Trip to Moab, Utah

Freekin' Awesome! Me and a friend drove 15 hours from the bay area to Moab Utah for 4 days of mountain biking last week. Just south of Salt Lake City, we hit a bad snowstorm and it took 2 hours longer than it was supposed to. After driving 14 hours with no rest, we got there at 2 in the afternoon, and proceeded to go on a 4-hour ride. oh. man. We went to Amasa Back trail, and at the peak it started snowing! Big, Chunky flakes. It turned the red dirt into clay-like red mud, which is now in all the nooks and crannies of my bike. Still awesome. Second day we rode the legenday Slickrock trail. Alot of the inclines were like 40 degrees, but you could just rise right up them, due to the consistency of the rock...it's like sandpaper. Later that day was Sovereign trail...chock full of deserty goodness, and in the fine tradition of all group outdoor activities, we got seperated from the main group and got lost for about two hours. 3rd day was Porcupine Rim. An all-downhill trail that we took a modified van up to about 6000 feet in the mountains. this van was crazy. it was two old vans, one with the front quarter cut off, one with the back quater cut off, and welded together. It bowed a bit in the middle. Super Sketchy! Fourth day was too windy, so we went hiking at Arches Nat'l Park. Beautiful. Last day was Baby Steps Trail, which featured a dinosaur footprint. We rented a house that fit 17 people pretty snugly. Lots of food, laughs, drinking, and good times. It was put together by The Bike Way in Omaha, the shop I would go to all the time when we still lived there. I caught up with some old friends, made some new ones, and came away with some great experiences and memories. I figured Utah would be a bit weird, what with all the mormons, but...you can't buy beer above 4.25 % alchohol content in Utah. To drink hard liquor, you can't just walk into a bar...the laws are written so that only private clubs can serve hard liquor. You have to join the bar, or become a member. then you can sponsor the rest of your group so they can drink too. Very weird. My friend got his bike stolen by a drunk guy one night, asked around town the next day, found out he worked in a bike shop in town, and got it back. strange indeed. Pictures to come soon, as well as trail video, thanks to the helmet cam Rose got me for my birthday. She gets me the best presents!