For the last few years, I’ve wanted to attend the Pedaler’s Jamboree in Columbia, MO. This bike ride is on the MKT and KATY trail, every memorial day weekend. On Saturday the riders leave Columbia and make their way the 32 miles to Boonville, MO. Along the way there is live music to stop and enjoy. In Boonville that evening there are more live bands, and then on Sunday the riders head back to Columbia, again enjoying live music along the way.

This year, Mr. Ink and I were able to attend. It was very exciting for me. To be honest, I had anticipated that the bands would be local, and only marginally good. That was not the case AT ALL. The bands were fabulous, and the trail was flat, and it made for a great weekend. The ride brought out all types of riders, which was also great fun. In addition to the great music, there was fabulous people watching to be had.

We started out rather late, as it was raining on our ride over and we didn’t feel the need to start riding in that. However, we drove through the storm and out the other side. We got on the trail and it wasn’t many miles before we saw a random stop with a bunch of local friends who had traveled to the ride too.

While there, it began to rain, so we decided to ride on after donning rain jackets. We wanted to make it to Rocheport in time for William Elliot Whitmore.

In Rocheport, my feet looked like this:

Thankfully, I have fenders, so unlike many people on the trail that day, I lacked the telltale grey stripe up my backside. Our bikes were pretty dirty too, as were our faces.

But, our mood was high, and there were smiles all around. And we were there with plenty of time to see William Elliot Whitmore, up close and personal.

After the show, everyone got on their bikes and rode away, so we stuck around to meet him. And then off to the KATY roundhouse for Dirtfoot. Not only was Dirtfoot our favorite show of the day, being as it was very different than most of the bands available to see, very punky, but it also had such characters!

This guy was hoola hooping all over the place, in quite shiny shorts. In fact, there were a ton of hula hoopers, but not all of them were right out front constantly.

Then there were those in costume, fighting each other.

 

After Dirtfoot, we cruised on through to Boonville, where 5 more bands were playing. However, we only saw a small portion of SHEL, after we got showered, changed, and had a picnic dinner in the hotel. Then we saw about a song from the headliner, but we decided we were just too tired to even deal with being out anymore, so we called it a night quite early.

And up early the next morning as well, where the day dawned hot and humid. We headed back to Rocheport to see Old Salt Union, which was a band I was impressed with when looking them up. Great musicians all, and a fun show.

The characters were out again, and I was glad because I’d been trying to get a picture of this helmeted character all day Saturday. He wore his helmet through every show, and on Saturday had a rubber lobster pinned to his jeans.

Sunday he was sporting a rather long plant from his helmet as he danced with random people.

After the Old Salt Union show, we decided we were rather tired of the music, and ended up climbing up the bluffs to a winery off the trail.

I am not going to tell you that the wine was good, but the walk was absolutely beautiful, so it was worth it despite the humidity.

Id’ say that this ride was completely attainable for anyone who wanted to give it a try and has a bike appropriate for a rails to trails type trail. (A road bike in the rain would have been a miserable thing.) The trail is very flat, so the challenge is simply the miles. It was nice to be on a ride where all levels were clearly included, and there were so many children in trailers or tagalongs, or riding on their own. The event was pretty fluid overall, the bands didn’t exactly start on time. So, if you are trying to maintain a certain schedule it might not work perfectly. In the end, we picked a few certain bands to see, and then concentrated on getting there for those shows. It worked well. I often tell newer riders that when riding an organized ride, you ride the day you get, not necessarily the day you want. That was certainly the case with Saturday. Riding in the rain really isn’t something I love, but thankfully it was warm enough to stay enjoyable. But, to some extent, these types of rides are a gamble. You sign up, and hope for the best. We may not have had the best, but we had good enough weather to make for an enjoyable day.

Conclusion? I need a helmet like this:

 

Only a few days after our Utah trip, we were off on another day trip. We drove about 2 hours to a state park for a local unsanctioned mountain bike race. Mr. Ink raced, and while I’d considered doing so myself, chose not to due to a really poor performance on the local dirt trails a couple days before. My body was shot from the Utah trip and I hurt all over.

However, we decided to make a day of it. First the race, then a picnic, and then some hiking on the trails. We took Miss Bug and the dog, who is an old boy at 16. But, he’s still quite spry despite a bit of arthritis, and he’s a gentle sweet thing.

Into the car he went, in the back seat with Miss Bug, who decided to allow him to play Barbies with her. She’d hold up two outfits, and whichever outfit the dog would put his nose on would be the chosen outfit.

And thus, she was royally entertained on the drive.

Now, this lovely dog, while always patient with Miss Bug, hasn’t been overly loving toward her. He’s kind of skeptical toward her. However, Miss Bug decided he was “her” dog during the race, and walked him around for over an hour, where ever he wanted to go.

 

Meanwhile, I did some spinning, and watched the racers come through.

