Our last day of riding started out like every day before it: breakfast with the "Breakfast Club" (those of us who opted for more food from a local diner than the hotel serve at its continental breakfast), the collection of various sundries we would need for the day (water, snacks, tubes, etc.) and, an exit out of the parking lot by 8:15 a.m. It was a cool clear morning, and, at least for five of us, the plan was to ride the whole 67 miles planned for the day. We were heading into Canyonlands National Park, and we were all pumped.
By the time we reached the end of the park road--where we were turning around to head back down into Moab--we were all still feeling strong, and eager. Several of us had heard about Dead Horse Point (I know, that's a terrible name), the place where Thelma and Louise drove their car over a cliff. I really wanted to see that (I know, that's a weird desire). So, our guides, Cy and Patty explained that we could easily do that by pedaling an extra 6 miles out to Dead Horse State Park. Out and back would add 12 additional miles to our trip, which thrilled most of us at the time.
By the time we were heading to DHP two people in our group decided that they'd had enough, and chose to head back into Moab, leaving (L-R) me, Susan and Laura to trek out to DHP. DHP was really pretty stunning. And, strangely, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the mesa off in the distance, the one across which Thelma and Louise barreled their Thunderbird in the last moments of that harrowing film.
After imbibing in smoothies and taking our final gander at the stunning landscape that is Canyonlands, we hopped on our bikes and took off for Moab. Once we were back on the main road, our trip was a 15 mile cruise down hill, and Laura and I LOVED that. At the bottom, we had a ten mile pedal into town...and, this is where Laura and I realized that we had an opportunity. Dinner was about an hour and half away, so we had some time. At first we wanted to just even out our mileage, get that 80 miles in with a quick ride up the road that leads to Arches. Of course, that quick ride put us over 80 miles. "You know, we only have about 15 miles to go before we reach a century," Laura shouted. And, I responded simply, "Let's GO!" So, off we went, backtracking a bit up the bike trail and onto the road leading into Canyonlands.
We ended up being only 30 minutes late to dinner (we HAD to shower, otherwise we may have only missed about 15 minutes), and found when we arrived at the restaurant that dinner hadn't yet been ordered. It was a pretty amazing way to end our trip, and in spite of the LONG two days of traveling home (Saturday and Sunday) I'm still feeling pretty energized by our spontaneity. I'm also feeling pretty darn good about my riding. As you'll recall, I was kind of nervous about this trip. And, ultimately, WHEW, it was just amazing!
Oh, by the way, I did find another wonderful coffee shop and delicious cappuccino at Mars Cafe in Des Moines, Iowa. Thanks again, Ann!
And, thanks to all of you for your support and enthusiasm! Until next time: Pedal on!
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