On the way to GOLD...

Landon finished strong from Porcupine. Even did a wheelie down the road headed to GOLD, Goldbar Rim that is. Showing up on time at 10am and heading back out at 10:05. Dez, the bestest girl ever, has shown up to help me support with her dog Akasha. They are troopers. Lots of lube used this stop. Hot Cheese pizza will await our Dashing Rider at the bottom of the portal.

Still Dark at Porky 6:30am

Met Landon at the Porcupine trailhead. IT IS STILL REALLY DARK. He had a tumble on Slickrock- but, thankfully, landed on "a soft bush". After a quick visit to the loo, he requested something I had never had anyone ask for before... some lube for his chest- his nipples were chaffing. :) Keith Lay from GJ is riding Porcupine with Landon, and Greg Luck got some night shots! Off I go again!

4:30 is early...

Got Landon off at 4:30am as planned. My eyes are bleary, but he took off like a shot! I think I will try to get another half hour of sleep before I need to go meet him at the Porky trail head.

So much for Sleepy Time...

OK, so it's 3:40 in the morning. I woke up at 3:00. I was supposed to get up at 3:55. Well, at least I won't oversleep. Gustifson is here with me, he knows it's a big day. He'll get his chance to ride/run with me, probably over Amasaback Trail this afternoon. He was with me in 07 too, when we watched the other end of the day slip behind the rocks of Canyonlands.

This year so many of my friends are supporting me, quite a few will ride sections with me. This should have an amazing effect on my morale as I start heading toward the "darker places" tonight. It can get pretty weird out there, with nothing but a beam of light separating you from the cartoonish landscape of frozen sandstone and the monolithic outlines of distant cliffs.

It's 3:55, time to get up. Here goes somethin.....

"Comandon' Landon"

IT'S GO TIME!!!!!!!!!

It's 6:45 October 23rd. I just got back from the Trek Remedy/Scratch bike launch. What an amazing opportunity! Thanks to Michael Browne, Treks National Mountainbike Brand Manager, I was able to present my Centurion attempt story idea to 16 mountainbike journalist from all over the world. The room was stacked with Trek's best pro riders too. I gave a little talk and explained what I'm going to be doing tomorrow. It went very well and I don't think I stuttered too much.

So, after dinner and some gear prep I am off to sleepy time. Tomorrow I ride!

"RIDE EM ALL"

Landon

A TOUR OF ROCKS...

We didn't get to take our normal summer trip this year due to some un-timely staffing problems. With things slowing down at work we took about 5 days off and did a little touring around south east Utah and Western Colorado. However, our vacation started with work. I was hired by a Pro Duo team as a wrench at the 24 hours of Moab. They finished second. We spent Monday after the race resting in Moab.

From Moab we headed to the little known Cedar Mesa. A place that once had an amazing culture living there, hidden in cliffs and occupying the many canyons. It's quite an experience to visit the dwellings of people who lived 700 to 1200 years ago.

After a night of sleep interrupted by a quick rain that stopped as soon as we got the tent up, we headed across Cedar Mesa. The mesa ends abruptly at Muley Point. One can see Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, The San Juans, The Abajo's, Sleeping Ute, even ShipRock in New Mexico.

One thousand feet below Cedar Mesa is the San Juan Goosenecks State Park. The river is yet another 1000 ft below! The Goosenecks are what are called "entrenched meanders"

After the Goosenecks we drove back toward Bluff Ut. planning to head for the Four Corners. But, this trip had no itinerary and I had always wanted to take a jeep road that wound below Comb Ridge. After an hour of Baja like driving through deep sand and whoop-de-doos we came to the San Juan river. A steep rocky climb requiring low range 4x4 ascended a rise. Mary and I speculated that the hill might be the famous San Juan hill that the Mormons drug their bloody beaten wagons up in the 1870's. But, the hill seemed too easy to be famous. We drove on...

Well, the first hill wasn't the famous hill, but the next one was! I locked the truck in LOW, and engaged the rear diff locker... Mary didn't want us to keep going, and of course, this made me want to climb it more. But, after much tire squealing and near truck flipping I caved in and stopped. We hiked the rest of the hill. At the top engraved in the rock was "O GOD WE THANK THEE." I cannot imagine getting a team of horses or wagons up that incline. I couldn't get a capable locked 4x4 truck up it.

On our way to the Four Corners we got distracted by a sign for Hovenweep Nat. Monument. I had read about it and had always wanted to go there, so we did.

After lots of hiking our feet were tired, so we headed into Cortez to eat a dinner not prepared by us. A trip to the local bike shop got me a map of the Sand Canyon area trails I had heard so much about. We camped on a BLM road just a few miles past the trails. Sunrise was pretty good.

The trails were good, but add the experience of riding with Cliff Dwellings above your head and you have a really cool experience.

This is what riding would be like if we were allowed in Mesa Verde Nat Park, not that we should be? But...if we are carefull this is a great place to ride.

Moonlight To Megaladon To Flatpass...

Tim and I went up for our last high altitude ride of the year. I had missed the aspen tree's show my a mere two days. Most of the leaves were on the ground. It was OK though, I was in the mountains on my bike. This ride would be my first big test of my hands, to see if a 6000 ft descent would cause a relapse. It was COLD up there. Here's Tim ripping down Megaladon. That trail is as good as it gets if you like desert technical riding. When we popped out at Flat Pass I went on down the trail, Tim called it a day. I finished feeling strong after 6 hours with NO hand pain.

The sky lit up the rocks of Castle Valley on the way home. What an awesome place to live!!!