After that, Miss Bug was rewarded wholeheartedly in the car by a dog that wanted to get all the way up on her lap, though he only managed about halfway. She couldn’t have been more thrilled.

And thus, their friendship was solidified before we even headed out to hike.

On the ride home, I fought to stay awake, while Mr. Ink snoozed and Miss Bug doted on the dog some more. Once home, I was in need of one epic nap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the crazy thunder mountain experience having taken a bit longer than expected, we decided to dine at a restaurant rather than worry about cooking back at camp. After that was done, and we were headed back toward the mesa, we realized there was a large storm rolling in. And indeed, we drove through it on the way to the mesa. It had continued to grow, and while the mesa was at that time dry, the 30-40 mph winds were making our tents flat, filling them with red sand, and driving them toward the ledge of the mesa. Between that and the storm, we decided to break camp and catch a hotel in town. We broke camp in record time, I suspect 10 minutes, and packed up the car as the first drops of rain fell.

Safely tucked away in a hotel, it was a great relief to get a hot shower and a good nights rest.

In the morning, I must admit I wasn’t overly eager to get back on my bike. We were headed out to do J.E.M. trail, and I volunteered to SAG. Mr. Ink was worried I’d regret the decision, so I told him that I’d meet them where the trail crosses the road next, and he could tell me if it was something that just could not be missed. Apparently it was, so we headed back up the hill, I got on my bike, let one of the other guys SAG, and I had an absolutely lovely ride on the trail. It was MY kind of riding. The kind where it is like comfort food, like eating mashed potatoes. I could have ridden that trail all day and was, indeed, sad not to get more time with it.

You can’t really see them, but the guys are riding out on the high point here:

Then, I headed out, and snapped this shot before a few switch backs I had to walk. I had to walk them, but they weren’t scary like the previous day’s switchbacks.

Partway down the trail I saw this trail marker. It’s lovely, but it also struck me as funny, as it seemed more appropriate for yesterday’s trail.

We then headed back up to the mesa since there were some trails we hadn’t played around on up there. I had high hopes for them, but between the 3 solid days of riding and the winds over the top of the mesa, I just wasn’t feeling it. Eventually I headed back to the car to wait it out.

We soon handed in our bikes. The guy at the bike shop asked how it went. I told him “I think Thunder Mountain left me psychologically scarred.” His retort? “So you had a great ride then!”

 

 

 

We loved camping on the mesa so much that we decided to leave our tents set up, and head up to Bryce Canyon area to ride a trail called Thunder Mountain. The idea was that we’d ride that trail, then drive back, grab supplies, and head up to the mesa for dinner.

With this group, it was very pleasant because we just weren’t in a huge rush in general.  No particular time frame, just when everyone was up and around, we’d head out. It was about a 2 hour drive up to the trail, and we all got pretty hungry at that point. So we stopped at a cafe with a most unusual sign.

Turns out, the history of the place was a lot more tame than this suggests. The founder didn’t have room on his sign for “Home Made Pies” and thus the other spelling was created. It didn’t become odd and controversial until just recently. However, they chose to capitalize on that, rather than change the history.

As is the case all over the area, Red Canyon did not lack for views. As soon as we got there I was out of the car and snapping photos of hoodoo. In all honesty, I’ve seen pictures but never imagined I’d see them in person. So this was quite exciting for me.

  

The idea was that we’d do the trail in a loop. We’d ride up 5 miles on the paved trail that follows along the road, ride another 2 miles to the trailhead on gravel, and then ride down Thunder Mountain.

    

As you can see, all that went smoothly. In fact, I was loving it. Easy comfortable riding uphill for me, on a day that was not too warm, and I was dressed just appropriately.

What we expected to have happen was to basically ride down a mountain. Now, we should have been alerted to the fact that our expectations and reality weren’t matching up when we’d heard it would take us 3-4 hours to complete the loop. I mean, that doesn’t sound like bombing down the side of a mountain. But, our expectations were high, and our awareness not so much.

What we got into was a mess. A mess with gorgeous views. It was switchbacks down the side of a mountain just to return up another mountain, cross over and do that again, repeatedly. The trail was very loose stone, steep, with steep drop offs. Absolutely terrifying for me, a person who really hates heights. As we went along, me often walking my bike down the mountain only to ride up the other side when I felt more in control, I thought “It really can’t get any worse than this.” And quite frankly, the beauty sustained me.

  

And then we got to some of the highest out in the open heights. At this point, we were riding through hoodoo, which was exciting, but also terrifying.

Meanwhile, the winds picked up. We were now under a wind advisory. 30-40 mph winds. Which would really hit you if there weren’t trees or a mountain to block it out. We finally made it to White Point, and enjoyed the most beautiful view from the top of a mountain. You can really see how each peak can be totally different from the one next to it.

