Our latest start to date today. We were both pretty shattered from the past couple days so we didn't roll out of bed until 7.30. The plan for the day was a little rest and maintenance for ourselves and the Groms. A quick stop at the auto store for some chain lube and we were back at the busiest car wash in the US, except this time it was empty. With the Bonneville salt washed from behind their ears the...
Moab and White Rim look like they will be hard to beat. This part of Utah seems to look more like what we imagine Nevada to look like. Lots of straight flat roads today. Funnily enough, coming in to Tredmonton, the landscape changed again and all of a sudden there are fields and the air smells like straw instead of dust. It looks like how we imagine Idaho to look like. The highlight of our day today was of course our...
Not the most interesting riding today. After being spoiled the last few days, the straight fast gravel this morning was downright boring. We didn't take a lot of photos today. We did see quite a few pronghorn throughout the day, but didn't manage to get any pictures of them either :( apparently they are a type of goat not an antelope or so we have been told. It got more interesting once we hit Death Canyon Road. The surrounding terrain got...
A nice cruisey day on the TAT. Temperatures were quite low most of the day so it was pleasant riding. At one point the scrub land turns to dunes for a short ways which made for some great drone shots. The most enjoyable part of today was riding through the Sids Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Big rock cliffs on both sides as you ride through the canyon on the way to Castle Dale. Most of this mornings ride was done at relatively...
What a wonderful evening we had. The wind died down and the stars came out. The moon was so bright, we had to use our neck buffs as eye blinds as we hadn't bothered to put the fly sheet on the tent fully. A steep descent from the campsite, followed by a couple more ups and downs before the trail slowly wound down towards the Green River. Still pretty slow going for us, but there seemed to be more hard packed...
Rocks, rocks and more rocks. We started with the rocks in Arches National Park and have ended the day with the rocks in Canyonlands National Park and they have been fantastic. We almost got off to an early start, but sometimes its one of those days when things take longer. You pack everything up, only to turn around and find you forgot something. Then the awkwardly shaped gas can does not want to be secured properly. Still, off to Arches by...
We are not sure if we are mad or stupid. It's probably a bit of both. We decided to take the groms for a lap around slick rock this morning. This is very much not grom territory. It was a blast though. Sim had a ball, me...
Brrrr. When we left Silverton this morning it was below zero. We set out to give the famed Ophir Pass our best shot fully thinking we might have to turn back after having heard all sorts of horror stories. However as it turns out, we had the perfect machines for the job. It's amazing what can be achieved when your bike is small enough that you can ride it while still walking. The rockfall that fell earlier in the year? has...
Words. So many words. Epic, stunning, scary, exhilarating, challenging, fun, tough, rewarding. A heap of expletives in there too. We did it. We made it up and over Cinnamon, California, Hurricane, Corkscrew and whatever other pass was between Lake City and Silverton and yes there was some pushing involved. Cinnamon didn't feel terribly difficult to get up. Of course for some reason, we did not examine our map very carefully before hand and had it in our heads that it was...
Wow, another wonderful day of riding with beautiful views. Colorado is delivering on expectations. At lot of the scenery reminds us of parts of New Zealand but on a much bigger scale. Lots of elevation gain, through forests, which then top out with lovely views. Quite chilly throughout the day, rain jacket and heated grips on again. At one point it dropped to about 10 deg C (50F) most of the time it hovered around 17 deg C (62F). Interestingly enough,...