Moab - Day 2

After a good night's sleep, I woke up around 5:00am Mountain Time (7:00 back home) and started my day. After we all got dressed, we made our way to the SAS PharmaSUG conference for the catered breakfast. We made sure there wasn't anything work-related that the other guys needed to take care of before departing for Utah. The morning was quiet so we hit the road.

The drive was uneventful; however the scenery was stunning. It took about six hours to get from Denver to Moab. We drove West to the Rockies, climbed up and over them, down the other side and followed the Colorado River into Utah. 350 miles in all. We passed through Vail and the White River National Forest. The most memorable part of the drive was going through Glenwood Canyon on the viaduct of I-70. Stunning.

We arrived in Moab around 4:30pm. The bike stores didn't close until 6:00, so we had time to pick up the bikes this evening. After getting the bikes, we headed over to the Slickrock Practice Loop to put a few miles in on the bikes before dark. This allowed us to make sure the bikes fit and were working well.

I quickly learned that my bike fit left a lot to be desired. Although the frame was an XL (Santa Cruz Blur LT), I felt like I was riding a bike two sizes too small. The small bike did not work well on the insanely steep climbs and descents.

On one of the first climbs, I was unable to keep the front wheel in contact with terra firma and started to fall backwards. I caught myself in time and put my foot down. Unfortunately, there is no shoe traction when on a 60° inclined solid rock surface (with metal spikes on the front of the shoes) and began sliding down the rock. First on my feet, then fell to my left knee and elbow and finally flat on my thighs and hands - continuing to slide down the rock. I had gloves on, so my hands were fine. My thighs were rubbed slightly raw (felt like sunburn), but my knee and elbow were skinned bad enough to draw blood. The worst part was how I stopped the uncontrolled decent - my left foot found a small ledge and the metal spikes grabbed hold. The halt was abrupt and wrenched my ankle. That caused a significant sprain of a ligament which almost ruined all chances of riding for the entire trip.

I gingerly completed the rest of the ride and declared that bike not worthy of riding again.

The bed was a welcome sight after showering, tending to my wounds and getting some dinner.