 

And then, as it was getting darker and stormy and the winds just wouldn’t quit, we had to continue on. I had thought it couldn’t get worse, but then there was the knife edge, a thin trail on the top of a ridge with drop offs on each side full of loose stone. Mr. Ink ended up coming back to take my bike so I could just concentrate on walking it. Pretty soon after, he returned around a corner, telling me he had good news and bad news. The good news was that we were headed down the mountain again, the bad news was that I wasn’t going to like it. Again with the terror, the walking my bike, the trail on the side of a mountain cliff with a drop off on the other side. Switch backs all the way down that mountain finally putting us in a river bed, much to my relief. And then we had the most fantastic mile of downhill biking, my kind exactly, back to the vehicle for a strong finish.

I got more than I bargained for that day. But, it also reminded me that if I stay in my comfort zone, I’ll miss the most beautiful views. And, that’s how I want to live my life. Maybe not as extreme as this experience on a regular basis, but I do want to push my limits where I can and enjoy the new views I’ve achieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had our rental bikes for 3 days. Our first day, we were on a mesa and we were able to ride around the slickrock up there. There were many trails, and they were a bit confusing. Our bikes were full suspension which isn’t something I love, but it is nice, very nice, on the unforgiving slickrock. That being said, when you take a tumble, the rock is still unforgiving.

In between all the rocks were some sandy bits of trail, and they looked like they’d been landscaped all around the trail. The vegetation was so beautiful there, as was the red dirt. I did not find it particularly easy to ride on the slickrock, and would have needed more time there to get used to all this. However, what I did ride, I very much enjoyed even though I often got off my bike and walked as well. The trails would take us out to various points on the edge of the mesa, affording us some amazing views.

 

I don’t much like heights (actually, I am quite fearful of them) and so I tended to try to stay away from the edges as much as possible. But, since everything was wide open, I could generally get some good photos anyhow. We had this photo taken of us while we were out there.

We then did some easier double track riding. I’d describe it much like gravel riding with large slabs of slickrock thrown in. This was much more to my taste, especially since we started by going uphill. I like my uphills quite a bit. And in fact, I only barely registered that we were going uphill for such a long while, so the downhill became quite a surprise. At one point, Mr. Ink and his brother decided to try a more complicated trail, while I and the other brother decided to take the easier way down, flying down the hill we’d climbed earlier, jumping off slickrock ledges that had been hazards on the way up. Great fun! I was ready to turn around and do that one again. When we met up again, the first larger injury of the weekend had been achieved. I’d already fallen, but my scrapes were pretty minimal. Mr. Ink ran into a tree pretty hard.

Thankfully, the swelling went down by the next morning, no harm done. Pretty fantastic stuff, and so completely unlike anything I’d ridden before. I biked in New Mexico last fall, but even that was more sand, with just a bit of the slickrock thrown in. This was completely unknown riding to me. Unable to get enough of the views and the terrain, Mr. Ink and I took a long walk after dinner as the sun was setting, wandering off the trails and into the wilderness of the mesa. After that, we sat around the fire in exhaustion enjoying nature at its finest.

In my last post, I talked a bit about an upcoming vacation. I took a spindle, some wool, and the lintilla shawlette to work on. Knowing full well that time to work on them would be extremely limited, and that I had so much other stuff to pack, I packed quite light.

Because THIS vacation had nothing at all to do with fiber arts. It was a different kind of vacation for me. Mr. Ink and I went with his two brothers to Utah to do some mountain biking, hiking, and camping. We rented full suspension mountain bikes, and a large vehicle, packed all our gear in there, and had at it. It really was a wonderful trip, full of fantastic views and amazing experiences. I think I’ll take a couple days and try to some up some of the trip, and post a few pictures.

We flew into Las Vegas and met the guys there. We immediately left for St. George, Utah, where we grabbed a hotel room for the night, then off to Hurricane, Utah to pick up our bikes.

From there, we headed up to Gooseberry Mesa to do some primitive camping and mountain biking. We were fortunate to find a fantastic camp sight that would fit all our tents, as well as the vehicle. I expected it to be quite busy up there, due to the weather being amazing, but really there weren’t many campers. We chose a spot right on the ledge of the Mesa, making for some fantastic views.

  

 

We did a bunch of biking, and I have some pictures of that I am saving for another time. However, the views above? That’s what I was able to sit and look at during the evening while I spun on my spindle. It was quite blissful.

While spring is only beginning here, in Utah, everything was blooming beautifully.

  

Not only was everything blooming, but there were hummingbirds all over, drinking from the flowers. As we rode along the slickrock of the mesa, it almost looked as if it had been landscaped, so beautiful was the vegetation. There were tiny little lizards running along the slickrock. I so badly wanted pictures, but was unable to capture them as they were just too fast.

Tomorrow, more views and some description of our first day of biking.