Teach Your Children Well

The very end of this video segment of "Jaywalking" is a very sad example of our failure to "teach our children well." May we all seek and find grace to pass down to our descendants the truths entrusted to our stewardship.

"The Notch" at Moab

Here is a video of some MTBers going down "The Notch" at the top of the Porcupine Canyon Trail. We went down the same section with an inch of snow on the rocks and a little later with 4 inches of mud on the ground.

Blecchh-Toosh!

Warning: All the beer and ale sold in the state of Utah, by law, cannot have an alcohol content exceeding 3.2% (in Washington and Idaho the same brews will have an alcohol content of about double that.)

The local breweries try to cover up this travesty with cool names like "Polygamy Porter" (ad slogan: "Why have just one?"), "Full Suspension Pale Ale" and "The Devastator Double Bock" (ad slogan "Utah will never be the same"). But the sad truth is these ales are just plain lousy.

The modern day prohibitionist-prissies have even suceeded in requiring ales brewed and bottled elsewhere to have the same lo-alcohol/lo-taste restriction. Brian finally gave up all together on the Utahoovian near-beers and was reduced to ordering 7-up with dinner. As we say at home, "Blecchh-toosh."

Moab Day Three (Continued)

Here are a few pictures from Terry's camera taken on day three, coming down the Porcupine Canyon rim. As I wrote earlier, when I went over my front wheel I somehow got the crotch of my cargo-shorts wrapped around the rubber grip of my handlebar. So I was "attached" to my bike, and my bike was pinning me against the ground. Very awkward, somewhat embarassing and quite funny to my fellow MTBers.

Moab Day Four

Today we drove north out of Moab to a place called "Sovereign Trail." It was a nice single track with lots of "doable" technical sections. We experienced three seasons of weather in four hours of riding: hot sun, rain and even a little bit of snow. Again, the fellowship was sweet and the riding superb. "All this and Christ too!"

You can see some pictures of the ride here.

Moab Day Three

Today we took a shuttle to a trailhead somewhere near the top of Porcupine Canyon (elev. 7200 feet). We began our descent just above the snow line. Not long after we began cruising down the hill we had to negotiate "The Notch", a muddy 100 yard "hike-a-bike" section that was nearly vertical. We all made it down (barely) except for Terry who got tangled up with a tree branch whilst slip-sliding down the narrow rock-strewn trail (see picture.)

The Porcupine Canyon Trail is a wonderful mix of technical, jeep and "exposed" tracks. "Exposed" means that the trail is often right next to a one-to-two-thousand foot cliff. Scary, but rather exhilarating.

Terry did two "slo-mo-endos" (an endo is when you flip forward over the front tire) one of which we got some good pictures. I also did my own "slo-mo-endo" during which I got my handlebar grip firmly lodged in the crotch of my cargo-shorts. I think I'd still be up there if the guys didn't extricate me from my own bike.

All in all, a great day. Great fellowship and a great ride. You can view the pictures here.

Moab Day Two

On day two we went to Slick Rock just outside of Moab. You can view the pictures here.