. The scenery is absolutely stunning.


This is a picture of Preist and Nuns formation as seen on Saturday.




The hill got progressively steeper and the weather progressively worse. At the top we were at an altitude of 6800 ft. and it was snowing. I think I mentioned that I should have worn more clothes.
The last pitch was an 18% grade, for the record I think that is as steep as I can pedal. Many people were walking and/or hurling.

I nearly froze to death on the way back down the hill. It was as miserable as I have ever been on a bike.


The scenery continued to be so amazing I kept wondering how come I only come to Moab twice a year. I would live there if I could make a living.


This is a shot from 30,000 feet of the Colorado River and the town of Moab




Here is a bunch more eye candy. Enjoy












Note to my wife; please bury me here.