High desert riding

Fruita was a nice stop on the Western Trip. We skipped Mary's/Lion's* in order to ride Frontside and hit the road. We'd see a lot of cliffside in Moab, it was HOT, and we only had one day to ride there. J__ was very clear on her position regarding riding in the heat- she was against it. I really wanted to finally ride Rabbit Valley, and bought a guide book to facilitate this, but time was tight. You need to hear me tell you: "Fruita is fun. It has technical, challenging cliffside singletrack. It has sweeping, narrow, swoopy singletrack." It ain't Moab though, despite it's grasping, desperate hype. (Who wants to drink something other than watery 3.2 beer when it's 100+ degrees? ) When faced with a one or the other choice, I recommend heading to:Moab. Still the king. You think you've ridden everything, but you haven't. In fact, you haven't even ridden Gold Bar correctly yet and you know it. (stay high, stay high) And, plus there're new trails now, and more being added. It was too hot to ride the usual, and I'm not putting our ride on the interwebs and spoiling it (we saw all of zero other riders all day). I will say we rode for 8 hours and it was 80% glorious singletrack in moderate temperatures. I love the riding, and I love the people. Except you, ___________.You suck.

While in Moab, we stopped to inflict ourselfs upon the Poison Spider crew. And to install some On One Mary bars on my new(ish) Santa Cruz Blur. The bike? Built out of spare and gimme parts, and it took 3 or 4 rides before I stopped freaking out on all the movement (aaaah! Is my head set/pivot bolt/hub loose? Is it now? Do I have a slow leak? Do I now? aaaah!) and began to love it. Now I love it. The lines on Porupine rim Trail seem to have changed a whole lot since I lived there/began riding it, and I rode it faster and more comfortably than ever before... I was jumping stuff. Which, if you've ridden with me, you'll agree is rare and inadvisable; but there it is. Dang.

The bars? Even though they were referred to repeatedly as my alternative needs bars, I really like them, and will be selling my Jones bars soon to replace those on my other bikes with the Mary. Great sweep/angle, good width, No Flex, and I rarely use the barend position on the Jonses. I may have received my entire ration of heckling (in regard to bike setup) for the year during the installation. Haha, suckers...laugh it up; you'll see.

I also put some Ergon grips on there, to really polish the turd. I remain unconvinced by these. When first I saw them, I jumped straight to the conclusion that they'd limit hand position- causing the very hand numbing issues they claim to avoid. But several folkswhoseemrespectablehavingassuredmetheyarelegitimate later, I figgered to try them with an open brain. I heard all kinds of differing set up tips, and claims that the paddle shape actually helps you grip while climbing, etc...meh. Seems like the paddle just compensates for a lack of wrist loving sweep for all those peoplewhoareinthewrong running riser/flat bars. I think I'll go back to round grips. We'll see.

Softy is building a man room. Will he be allowed in it?

You Moab swine should recognize the slippery, quiet, hidden-genius of the black pearl in your midst. Shanghai Mysterious B___ S_____, and ride with him. Drag him out if you have to (and you will), because it's worth it. GO!

Finally, let me make it perfectly clear to you people: Good Times do not happen on their own. It requires effort. Witness T___(who hates intraweb publicity) and his unfortunate incident. He was hit by a drunk driver/asshole 3 days before the scheduled start of the Great Western Trip 2008. He did not cancel his fun and heal/mope at home. Despite holes in his feet and a large road rash (one portion of which became known as the Hairy Weeping Madonna, for it's shape and affect) along with assorted lesser pains about which he did not complain, T___ came out and ruined J__ and me daily. And I don't just mean with his ass, though he himself became known as the La Sal Mountains Shambling Ass Bear.

That's what Good Times require.So the next time one of your buddies calls you up and says, "Hey lets do________________(insert rare and kickass ride) this weekend!" You will reject the impulse to stay home and do errands or give in in any fashion to whatever Imp of the
Perverse it is which causes otherwise capable and fun people to say things like "Are you kidding? That ride will be to hard/tiring/farfromhome/etc..." and you will instead say,"Hell Yes." OK?

*Do not skip Mary's/Lions. Do not skip Mary's Lions. Repeat. Horsethief may well be my favorite single section of trail anywhere, anytime. Just sayin.