April 21: For my and Lori's last day at Moab, we rode slickrock, just east of town. Slickrock is a powerhouse playground. The ride showed the difference between the slow twitch endurance and the fast twitch power athletes in our group (and conversations about slow and fast twitch muscles and methods of training followed the ride and into the night at camp!).
Trever's Harem at Slickrock
Brandyn's husband Trever joined us today and lead us through both he practice and extended loop for a good three hour ride on the red rock. Without sustained climbs, today's ride was all about bursts of power and technical skills on climbs. Brandyn and I found our groove as little mountain goats and re-tried every climb we couldn't make. Korrie had gearing troubles and powered through the entire ride with basically one gear. We all improved and were riding things by the end of the ride that seemed undoable at first.
Laura attacking a pitch
As we practiced steep uphill and downholl pitches, several groups passed us and checked out our skills. While Trever was waiting for us at the top of a pitch, a group of male riders watched us power up the ascent and turned to Trever: "Dude. You are so lucky."
Yvonne barely makes it to the top of a climb
Lori was riding incredibly well, gaining confidence in her skills throughout the day, even though her tires had no grip on rock. Nearly at the end of the loop, Lori tried one last steep climb and slipped, knocking her chin against the handle bars and her foot against the rock. This turned out to be the same sport where her husband Mike hurt himself a few years ago.
Brandyn on the practice loop: Piece of cake!
After lunch at camp, we headed out to Arches NP for a 6.5 mile run to Black Angel. We headed out on a sandy primitive trail, scrambling over rock. Laura lead the pack with good pace and we all found ourselves out of gas by the end of the day. Perhaps it's good that this was my last day here - I'm not sure how much longer I could keep up this pace!
Trail run at Arches
Be sure to read our product reviews posted on a separate page on EcoAthlete - reviews will be posted at the end of the week when the trip is complete. Thanks for reading!
Patagonia Shoes - using between 30 to 80% recycled materials! www.patagonia.com