Biking Babes

I feel so fortunate to live in some of the prettiest country there is. 

 

I could have stared at this for hours. And it was so amazing to watch it change every minute...  

 

I also feel fortunate to have some great friends.  Over the last five months I have been biking every week with three other incredible ladies that know how to tear it up on the trails around here.  We take turns watching the ten kiddos between us, ranging in age from 1 to 11, while the other three ride.  Often giving up a few hours of sleep so we can get out early in the heat of the summer and still have time to be mom.  It has worked out amazing.  This weekend we all got out for a weekend ride in the San Rafael Swell area for a mountain bike festival that is put on every spring and fall. Thanks to Dusty for the know all of this fun festival, and our husbands for taking on kid duty for a couple of days for us.  

Brooke, Natalie, Dusty, and Mardi

 It was one of the funnest weekends I have had in a long time.  We camped out, ate good food I didn't have to prepare, talked a ton, and went on a couple fun rides including my longest yet, an 17 mile trail ride, followed by 8 miles more (mostly fun down hill) on the road back to our campsite.  I also won a bike rack that mounts on a pick up truck at the festival raffle. I guess now Dave has excuse to get that truck he has been talking about for the past five years.

Every turn you took you came upon another amazing vista that went on for ever.  I guess that is why they call this Castle Country.

And my smile here is a testament to how much I love this stuff, because my seat has never been so sore.  The ride wasn't all that technical, but it was brutally rough on the tush and neck.  But oh so worth it.  I loved every minute of it.  

These last three pictures are of some other rides we did earlier on this summer. The one above is from Steve's loop, and you are seeing the Colorado River near Fruita, CO.  This is one of two areas we ride most often.  It is gorgeous and the rides are a perfect blend of technical and fun.

We don't often get to do stream crossings, as we mostly do desert riding, but we took another Saturday and did a ride on the Mesa.  It was fun, but one of our most challenging rides.  The lava rock that is all over up there, was so different  compared to the sand stone we usually ride on. 

 The best is really feeling like we have improved over the summer.  We started on some of the easier trails and gradually built up.  We often will stop and re ride sections to master techniques and try new things, and every ride we have to stop less and less to catch our breath. We all challenge each other without being too crazy and taking risks that aren't worth taking.  

Because in the end we are still moms, that need to go home to kids and dishes and carpools and dinners, but moms need to have fun too=)