Tell me where you rode today...

Morning rides are the best!
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I wasn’t planning to rent a bike a second time while here on vacation but hubby encouraged me to knowing how much I enjoyed my rental ride on Tuesday.

So, armed with what I learned from my experience two days earlier, I elected to give a shorter travel and lighter Trek Fuel a try.

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I also selected a new route that would minimize traversing black diamonds. Those were too much hike-a-bike for me.

So I set out on a jeep trail up to a place called Soldier’s Pass. Only 12 permits per day are supposedly given out daily to control the impact of vehicles on the sensitive habitat here.

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For this stretch, I only saw one vehicle, this lonesome looking Tacoma. It’s owner was nowhere to be seen. I personally prefer pedaling versus jeeping (is that a word?🤔) over this terrain!

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From the jeep road, I turned onto hiking and biking trails. The red sandstone is grippy like weathered sidewalk. I learned that I can ascend at steeper angles on this surface compared to Jersey’s terrain and just needed to lean forward and keep on cranking to get over most stone obstacles.

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Did you know that mountains are caused by tectonic and volcanic activity shifting and lifting the earth’s crust? These formations, even though they can be as tall as mountains, are actually NOT mountains. Geologists classify them as buttes, sedimentary stone that has been eroded over millions of years by the erosive forces of water. I didn’t know that until a tour guide told me!

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The trail builders conveniently marked the A (difficult) and B (easy) lines. Difficult here meant some high consequence, steep and deep rock rolls. I am no dare devil and was riding solo so I resolutely always chose the easy path. 🙂

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These pretty wildflowers were everywhere on the trail. 😻

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The Fuel was just the right tool for today’s mostly blues. I liked how light and more nimble it felt compared to the burlier bike I rented Tuesday. At my weight, the bike makes up a higher portion of the total bike and rider system (compared to say, a 200 lb person) so pounds matter to me. It had no trouble at all descending loose, often rocky surfaces like this.

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I can’t think of a better way to burn a thousand plus calories!

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