At first I wasn't going to bother writing up my Four Corners ride since I mostly rode with you all.    But this book showed up in the mail and well, I guess I got inspired to write up my own "epic" rides.

WVCBR's kicks off our biking season with this little road trip to Holbrook for Pedal the Petrified   Love us some cooler weather!  This event is hosted by the lovely people of Holbrook whose grand population of 5,056,  does an amazing job.

 While some people actually put in some work on line when we arrived in Holbrook, others took the opportunity to explore the grand sites of Holbrook.

We found what we can only assume was Holbrooks prehistoric cycling team. 

These two seemed to be  discussing "finer points" of drafting..... 

While this old guy just wanting to show off his proper cycling form. 

   

                 Dino was not invited to ride as he was running a fever and was very warm to the touch.

We continued on our tour - Seems fitting for 2 nurses to check out  Bucket of blood street. 

It looks like this area use to be a very busy train stop - now just some lonely buildings

The street was named after the bar that had been named Bucket of Blood after two guys who were killed during a poker game..   The wild west lives on. 

Our very short tour ended at the end of the street with this interesting structure.   Is now used for AA meetings......

               

                         The tour of this old building was cut short when we saw the  tiny little sign read:      Poisonous snakes and insects inhabit this place

 Had hoped to find a cafe at  211 Bucket of blood street - But no cafe was to be found 

A couple more interesting buildings and the tour was completed.

 Before the grand event in the morning the CEO of WVCBR held a meeting...

           Not sure anyone was listening.....

                 

 Sunrise!  I think I captured some planet in the lower left corner.

 Lovely to see the different  military cyclist ride through to start the ride.  Even better hearing them give the navy guy some teasing....  Something about needing to turn around and ride it backwards for the Navy guy ...

       What I love about this ride is the community/college involvement.  Every 5 miles they have a well supported stop.       This is the best supported ride I've even been on .   There were cookies from all 50 states at this stop    Go Illinois - Rte 66...   The truck/car ein the back - priceless!!!

I was told this was an old 39 Dodge

                     The weather was perfect for our 30 miles ride and the views at the stops were amazing!

 

 Last year I was told that the ride only has one hill and the rest was flat....   Not sure they knew what "Flat" means   There are 2 really good climbs.  And lots of ups and downs.....  I don't know the history of this building - Clyde just found it a great place to lean against after the 2nd big climb.

 Clyde's favorite stop. Breakfast with a view!

This was the moment of the ride where I was a bit tired  and thought this sign was funny.  I  made Joanne wait while I turned around and went back for the pic.   Dry Wash... We are riding in the desert - in the Petrified Forest..   Did this sign once say - Wet Wash before it became petrified?  LOL - so funny!      But now I"m on the wrong side of a narrow bit of road with cars coming towards me  and I have to get back across the road.   Suddenly the decision to stop may have not been the best one of the day....

Thinking this conversation is going something like this.....   How do you get to Sesame Street.?  It's a Sunny day?   Are you sweeping the clouds away?   I'm on my way to where the air is sweet.  Can you tell how me to get...  How to get to Sesame Street?   I don't know who these guys are but I bet they are fun to ride with.

32 miles and My riding buddy - made for a great ride!!!!

This is a great ride. - I can only hope some of you can make it next year!!!! 

Pedal the Petrified 2017! 

                      Fast forward a few day  and I was now in Moab with the 4 Corners Dames

  I had never been to Moab before and found the town lots of fun and the people really kind. 

 One guy came up to me in the bike shop just to tell me he had passed me  on the road and gave me lots of room when he passed..   Act of kindness or concerns about my biking skills?

 Another time Janice and I stopped for a moments rest only to spend a 1/2 hour chatting and getting a tour of a US ski team coach's mobile home that he bought on Ebay.     Seems the van is his home now as he spent 6 months a year in Europe coaching skiing....   I somehow forgot to get a pic of the van during the chat.  But it was lovely.  RV's are a big deal in Moab.

My pictures don't match my pictures much- but there ya go.   This bike path was great and I can only hope that they extend it one day.  Look forward to getting back to Moab someday.

 

 Next stop on Tour de Four Corners was this great surprise of a stop.  

Lizardhead bike shop in Dolores     (good job Teesie)

Nicolas seems to be one of the good guys.  He business is to community focused, and helps out a lot of kids in the neighborhood and  enjoy helping any and everyone to enjoy cycling.

 Even 4 pawers are encouraged to ride.  His shop is set up in a circle 8 just so they can take a spin. Edgar Allen Poe was not that impressed with me - until I paid the fee of holding him for 15 min. 

Love this video of the cat MTbing...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5a3bcr4lD4

Last stop on the tour was Durango.   What can I say,  this has to be one of my favorite places to ride.  The loop is not so hard and the views are beyond amazing

Whats Durango without a stop at the hot springs

This is my favorite picture of Teesie

"This road make the long drive worth the trip"  Richard Welch

I stopped to take a pic of this pic - old farm machinery with a flag then turned around and found this lovely guy wanting to hang out. 

I love the lighting in this valley. It makes for some beautiful pictures.  

What can I say about this.  This horse was so sweet and kind and let me pet him and chat with him and he even showed me his teeth.  I think he likes posing for pics. 

 

We could have spent hours taking pictures along this road but a wise person pointed out the clouds and said the a storm was coming in fast.  

