Our first ride of Skinny Tires is history. We made it!

The sunny ride out to Dead Horse Point and back is done, and we have the pleasant weariness to prove it. Plus, this photo and a Strava screenshot.

For the cyclists out there, I'll break the ride up into, let's say, three sections which actually match the U-shaped orange line in my screen shot. It is out and back. Section one is out of Moab and along a very nice paved bike path. An arched bridge took us over the Colorado River and from there it was scenic and safe, and offered wide open views: everything you want in a bike path. We did about 10 miles on it. This bike path does go seriously uphill but you are mentally prepared for the uphills anyway if you are on the Dead Horse ride, so you just spin your way up. 

Section two is along a highway (Hwy. 313) but there is a fairly big shoulder for the cyclists to ride on. Scenery becomes outstanding along here. A rim canyon is on the right, and it is really close by so you can gaze at the arches, openings and swirls in the rocks without taking your eye off the road too much. But along here is the switchback set of steep uphills I'd been worried about. I'd even gotten some last-minute climbing advice before the ride from ride director Mark Griffith. ("Don't let yourself ever get out of breath, even at the very beginning. Visualize the scraping-the-mud-off-your-pedals method while spinning your way up. You can do. If not, call me. No big deal, I'll pick you and your bike up and take you up the hill. Easy as that.")

Section three is still on Hwy. 313 but it feels different because you take a left and go straight in toward Dead Horse park. This was windy for Fred. Not so much for me because of drafting. That may be why he is napping now and I'm blogging. So anyway, this part was even better because of fewer cars, and you have a view of the La Sal Mountain range with its snowy peaks. Then at the end, you can see the canyon drop-offs and views. 

Coming back, I'll invent section four for it, was the nice payoff for all the uphill coming out. I won't say it was easy-breezy because we were a bit tired by now, the wind picked up even more, we'd been cold for a while at the top, so we made our way back to Moab in good shape but we were "feeling it." Also, the shoulder of the road had quite a bit of grit and small rocks on it, which does not feel so dangerous when you are going, say 8 mph up a hill. But it is a lot more spooky when going 20-plus mph downhill. I used my brakes and took it with caution. And, good news, I made it fine, and after 4.5 hours of riding today, I feel ready for more! I'm glad tomorrow is an easier one.

Thanks for reading. I love your comments but some of you are saying your comments are not showing up. I don't know why. This is a free blog site I got on google, so maybe it is not that great?

The photos below was taken just after we finished. I couldn't take any pictures during the trip because I had two pairs of gloves on which I really needed. It was cold out there to start, and got colder as the elevation increased. Also, lunch and massages, which were great afterwards.