Monday, August 07, 2006

Slickrock to Cirque du Soleil

Carrying on from the last post... I got to ride Slickrock in Moab. We had raced through Denver, Vail and the Rockies the previous evening to get to the awesome sandstone desert of Utah. The one thing I neglected to consider was the unbearable heat. (I know, I know, it's a bloody desert, but this was something else, and certainly not bike riding temperature). By 10.30am I was way out on the trail and melting. I began to get that weird brain turns to mush, onset of heat stroke stuff and wished that I had set off at 5.30am. I got back rather sweaty, but it was well worth it! The rock just sucks in your tires (a bit like Yorkshire Gritstone when cragging), and your bike ends up being at angles you are only used to on roller coasters at Disneyland. It is without question a place to return to for a good few days of biking.
The trails are actually painted onto the rock, you follow painted white dots on the rock. At first it sounded a bit lame, but when you get there, you realise that there is no way you could navigate the trail well without them.

You can just make out the dots on this photo.

After Moab we headed to Vegas, and it seems surreal that in the morning you can be in this wonder desertland wilderness, and by mid afternoon you can be crusing the strip in Vegas and going to a Cirque du Soleil show in the evening. (The show by the way was incredible - not Slickrock incredible, but incredible none the less).
A couple of days R&R in Vegas (we'd been driving for three days and fancied a break), and we headed off to the Grand Canyon, and then tootled home through Yellowstone. And any trip to Yellowstone isn't complete without a photo of this;


Old Faithful was up to its usual tricks and Yellowstone didn't disappoint. There wasn't much wildlife spotted though - only a mighty buffalo (bison - call it what you like) lumbering up the road to our car .
We tripped home to Cochrane via Glacier National Park in Montana, another super place we've not explored - there's just so much to do and see, we've not even started.
Right now we are back in Cochrane enjoying the rest of the summer. The bbq is sizzling most nights and all is good.

Hope everybody is having a great summer (or winter),

S & S.

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