After trading Facebook messages with Emma for a couple of weeks, coincidentally we all ended up in San Luis Obispo on the same night. I met Emma & Brent at Easter two years ago (just before I left NZ) on what I still maintain is perhaps the best riding trip I’ve ever been on. We (a group of about thirteen – all from Napier/Hastings, except me) rode the Queen Charlotte Walkway at the top of the South Island over the long weekend. With big climbs, fantastic downhills, spectacular scenery, wonderful autumn/fall weather & a great group (I only knew one guy before the trip) – it’s a ride I’ll remember for a long time. Brent & Emma have quit their jobs back home, rented out houses & are now planning on taking four to five months to do a similar loop to what Valerie & I are currently doing (except in the opposite direction, starting from San Francisco). It was with just a little jealously that I listened to how they’d set their minvan up with a bed & bikes in the back – sort of what I’d been planning on doing originally – & saw a trip with two keen bikers.

Only a week into their trip they’ve had much more excitement than we have (& they can keep it) – police drug raids in the motel room next door, (lack of) visa hassles, a tick removed under local anesthetic & then discovering a car down a bank with a very drunk woman at the wheel last night. It was great (mint) to catch up last night in SLO over a beer & share riding & road-trip stories, trade recommendations & listen to true-blue Kiwi accents (although Emma still has a little English there).

They rode the same trails yesterday afternoon that I had that morning, but I was keen to ride with them so we hit the trails again this morning. It was nice to have people to chat with on the climb & then someone to chase/chase me down the hills. We followed the same loop mostly that I did yesterday (except starting at the campsite) & once most of the way up East Boundary cut off to the right & rode Barranca back to the fireroad.

A lot foggier at the top of Hazzard Peak compared to yesterday.

Barranca had a little bit of a climb & then turned into the most technical (not too bad) downhill in the area – it was much more rocks & gravel than the packed dirt on Hazzard Peak & Manzanita. I had a good fun chasing Brent down & trying not to swallow too much of the dust he was kicking up around the corners.

A tick-infested (OK, he had one) man kindly took this at the top of Barranca

Yesterday I had spied a little bit of trail on the other side of the creek, so we dipped down, crossed the creek & rode the Reservoir Flats trail back to the campsite. It was a fantastic little ride in the morning fog, super nice to have some Kiwi riding buddies (albeit briefly) – with goodbyes & good-driving well-wishes we parted way.

We’re now on our way north up the Central Coast to the acclaimed Monterey aquarium. It was weird as we drove up the 101 seeing that big layer of marine cloud sitting off west over the ocean, while we are bathed in sunshine. It’s beautiful countryside to drive through – gorgeous hills on both sides with extensive vineyards giving way to multitudes of market gardens in the center (big rows of pickers’ cars parked along the side of the road, seemingly in the middle of nowhere).

Looking at the atlas just after leaving SLO, it looks like it’ll make much more sense to continue up the coast to Santa Cruz (good riding) & San Fran before heading east to Yosemite & up to Lake Tahoe (instead of Monterey, east to Yellowstone, west to San Fran with a day trip south to Santa Cruz, & east again to Tahoe). So that’s probably what we’ll do.

*We had a good few hours to look around the aquarium. It was pretty cool, but now that summer vacation has begun it was packed with families which made it a little difficult to see some of the animals. Is it a bad sign that the thing I will remember most is that the plural of fish over here is ‘fishes’? Actually, the jellyfish & the sea-horses (& kin) were the best things.

A leafy sea-dragon

So this is what a cuttlefish really looks like – all those years I thought it was for feeding (dead) parrots

Today was my opportunity to ride what is arguably the most famous mountain-bike trail in the world – the Slickrock Trail. Just as I was driving up there, I got a text from Miles & it turned out that I’d meet him afterwards for another ride. Not in the best shape of my life (but hopefully getting closer), I tried to get around the trail as quickly as possible while still taking enough time to take pictures & appreciate the scenery & trail. At nine o’clock on a Monday morning, the trailhead wasn’t too busy & I probably only saw about twenty people on the whole loop – more reinforcement of planning to avoid the weekend. The rock itself was mostly super smooth & grippy. The trail was about ninety-five percent rock & the rest a little bit of sand. Peppered with a lot of sharp descents & then tough pinch climbs, it’s not a complete walk in the park but great fun all the same. I started off the ride looking at big thunderstorms off in the distance, but they avoided me & I spent time in direct sunlight, cloud & a stiff cooling breeze.

The views were out over the Colorado River towards Arches NP & east to the La Sal mountains (nice to see these not capped in cloud, unlike yesterday). Picking the route across the rock was made pretty easy by following the big white dashes painted on the rock. Enough of that, here are a few pictures.

