Moab trip - late update

Another old story, but this adds to my emotional instability concerning biking this summer, so here you are.

The last weekend in March a couple friends and I headed down to Moab for some much needed biking respite. As you may know, ironically for an athlete that rides bikes down twisty rocky paths and a skeleton sled under tremendous G-load, I get very carsick very easily and can't read while riding in a car. As you also know, the last weekend in March I was eyeballs deep in homework and needed to do homework on the drive otherwise the trip wouldn't happen.... Clearly, a dilemma.

So, I called my doc and got a prescription for one of the motion sick patches, and stuck one on so I could do homework on the drive. It worked, and I was able to get a decent amount of school done on the way down.

After a long morning, we met up with a couple other friends and acquaintances and headed up to the Amasa Back trail. In the parking lot, there was some drama - I won't go into it, just suffice it to say that a now ex-acquaintance W was completely out of line to my friend J, and as a result J started the ride pretty upset.

About 100 yards into the ride, she crashed over a drop and flipped over the bars.

And landed on her face. On a rock.

And couldn't get up.

C and I rushed down to help her, and a couple guys on dirt bikes stopped as well. We checked her out, made her chill in place for a bit, then finally let her get up. One of the dirt-bike guys carried her bike up which was fabulous, C went ahead to get my car, and I walked with her back to the road, luckily only 100 yards up the hill. Then we were on our way to the hospital.

This is where the deja vous comes in - about a year ago I was in the hospital for my punctured lung / broken rib. First Moab trip of the year, again, and one of us was in the hospital. Sigh.



Somehow, after landing in the dirt, she managed to keep her cute jersey clean!


J turned out to be mostly OK - she broke the orbital bone in her cheek and did have to have surgery later, but all in all it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I wish we had a picture that showed the damage to her helmet - it broke in about 5 places and was quite impressive, and saved her life I'm sure.

C and I did get out for a ride later that afternoon, and again the next morning, and made it back in one piece, phew. It was so beautiful, and a great break from the snow / school / work cycle I'd been in.

Top of Amasa Back:







We had cell service, which always feels kind of weird when that far out:




The next day we rode Megalodon in the morning. It's hard to tell, but this is part of the trail that we came right along. We were moving from left to right, horizontally about 3 feet below the second ridge from the top on the right:


We switchbacked back and forth along the looker's right of the waterfall:




Then, we picked up J and drove home. C rode with J to make sure she was ok, and I drove my element. The drive was TERRIBLE! Dust storm, snow, ice, gusting wind....I got 23 miles per gallon on the drive when I usually get 27-28, even loaded with bikes!




The bike wheels were covered with ice from the ice storm / snow / wind from the drive:


Anyway, it was a good trip for sure and helped me keep sane during the last month of school. And J had her surgery, had to go back for a follow-up surgery, and is now back on her bike.