Thursday, September 24, 2009

A biker chick and a couple of dudes



This photo of Mike was taken over my shoulder while riding my bike.
Kids do not try this at home.

Can I just say, "Saturday was awesome!" Mike and I and our friend Doug rode in the Moab Century Tour. A "century" for the uninitiated (and probably far less foolish) is a 100-mile bike ride with support stations along the way that offer cut-up bananas and oranges, Power bars, salty snacks, energy drinks, water, and other treats. Sometimes the really good stops have a full-on make-your-own subway sandwich bar with potato chips and ice cold Coke. (What a great sport this is.) Also, many "century" rides offer shorter options of roughly 20, 40, 60, or 80 miles.



Mike checking out the snacks.

If you pedaled the full 100-mile ride in the Moab Century Tour you got to experience a climb called the "Big Nasty"---a 3000-foot ascent over seven miles. That sounded a bit steep to me (a bit?), and when I looked online at the description there were points along that climb called Little Nasty, Tom's Misery, and Stairway to Heaven. Hmmmm.....

Not wanting to christen a spot on the course called Leslie's Misery, or be knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door, I opted for us to ride the 65-mile "rolling" course. It featured a couple of pretty good hills, too, but they weren't notorious enough to get scary names.



Oh. My. Goodness. Sometimes I forget how truly beautiful Utah is. The ride began at 7 a.m. and paralleled the Colorado River for roughly 34 miles to the turnaround point. In the morning light, the red rock canyons seemed more vibrant; the green brush seemed more lush; and the river rippled past us like foamy chocolate milk. Absolutely stunning.

There is often talk of "runner's high." I'm pretty sure I had "biker's high."

I couldn't quit commenting on how beautiful it was. I took a few photos but they don't even come close to what I saw with my eyes that morning. Breathtaking.

Why do we ever go anywhere else?


10 comments:

  1. you two have more fun than any 2 people i know. i can't wait to do a century. you, me, little red riding hood, next summer. ya!!

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  2. and i'm sorry to hear about stanley. pass my condolences to nat! :)

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  3. It looks like you have a ton of fun. I'm totally jellos! I'll have to let you know that Britt and I are planning to do a century with you guys this next year. So get ready!

    We miss you guys and look forward to seeing you again.

    Aaron

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  4. Yay, we found you!! I'm so glad we can keep tabs on what you two are up to these days. It looks like you had a wonderful time. You guys are amazing athletes. I'll bet you have the healthiest hearts around. :) We miss you!

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  5. Looks fun! My sister has lived near there for decades. I have many pleasant memories climbing all over those red rocks chasing lizards.
    I agree with you why do we need to travel all over the world when we have such spectacular scenary here in good old Utah?

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  6. Clark is definitely crying himself to sleep tonight with all the biking he's been missing out on. You know, I've never really thought of Moab as beautiful...but when we hiked there you really do learn to appreciate it's uniqueness. Riding along the river was probably the best way to see it too! YOu guys are awesome. Clark hasn't ridden since we got here. He's still in a mild depression that Lance was actually less than a mile away from us and he didn't know. :)

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  7. Oh man, I wish I could have been there. That looks so amazing!!! I miss you guys. The best part of the picture is that you had to turn around to take a picture of Mike. I always had a suspicion he couldn't keep up with you!!!!

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  8. Hi Ma! On a scale of 1-10, how sore was your butt when all was said and done? I'm thinking about doing something like this, but I'd like to know what I'd be getting into butt-soreness-wise.

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  9. On the butt-soreness scale I'd have to say I was a one (with 10 being the most sore.) Really not bad at all. You're actually only sore after the first two or three rides when you begin training. So, go for it, Nat!

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