The outskirts of Moab

After a quick dash back to the motel, refilling the Camelbak & making & consuming a wrap, we were off to meet Miles & Diyora (sp?) at the other end of town. Driving north towards Canyonlands NP, Miles & I were dropped off at top of Gemini Bridges Rd with ominous looking storm clouds sending bolts of lightning down not too far away. We rode down the road for a mile & eventually found the unsignposted trail off the 4WD road. The Magnificent 7 is a group of now more than seven trails that lead from where we started back towards Moab. We rode the first three of them (Bull Run, Arth’s Corner & Little Canyon) before meeting our pick-up back on Highway 161. We had a big net descent & the riding was more of the type I prefer – getting away from town, getting a bit of distance in & seeing less seen views. The big black clouds avoided us as we made our way down Bull Run. The scenery was once again spectacular, but as Miles & Diyora had to hustle back to Denver (six hours away) for Diyora to catch a red-eye back to NYC, I wasn’t stopping as much for photos. Also, the trail was really fun & with plenty of canyon-side riding, drops & step-ups. Half way through we walked off the road a little to have a look at the Gemini Bridges – it’s not until you are standing on top of them that you realise that there are two parallel bridges separated by a metre gap.

Riding 30 miles/48 km today (the most I’ve done in one day since a Lake Minnewanka epic with Alex last July) with 850m of climbing was possibly a little optimistic, but I’m still alive – but may pay for it tomorrow on Porcupine Rim. It also means, I don’t remember many of the singletrack details from this afternoon – except it was brilliant with beautiful views. More storms blew in, but we were fortunate to only be showered on for ten minutes or so. With a bit more dodgy route finding & a big long climb & then even longer descent to the highway we were back at the cars & I was somewhat worn out. Another great ride, I eagerly await riding a lot in Bend, Oregon with Miles in July.

Back towards Moab & the La Sal mountains

After a nice leisurely start to Saturday we headed off down the freeway to Fruita to check out the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival – but mainly because it was on the way to more riding & the sun was out.  There was a big car show on part of the main street – a lot of very shiny American classics & hot rods.  Many, many beautiful cars; in amongst all the American muscle there some nice examples of Austin Healeys & Volkswagens.  Some in the family may appreciate this picture, it had two big recliners in the back instead of a bench & also a suped-up 8 Track player.

Most of the festivities were at the other end of main street, so we checked them out briefly. I was hugely disappointed that I didn’t see someone wandering around aimlessly in a large headless-chicken suit. There were, however, some show chickens – very odd seeing chickens dressed up in little costumes! Of course, it wouldn’t be a small town around these parts without a statue welded up out of miscellaneous items.

Feeling a bit peckish, we found a park on a map & headed out there to eat our grain. We stumbled across a couple of games of little league baseball so amused ourselves briefly trying to work out what was happening – but being baseball, not much was happening.

North out of Fruita are some riding trails at the end of 18 Road & the base of the Bookcliffs (the longest range running east to west apparently in the USA). A sidenote on the road names around here. The north-south roads out in the country (mostly, you get some in town) are numbered for the number of miles from the Utah border. Hence, 18 Road – things get more interesting with the roads in between the whole miles; you end up with things like 33 1/2 Rd or 15 3/10 Rd – as if you could have a part road. Then the east-west roads are letttered from A up from some base line. So we had to take N 3/10 Rd to get to the trails. I was following a Cayenne with bikes on the top, if I had have been a bit closer I would have seen the Oregon plates & not followed. After a wrong turn & back track we were all bumping up the most corrugated road I’ve been on – it went for miles & was just awful.

On the upside, the guy in the Cayenne was actually from Boulder, CO & I had a riding buddy to show me around & take photos. I had originally planned to ride up the road from the trail head & come down on progressively harder trails (Kessel Run, Chutes & Ladders, Zippity Do Da). Miles had limited time as he & his girlfriend were off to Moab, so we did Zippity first. After cruising up the road there was a bit of climbig to get west & on to another ridge. It’s a great name for this trail as there are plenty of whoop-de-dos to swoop down & then get up the other side. It was a bit of a change riding with someone much fitter than me, but I coped & the trail wasn’t too technical. It flowed really well, there were great views & some nasty pinch climbs to keep me on my toes.

There was some gorgeous ridge riding (copped a gale on this edge) & at places one had to be pretty careful to make a turn & not go flying off.

We got back to the car to find Valerie had gone off on her own little ride & Diyora (Miles’s girlfriend) wasn’t back from her ride. So we headed up Kessel Run & found Valerie, but not Diyora. At the top we split & Miles went back to the car & I continued on Chutes & Ladders on the east side of the area. This riding was quite different, a little techy at the start & then it opened up in to big meadows. With the views & all the different shades of green, grey & purple it was beautiful.

Back at the car, exchanging details & intentions to meet again in Moab (where we’re going today!!!) & later in Bend, Oregon we said goodbyes & I headed back up the road to get a few extra miles in. The beginner level Kessel Run is great fun – not much pedalling involved, it swoops & ducks & dives & has a real flow to it. A most excellent way to end the day somewhat tired. For only just over two hours of riding I managed to get some good climbing in & some fantastic trails.