July 13

July 13

Today was so fun! We decided to do an easier route today than the main part of the group. Greg, Tess Ben and I stayed on a double track part of the trail and it was a lot easier technical wise. It was still a tough cardio and strength challenge. We did 16 miles and the first 8 were pretty much steady uphill climbs. We ate lunch half way through but instead of eating I cleaned all the caked on mud off myself...

It started raining right when we got to the trail head and we stayed under the overhang till it slowed down. That made the trail pretty wet and there were lots of small dips that filled with water. About 2 miles onto the trail we hit a dip and my front tire hit a rock that stopped my bike and sent me over the handlebars head first into the ankle deep puddle of mud. It was everywhere! Face, body, helmet-- all got it. I wasn't hurt though so I was happy. Back on the bike. Less than a mile after, I hit another dip and my back tire slipped out and I rammed into the ground on my left side. Still nothing major, but I got a few pretty bad bruises on my legs. The rest of the trip was ok as far as falling goes.

We actually had a blast today. We all joked and laughed a lot. Took tons of pictures and took our time on the ride enjoying the views and the company. The last mile or so Tess and Greg pulled ahead of Ben and I. We were talking and laughing and goofing around, and totally misses the van which was parked right off the road. I don't know how we missed it, but we ended up doing an extra 2 miles or so. We didn't even realize we were on the wrong trail until we went down this giant hill and saw the highway and were like oh shit! The funny thing is we even passed a horse ranch and were like, oh horses:) so we started trekking it up the hill we just coasted down, pretty discouraged but laughing our asses off.

We were hoping Tess would come looking for us, which she did, but she brought the van, trailer and the rest of the group with her. All the bikes were loaded on top of the van and the whole crew was worried that something happened to us. I only felt bad for Tess because we really scarred her. And for Ben and I because we were a bit embarrassed!

We got into the van and made it to camp where we set up and then got to take showers! It was a bag shower but it was fresh and warm. I was the first to go, and as per the trend of the trip, I got lost finding the shower! I felt pretty retarded, but the shower was amazing. I can now add taking a naked shower in the woods to my list of cleaning habits.

Sitting here by the fire for our last night I am a little sad that I will be leaving my new friends. Dona and Greg and I were talking about doing the white rim tour at the end of May next year. It is a lot easier and goes through Canyon Lands. Maybe I can get someone else to do it too??  That would be fun!!  Any takers?