May Mountain Biking

Jim & I - otherwise know as "Gemini" (because I talk fast... hehe!)

This is one of the few times we took photos while riding. Usually we are too busy riding. However, early in the season it's nice to stop and enjoy the views. We were at Phil's World.

GO! JIM! GO!

Not the best photo but what you don't see is I am hanging on a cliff edge trying to get the shot.

Me and the La Plata mountains with snow still clinging to their slopes.

Mountain Biking With Sam

Okay, I tried to upload this picture 4 times in the flipped right side up corrected format and every time it gave me the uncorrected version. I'm over it. Use your imagination and deal with the goofiness of us being upside down.

So, here we are in all our silliness at Phil's World (a maze of single track trails created for mountain biking) east of Cortez Colorado. Sam and I decided to embark on a girl's ride this past Monday. Being it was Columbus Day and we both had the day off work, which almost never happens (holiday for the Post Office), we thought it would be fun to go ride. We met at my house, sipped tea, leisurely loaded up the bikes and finally hit the road for a day of trails. Now, I hadn't been on my bike in sometime and Sam is a crazy kick ass kind of rider; so it was preplanned that she was allowed to push me and test my skills but had to bring me back in one piece. Bleeding, cut or scrapped was acceptable but I needed to be in working order for taking time off work would not be acceptable.

We stopped at the top of the plateau for a photo shoot. Sam was leading me on a wonderful trail ride while chatting with out ever being out of breath. Now, some will say that if you can talk you're not riding hard enough. This is probably true because she was going pretty slow so that I could keep up with her. Climbing single track over rocks and fallen logs, I don't think she ever broke a sweat.

This was the only picture of me taken on the ride. I'm sure it was because I had the camera or perhaps after this I was sweaty, dusty and not very picture worthy after this point in the day. I will admit to getting off to walk, jabbing my pedal into rocks and coming unclipped, riding the brakes until the dust squealed and cursing out loud on more than one occasion. By the middle of the ride I had found my groove again and things went pretty smooth. I finished unscathed and hungry. Before reaching the truck, which was packed with a cooler of post ride goodies, we stopped for another photo shoot.

The fall season brings the tarantula migration to the high desert. Sam whizzed by this little guy narrowly missing him with her big knobby tires. I saw him scoot off the trail, so of course, I had to stop to play and get a few shots. This was the best picture as you can get an idea of his true size. He was a bit defensive but that's what gloves are for. He was also on the smaller side of others I have seen.

We had a great afternoon on two wheels. Sam didn't kill me and I didn't end up slowing her down too much... or at least I don't think. She did agree to having fun and offered to ride with me again.


Ride it if you got it!!