Day 37 – Moab, UT – 85 days
Our last day in Colorado brought an outstanding ride of changing scenery. We had an extended descent for the first 26 miles of the ride, heading directly west towards the La Sal Mountains and dropping close to 1,000 ft in elevation. On either side of us was a sheer faced canyon which sported red-rock walls and a wide valley for us to ride down. The group was pretty bunched up at first so the Boys of Summer (Dustin, Colin, Shane, Scott and Myself as we were dubbed by the other riders) decided to step up the pace and we flew through the ride much quicker than usual. At mile 36 we entered Utah, our third to last state, and did the traditional taking of silly pictures at the state sign. We enjoyed two substantial climbs over the day up to an elevation of about 7,300 ft as we passed the La Sal Mountains to the south around mile 50. We descended for the majority of the ride that remained, and as we rounded the mountains and began to head north, we officially entered the Utah desert. Scenery changed almost instantly it seemed to an arid red sand and stone terrain that led us down into some phenomenally beautiful canyons that were rather narrow and wound across the countryside towards Moab. We arrived in town by 1:30 and enjoyed some time off by checking out the main street and all the fun a medium sized city could offer that we hadn’t seen since Ft Collins.
For dinner, our hosts at St. Pius X Church set out a great spread of hamburgers and hotdogs followed by our usual presentation which my group was in charge of this week. Afterwards we had a Bike and Build version of “Coffee Talk” with the priest who was a founder of the Moab Housing Coalition. I very much enjoyed the round table discussion of the roots of not only poverty housing, but homelessness and general social distress. It was fascinating to hear everyone’s input as well as those from individuals outside of our team. Having discussions such as these has been one of my favorite parts of the trip relevant to our cause. Dialogue is what our mission is all about. Opening peoples’ eyes to the social problems we are facing domestically and inspiring them to take individual action. I can’t wait until our Affordable Housing meeting on Thursday to continue the discussion.
Our last day in Colorado brought an outstanding ride of changing scenery. We had an extended descent for the first 26 miles of the ride, heading directly west towards the La Sal Mountains and dropping close to 1,000 ft in elevation. On either side of us was a sheer faced canyon which sported red-rock walls and a wide valley for us to ride down. The group was pretty bunched up at first so the Boys of Summer (Dustin, Colin, Shane, Scott and Myself as we were dubbed by the other riders) decided to step up the pace and we flew through the ride much quicker than usual. At mile 36 we entered Utah, our third to last state, and did the traditional taking of silly pictures at the state sign. We enjoyed two substantial climbs over the day up to an elevation of about 7,300 ft as we passed the La Sal Mountains to the south around mile 50. We descended for the majority of the ride that remained, and as we rounded the mountains and began to head north, we officially entered the Utah desert. Scenery changed almost instantly it seemed to an arid red sand and stone terrain that led us down into some phenomenally beautiful canyons that were rather narrow and wound across the countryside towards Moab. We arrived in town by 1:30 and enjoyed some time off by checking out the main street and all the fun a medium sized city could offer that we hadn’t seen since Ft Collins.
For dinner, our hosts at St. Pius X Church set out a great spread of hamburgers and hotdogs followed by our usual presentation which my group was in charge of this week. Afterwards we had a Bike and Build version of “Coffee Talk” with the priest who was a founder of the Moab Housing Coalition. I very much enjoyed the round table discussion of the roots of not only poverty housing, but homelessness and general social distress. It was fascinating to hear everyone’s input as well as those from individuals outside of our team. Having discussions such as these has been one of my favorite parts of the trip relevant to our cause. Dialogue is what our mission is all about. Opening peoples’ eyes to the social problems we are facing domestically and inspiring them to take individual action. I can’t wait until our Affordable Housing meeting on Thursday to continue the discussion.
Day Off – Moab, UT – 35 miles
Days off from any activity are meant to be relaxing and a change of pace. So to mix things up Colin, Jesse, and myself woke up at 5:15 and left the church by 5:50 am on a quest for Arches National Park before the sun came up and started baking the land. The ride in was gorgeous despite two climbs that took us upwards over 1,500 ft on our 16 mile ride to the Windows section of the park. We spent about an hour walking around this area, exploring and taking pictures of the enormous holes created in the sandstone by water and wind before Scott, Sarah, Shane and Shannon showed up and we all continued exploring. We were debating on if we wanted to bike further into the park since it had gotten so hot by that point, when Marc and friends showed up with the van, so we bummed a ride down to Delicate Arch, the formation featured on all Utah license plates and the most photographed of all arches. After getting dropped off back at the Windows, we hopped on our bikes and sped back down to Moab where we gobbled down some lunch, entertained showers, and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon wandering around town and taking care of the various things that we needed for the coming 10 days of consecutive riding. All things bicycle related break after a certain amount of use, we have discovered. The mouthpiece of camelbacks are notorious for springing leaks or tearing, which mine finally did (despite the ridiculous mold colonies growing inside it, aka my pets) so I had to pay a visit to the local bike shop for replacements. We finished the day with another amazing meal, this time of fried chicken provided by our hosts before hitting the hay and getting rested up for tomorrow’s assault on the Utah highways.
-Monsieur Finklesteinowitz
Days off from any activity are meant to be relaxing and a change of pace. So to mix things up Colin, Jesse, and myself woke up at 5:15 and left the church by 5:50 am on a quest for Arches National Park before the sun came up and started baking the land. The ride in was gorgeous despite two climbs that took us upwards over 1,500 ft on our 16 mile ride to the Windows section of the park. We spent about an hour walking around this area, exploring and taking pictures of the enormous holes created in the sandstone by water and wind before Scott, Sarah, Shane and Shannon showed up and we all continued exploring. We were debating on if we wanted to bike further into the park since it had gotten so hot by that point, when Marc and friends showed up with the van, so we bummed a ride down to Delicate Arch, the formation featured on all Utah license plates and the most photographed of all arches. After getting dropped off back at the Windows, we hopped on our bikes and sped back down to Moab where we gobbled down some lunch, entertained showers, and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon wandering around town and taking care of the various things that we needed for the coming 10 days of consecutive riding. All things bicycle related break after a certain amount of use, we have discovered. The mouthpiece of camelbacks are notorious for springing leaks or tearing, which mine finally did (despite the ridiculous mold colonies growing inside it, aka my pets) so I had to pay a visit to the local bike shop for replacements. We finished the day with another amazing meal, this time of fried chicken provided by our hosts before hitting the hay and getting rested up for tomorrow’s assault on the Utah highways.
-Monsieur Finklesteinowitz
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