I hope all had a great Easter Weekend...I enjoyed it with most of the family, including the Grandsons, Kasyn and Kamdyn....we will get to watch them this coming weekend as mom and dad attend a convention in Columbus.
Also I got a double header in on Saturday at Paulding, with more rain beginning later today and lasting through the week, the games may be few and far between for the next week to 10 days....speaking of Baseball, the Big Red Machine, the Cincinnati Reds begin the regular season today with the traditional opening day at Great American Park. Go Reds!
Tuesday, March 24th at Moab, 3 on a Ride!
On our 3th full day at the KOA Moab we awoke unsure how we would pair out or who would even ride....Weasel and Brian, the youngest riders, both had bike issues from the day before, and would be working on those....Paul would rest his back from the Sunday Fall, and Nick had decided to take the day off as well....the boys from New York would ride elsewhere, minus Brian, so that left veteran riders, Fred and Kurt, to drag me along the Kane Creek Canyon Road....which would start paved out of Moab City, and run along the creek up into the Canyonlands, where a couple of small streams, a slick rock road, and stone, gravel, and sand would await...I would go farther than I planned, had one call too close for comfort, and one TW lay down which would leave me a wheel base short of disaster....
As Fred reached the first overlook{excuse me while I forget the name} I figured "OK, this is good enough for me, the next portion looks like something I promised myself to avoid"...that being a thin trail along side the edge...some sections as narrow as 6 or few feet wide, and with vehicles coming the other way....even less than that.....
However, I didn't have time to think about it, as Fred and his TW "Betty Boop" were gone, and without thinking, I followed...Kurt followed me, until we can upon a young driver in a full sized pick up with haul trailer hitched to the truck....I stopped, the truck stopped, leaving us about a foot to 18 inches between the edge of eternity on the right and the truck and trailer on our left....Kurt led the way, just edging by, I hesitated and said to myself "Screw it" and told the truck driver...."Don't Move"...and I slid by on the right, trying not to think about what was on my right....
{later in the day, after returning to the KOA, I thought to myself...IF I had to do that again, I would not likely have made the pass by the truck....but what was done was done}...
Kurt let me pass, while Fred and Betty rode up ahead....after a few miles of rocks, small ledges, gravel, and some sand, I saw Fred ahead ride over some slick rock, as I look ahead, my Michelin front tire caught in some reddish dirt/sand...the 2014 hit some slick rock and slid into some more Red "Sand"....I was left with two choices....ride the TW down over an 8 foot fall into some rocks below....which was going to hurt both me and the TW...or lay it down, quick thinking on my part, and I pushed the bike down...sliding into the sand, the TW's rear wheel was hanging over the edge, my knee hit hard on the bike, but safe both me and the 2014 were.
Kurt came up behind, stopped his ride, and did the majority of work, pulling the TW off the edge, while I limped around and proclaimed to myself in silence, just how damn lucky I was to still be basically uninjured.
Shortly after my fall, I heard the ping of a Motorcycle, and see Fred and his Betty come back from where they disappeared .... looking for me and Kurt.
I heard a "ping" that sounded like a engine low on oil or about to blow.....making a long story short...Betty was in trouble, a broken bolt a loss of engine oil, and we knew we had reached our highest point, elevation wise, for today....Lucky for Fred and Betty, a family riding a couple of Quads, had extra oil as Kurt hailed them down....and after a quick repair by Fred and Kurt{clueless as I am} and oil fill Up...Fred decided to "limp" back to camp....funny part was, his "limp" still made it back to Moab and the KOA, well ahead of Kurt and I, and we stopped for a couple of beers in town. However Betty was finished for Moab, and Fred would spend the next few days getting to ride other people's TWs.....he still got around more than most of us.
The trip back, now knowing the route, was much more smooth for me...and I actually got to enjoy the ride, although no more photos were taken....Close Calls or Not....I put this day as favorite day #2 on my list of 7 days of rides...
Later than evening we would head back to the North Camp for Mel's Cooking...some of the finest Steaks over an open flame you would find....that story and Wednesday's Ride coming up:
{Next up: Mel's Diner and Riding the Kane Creek Road again, this time it was Mel's Ride}
back later>>>>>
Photos-Overlook about half way up Kane Creek Rim Road, Me stopped in front of some Big Rock, heading up the Rim Road....Betty Injured and Me Down Spot...and Fred, smiles and all, works to repair Betty Boop....but eventually to no avail, at least for this trip.
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