Utah to Colorado with a busted up bike

I don't know if the riding is getting better or the fact that we are just getting used to the different style. After doing a sweet 20 whatever mile down hill we headed to Arches National Park and we could see from Delicate Arch the point that we started the ride in the the morning on the Hazards County section of Porcupine ridge which was quite choice. 

Some excellent photography and artisticness.

Wake up, make some coffee, motivate to ride before it gets too HOT!

We had one more trail that our friend had told us was a must do in Moab so of course we had to check it out. Early bird definitely gets the worm here. With out actually doing too much research we headed to a trail called "Captain Ahab". Turns out they weren't wrong. The trail was rocky, techy, steep, flowy, and had amazing views.

Climb.. some of it was no worries to ride

and some of it was just a little too much

Once we got to the top is where the fun began. It started off pretty flat and then it got faster and had a bunch of ledgy drops like this.

Bumpy 

And super clean

Unfortunately this trail and the combination of my bike and I seemed to disagree a little bit. Somewhere in there whilst fanging it I snapped the bolt that goes through the top of the shock and warped the shit out of my linkages. Sad sad face..

This is what it looked like. 

When we got to Fruita I took it in to the bike shop to see if it was worth saving and everyone in there was quite amazed at what I had done without exploding myself. When we took it apart it was not as bad as expected and the mechanic they call the Wizard worked his magic and magiced it all back together for me and back to the trails we went.

Zipity doo dah.. amazing

The bike went well through swoopy corners so the next logical thing to do is rocky stuff again right?

Testing out the jimmy rigged suspension on the entry (portage) to "Horse Thief Bench". 

Reminded me of kayaking. Can't see the bottom, get off, have a scout of the line, then decide if you want to run that line or walk. I just wanted to see if the wizard really was as good as they said, turns out he knows his shit!

Next on the list is Durango, CO.

And so it begins

So far there has been over 1200 miles driven in 4 days. We have hit up Las Vegas and seen the half naked circus, ridden at Bootleg Canyon for my virgin run with clips (might be why I thought it was the roughest rock I've ever seen), driven over the Hoover Dam, poached walking tracks at the top of the Grand Canyon, and ridden about 35 miles amongst some sweet sandstone in Utah. That's not a bad amount of activities. Enjoy the photos.

Bootleg Canyon riding with Las Vegas in the background

Rock rock cock!

Grand poaching.. Seems like hardly anyone walked it anyway.

You can see why its called the grand canyon. Pretty fucken beautiful!

 Cheese and crackers at sunset

 And then back to the reality of being on the mission.. Bagels in the boot of a car!

Slick rock..  actually really bumpy rock.

Fun as hell though!

 Hella slick views to.

And skate park style bowls!

Top of Hazards county, super fun start to "the whole enchilada". Single track heaven!

 Castle Valley

 Snapped my goddamn de-railer cable again 

And then straight into this that everyone seems to walk… pussys.

Which leads into this ^ 

which is more amazing ledgy droppy single track, but by now it's 97 degrees!

All the way home.

USA Roadie… Time to do some skids!

Made it back to summer! Here we are on the central coast of sunny California in what is supposed to be spring, we are already hitting 100 degree days.. This makes us nervous for what is in store because we are about to embark on a 4,500 mile road trip ticking off 8 states, if all goes well, riding in each of them. So far in the two weeks we have been here getting organized and having some valuable family time. Nicole has shown me a couple of her local spots, introduced me to pistols, and we also went for a mini trip up to Santa Cruz. 

So far the riding has been super fun. It has already been hot and I have been reminded that I'm not in NZ any more and there are things here that want to harm me. Poison Oak. Luckily so far we have both been oak-resistant! In the area there has been every thing from open flowy tracks to tight, steep, rocky, oaky excitement. As this is just a warm up for what is to come, we have taken next to no photos but here are a few to show the area.

The top of our first climb, Madonna Mountain, San Luis Obispo. This was a pretty fun intro to junky rocks! Don't crash!

Soaking up the sweet view (Of Moro Bay) from the top of Mt Hazard at Montana De Oro.

Shooting Guns!

 "The Euks" in SLO

As we headed up Hwy 1 we stopped off and said "what up" to some Northern Elephant Seals. These guys are massive getting up to 2.3 Tonnes..

 Mc Way waterfall

 Riding in Demo Forest, Santa Cruz. First time without rocks over here.

 Back yard pump track jam

Packing up at Campus, Santa Cruz. Super fun trails that kind of remind me of Rotorua.

And now it's time to pack the car, first stop Bootleg Canyon, NV.