Moab revisited

Last week was the annual Moab Century ride. This time I brought a few friends with me, here are Sally, Kelly and Douglas suiting up before we take off.


We drove part of the course the night before so that Kelly and Sally would know what they were in for, I don't think it helped. Kelly said that she did not sleep well at all thinking about the "Big Nasty" climb. That's actually what they call the hill, take a look at this alluring piece of propaganda.



You are reading it correctly if it says " 3000 vertical feet in 7 miles."

In between the really steep parts I was able to grab this video without falling of my bike.






How did you like my heavy breathing? I will tell you now that it is over it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be but in the middle of that climb it was less than pleasant. It took almost 2.5 hours to go 27 miles.
The rest of the ride was an absolute joy. We saw where the forest fire was. We rode along the Colorado River corridor out past the Dewey Bridge before turning around and heading back to town. Total ride time for me was 6hrs 9 min. I will be looking for a sub 6 hrs next year.

I was struggling with my camera the entire day so most of my pictures did not work out but here are a few that did.

Rain coming in over Fisher Mesa.



The rest stop at the summit, looking into Castle Valley.



The cut in the side of the mountain is the Big Nasty winding it's way up the hill.



This ride is the most scenic ride ever. It even beats riding in Zion National Park. I would really like to find a shack in Castle Valley that is falling apart, buy it on the cheap and spend a few years fixing it up so that I can have a house there. There really is no place like Moab.

Oatmeal Cake

Many of you may not know that I love to frequent gas stations for lunch. I do work in the construction industry so I guess I fit the stereotype. I of course have my favorite stores that serve the perfect blend of diet Pepsi or cheese filled corn dogs and Little Nemo Cakes. I have even got Sarah to eat a Bahama Mama hot dog at Maverick, that was a big step for her.
So when I came across this little jem I had to buy it. Sorry about the photo quality I took it with my phone.


Grandma Bonnie's Oatmeal cake. G'ma Bonnie must make this stuff at her house and wrap each piece by hand. She even leaves the cakes in a little basket at the counter for that special homemade presentation.
My Mom used to make Oatmeal cake all the time when we were kids. She would take it to any outdoor function that we attended so we called it picnic cake. She had this cool old school metal pan with a sliding metal lid to keep it safe during transport. Mom's cake is better than Grandma Bonnie's and I wish I had some right now so Mom, when you read this please send recipe asap. Feel free to leave it in your comment so that all the faithful readers can partake of the oatmeal goodness.