September rides

[BikeDutchess]

Wonderful photos of your ride, Emily! That is a nice trail, especially starting & ending in Coalville to catch the downhill coming back. It's so nice to see all the signs of fall.

[Crankin]

Looks beautiful, Emily. Another place I haven't seen.
North Woods, I am not nervous about going to the service because of anything to do with the people or the fact there will be tons of cyclists. I am just worried I will be too emotional. We have a hilly ride in Amherst, MA area tomorrow, so right now I am trying to decide if we should just ride home after the ceremony, or ride into town for Ag Day/farmer's market, or over to our former town, where they are also having an ag fair we never got to during the years we lived there. I don't want to do too much, as it's hilly where we will be riding tomorrow, and I have never ridden in that area, so there's a bit of unknown nervousness, along with weather forecast that is kind of iffy. But, it's a charity ride, we paid for it, so we are going, even if it rains.

[north woods gal]

Cranking', I do understand. I'm widely known for breaking down at such events, myself. Have had people tell me I could make a good living as a professional cryer at funerals. Oh, yeah, I do understand.

Emily, our family once had a reunion in Park City and I was very impressed with the bicycling in the area. Didn't get a chance to actually do any riding, but would love to return to the area and give it a try. My only issue would be needing a day or two to adapt to the elevation. We flew into Salt Lake and drove up from there. Only at 1500 feet, here, so noticed the change, right away. With you working your way west, I imagine you've acclimated as you go.

[north woods gal]

Back, here, at home, another inch of rain, last night on top of the four inches we've had this last week and all of that on top of an unusually wet summer. Some of my homemade trails around the house are way too wet and mushy to ride, some even under water. Thank heavens for the fat bike. On the trails that I can ride, those huge tires make all the difference. Standard 2" or 2.2" tires dig way too deep into the mushy stuff. I can understand why some locals in the area use fat bikes for all their mountain biking, all year long.

[Crankin]

We barely made it to the meeting place to go to the ghost bike service... not like us at all, but about 12 of us left from a guys's house, about a mile from the spot. It was lovely and moving, and while sad, I didn't really cry. I felt like it a few times, but I come from a religious tradition which doesn't really have the hysterical crying at funerals, so not a problem. There were probably 200 people there! There were 3 ministers, 2 from the man's church, and one woman who is involved in cycling advocacy and rides, and is a minister. They changed some traditional prayers to a cycling theme, and gave examples that were relevant to the situation, from gospel, which was interesting to me, as I know nothing about the New Testament. At the end, they sang Amazing Grace and gave out white roses to leave by the ghost bike. I think i read it's only going to be up for awhile, but it was nice, and the police were friendly to us and did a good job blocking the road and redirecting traffic that was surprised, as this was on a main road.
The hardest thing for me was to see the man's son, a young marine, in full dress uniform, who reminded me of my son. He was in boot camp when it happened, and couldn't come home, so this is why the service was today. I hope i never go to one of these again.
We decided to ride home the long way, and actually got in a 17 mile ride, enough before the charity ride tomorrow, which has been changed, and is now closer in miles to a metric, than 50.

[emily_in_nc]

Cranking', I do understand. I'm widely known for breaking down at such events, myself. Have had people tell me I could make a good living as a professional cryer at funerals. Oh, yeah, I do understand.

Emily, our family once had a reunion in Park City and I was very impressed with the bicycling in the area. Didn't get a chance to actually do any riding, but would love to return to the area and give it a try. My only issue would be needing a day or two to adapt to the elevation. We flew into Salt Lake and drove up from there. Only at 1500 feet, here, so noticed the change, right away. With you working your way west, I imagine you've acclimated as you go.

Yes, after riding in Yellowstone, it's been all downhill from there (elevation-wise!)

[emily_in_nc]

Yesterday we did a beautiful ride in and outside of Dinosaur National Monument. We are in the Utah section, near Jensen. The climb out of the campground (Green River, by the river!) is steep and arduous, but once you get up higher, it's not so bad. Here are a few shots.

Attachment 18158 Attachment 18159 Attachment 18160

Ended up with around 32 miles. Today was a hike, and tomorrow will be more cycling.

[Crankin]

My rides have not been as exciting as some of yours, although Sunday's thunderstorm was exciting in a not good way!
Today, I rode exactly 20 miles, just some of my favorite local roads in my old town, and back along Rt. 117, which while busy, is flat. DH pushed the pace and I ended up with an average over 15. This is good for me, these days.

[north woods gal]

15 would be good for me any day.

Working frantically to get all my trail work done before freeze up, but take time at the end of each day to ride on my homemade trails. Work of love, though, and some of these trails will make terrific cross country ski trails.

[emily_in_nc]

Wonderful photos of your ride, Emily! That is a nice trail, especially starting & ending in Coalville to catch the downhill coming back. It's so nice to see all the signs of fall.

Thanks BD! Where in Utah are you? We are in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument now. More excellent cycling!

[BikeDutchess]

Thanks BD! Where in Utah are you? We are in Dinosaur Nat'l Monument now. More excellent cycling!

I'm in SLC. The weather is just perfect right now - glad you're having fun!