East Bound

Left SLO 7 am Monday and made it to Fruita, CO in about 11 hrs. I was able to catch up to my good friend Q, who deos the Felt demo program, so we got a room, and planned hitting up the trails the next morning before making the drive to Boulder. Well, Q got a call and had to hit the road to make it to Boulder earlier than me, so I rode alone. It was a nice morning, not too hot, but warm. I was able to hit Mary's Loop and connect Steve's Loop which made for a nice 2 hrs before I had to get on the road myself. A short drive and I was in Boulder, I have to say that I love the drive from Fruita to Boulder. The road goes through the mountains which are just stunning. They are so big and remind you that the world is a big place and that your world is soooo small, and that we can get wrapped up in real insignificant things. So I like that part. 

I got into Boulder and rolled to my friend Tony's place ready to maybe go for a spin with him, but he picked up a kindney stone and was in horrible pain, even though he was on Vicadin. Sctracted the ride and a few friends, Catherine and Melanie, came over and made awesome burritos and cookies, yeah, they don't go together, but I don't pass up cookies. 

I stayed in Boulder on Wednesday and rode with Tony's twin brother Tom and Q, it was a great mtn bike ride in elevation and rain. It poured on us! It was great! I haven't ridden in a full on storn like that in a long time and forgot how fun it could be. A good 3 hrs at altitude. Then we hit the Pearl St mall area for some grub, I like Boulder too, in fact I think that's where I'm heading after my stint with Trek is done, I like it that much.

Then it was another day driving, this time to Omaha to see my step mom, Dee, and my aunt and uncle, whin I haven't see in 10yrs or something like that. I was a lot of fun catching up. Of course I heard plenty of "geez, you're not 12 anymore" and "you've grown sooo much". Yup that's the point of life, I think. So it was a quick stay in Omaha, before I was on the road again, this time to Duluth, MN, home for me.

The trip to MN is a great one. Being born in Omaha, I remember some of the drives through Iowa from the very ocassional visits to my dad, and driving to Moab, UT for riding. The time seems to go by so fast because of that. I hit the MN stateline in no time and was extremely overwhelmed. I haven't seen my family in 6 months and was missing them terribly. No real big things happened on the drive out, which is always a good thing, but it did rain hard on the way up to Duluth at one point. I had to slow down to 20mph because the rain was so heavy I couldn't see the car in front of me. 

I pulled in the driveway and saw my dog Gus, gave him a big hug and then searched out my parents. After talking with them for a bit, it was time to get on the mtn bike and spin the legs out. Duluth got rain earlier in the day, and it gets really muddy after a rain, so I was ust covered with mud! Again it was great to ride in that, that's ho I started riding mtn bikes. Long day driving and then riding it was time to chill out. Dinner and more catching up with mom and dad. I love vacations.