Shadow of a road bike rider

Drafting my shadow

Sure riding in a group makes you go faster and there are definitely days I miss the hum of tires and chains particular to riding in a peloton. A solo ride gives you a moment (or a couple of hours) to meditate. I do haunt the same roads over and over. There’s a reason – no cars and beautiful country side or tree filled canyons.

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That’s no Stick

It was a snake. It looked just like a stick until the Ripmo almost crushed it and it slithered for its life. My brain sees every root or fallen stick as a snake so I’ve spent a bunch of time training myself to not see snakes. When everything is a snake my poor heart can’t take the stress. Ironically, right after telling myself it wasn’t

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Choose Wisely

Later today we’re headed to southern Utah to take my daughter to college. I couldn’t resist pausing for a photo of this fork that I’ve ridden hundreds of times. This time it made me pause to think about the choices I’ve made at the forks in my life and about the decisions ahead of her. In other news it doesn’t matter which path you choose

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Ponies

Dam to dam and all the pretty ponies in between

According a calendar my wife has yesterday was ride the wind day. That must mean today was fight the wind day. I and my legs prefer ride the wind day. We were severely punished for missing it. Nothing is more disheartening than pushing 300 watts and going 10 MPH. Instead, we gave up and pushed 150 watts and went 9MPH. The ponies made The ride

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Jardine Juniper with sun shining behind

Just Me

The Ripmo requested a change of scenery and it’s been a while since we’ve seen the ancient Jardine Juniper. The parking lot was empty which meant we had the mountain to ourselves. The morning chill didn’t last long. The climb, the heavy breathing and the sweat start at the parking lot. The Ripmo was feeling spry together we held a decent pace in spite of

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Moist with a chance of hero dirt

Another morning in Green Canyon after a weekend of some rain. Green holds onto water much better than Providence. Pretty sure that’s why it’s called Green Canyon. The sun was shining at the mouth but fell behind the hill as I climbed – it’s the way the Canyon is shaped and it meant that I would climb to the top without the sun in the

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Wildflowers in Green Canyon

Wander Through the Wildflowers

Green Canyon earns it’s name. Even this late in the year there are still clusters of wildflowers that brighten up the ride. The Ripmo is not amused if I stop and smell the wildflowers so we compromise and I take a quick photo here and there. It’s only 15 minutes from my house but 15 out and 15 back is 30 minutes I could be

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Providence Canyon

Wasps Not Welcome

The Ripmo has been sitting idle since our quick trip to Yellowstone. An idle Ripmo is a grouchy Ripmo and so in spite of the blazing sun we went out for a reconciliation ride. We were mostly good except for my burning quads which were unable to drive the bike to its full potential. On our second loop a wasp caught a ride on the

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