And then suddenly a new sort of fun began. It's 10 miles or so back to the car from this point.  There are lots of rollers and a good climbs ahead. Richard and I decided that we would chase the storm and finish the ride and spun off towards the car.    We are not suited at all to ride together.   Richard is just so much faster than me.   But I am steady so back and forth we went  - failing at drafting  - he would fly off and stop to take a pic while I would catch up,  ride past and he would chase and drop me.   I stopped once for a second to "pause" but kept being told the storm was coming so off we'd go again.  Pedal pedal pedal.  shift, pedal ride, keep going... don't stop.  I so badly wanted  to "pause" just one more time  but the clouds were getting closer, the air was getting colder and the car felt like it was getting further away.    We stopped at the top of the last hill where "Sag support" was waiting for us and  asked if we wanted to stop. But we only had one last all down hill mile left...   Off we went flying down the hill.  Hands numb,  feet numb and even some local rider flew by yelling  It's freezing! - So it wasn't just me?      I turned the corner, we were back at the park.!!!  Yippee!!!  So much fun!  - A few moments to get the bikes back on the car, bike clothes changed for warmer and off for dinner. With adrenaline still flowing - the rain and sleet then snow started falling.   With just a few minutes to spare we had beat the storm!!!!...    Warm dinner of coffee and soup never tasted so good~

Tour De Four Corners was Grand Fun and look forward to riding with Eons soon!

I take way to long to write up a ride.  So I told myself I had to finish this one before I went to my next event.  And since that is tomorrow at 7, and dinner is in an hour.   And now dinner was an hour ago.   This might be the condensed version of a fun weekend at BIKE the BAY !

While a couple of guys in our bike group went off to a Hug the HEAT for 76 miles or some sort of testosterone ride.  Joanne and I picked a road-more-traveled riding event and headed off to San Diego.

After we followed the precise packing  instructions for the bikes and loaded in GPS directions we were off!  I did not have my "packet" mailed to me so we had to be in San Diego by 3pm. 

 We left in plenty of time  well until I did a google search and found "puffy quesadillas " in El Centro.  I have never found lunch stop that I cared that much about on the way to  SD so I was happy to try Celias.  We got sidetracked in finding the place  and when google map said it would take 5 hours to get to El Centro - 100 miles away I decided it was time to go back to the freeway and try again.  IF you ever find yourself in El Centro with the time to stop at Celias, try their puffy quesadillas - they look amazing!.  Instead I chose the travel size burrito.  Not a good choice since and way too messy.  We traveled on and with Joanne's expert navigational skills, we arrived in San Diego safely.  Our precious packet was:  one piece of paper and some twisty ties - So worth the effort!!!

Our hotel room was beyond lovely - right on the bay...-   Our room was not ready  and not time for dinner .   So we visited this little slice of heaven for a pre dinner snack!!! Extraordinary Desserts  - the name explains it all.  Worth every bite and calorie.  

For the record it took 3 days to finish one of these lovely treats.

Yum - Oh!!

We finally made it to  our lovely hotel room. I was going to take a rest but after the tour of the spacious balcony and watching the trains go by... Um they trains go by both day,,,, and night.  

The views from our side the hotel

Differently time for a bike ride!  But we were staying in a very touristy area with lots of cars and people and even the bike paths were crowded.  At least I thought they were a bike path. 

    The  reward  for my troubles was the sun set over the bay!  Lovely   views!!!!

If you look really hard at the picture believe  you can see the bay bridge that we were riding over the next day .  I stood here thinking about how nervous I was. Could I get my backside over without the walk of shame.  Until I realized in this pic the tough part was just an  inch.  I could crank that far. And if I could just get up the first inch of it  the rest was easy.   No worries!

After riding on the sidewalk for a few minutes a young man "nicely" told me that there was a reason the sidewalk says - no bikes - .  Very "kind" of him to point that out to..   Reflective moment officially over...  time to head back to the hotel..

 It can be difficult to bike and push ourselves, and make it to events on time, and get up hills.... Oh wait - look at  the view from the restaurant.   Life has it's pretty moments!

This ride was going to be fun!

And now for the grand event!!! 

This is in fact the exact moment I forgot to turn Mapmyride on. If it's not recorded - it didn't happen right?

So yep - thats us!   Ridding. not walking over the bay.  and after all my worring - It was a great climb with amazing view!!!

                                        And this is Clyde pausing after the bridge- Such a good bike!

We took  a detour from the exact route to take a pic of the historic Hotel Del.   Made in 1880 The wooden ceiling was installed with out nails and pegs and glue were used  instead.  

I guess the hotey-toytee ness of the places just makes people loose their pants  - in the parking lot - in the bushes!

Very happy to see the event paid homage our founders Royal heritage

                          This was my was favorite water boy.   He expression never changed the whole time we were at the stop.. 

This is  Hotel Del was now leaving town in a jeep..

I think Joaane was just having fun!!!

The rest of the ride was easy.   Mostly bike path around the bay.   Nice people to chat with. And very pretty view. 

As in life, some times your pulling the train....

Some times your being pulled........

And sometimes, well  These is always that one at the back just riding her own ride

                                             Bike the Bay was such a fun ride!!!!

.

P.S.   We were really hungry after the ride.  The joy of technology is that you can google anything.  We drove to the googled  lunch spot very near by -  only to find that they only had pastries.  So Joanne used her expertise skills and found a place a couple of minutes away!  And a patio with a nice view to boot.  There is nothing better than lunch with a great view and great friends to finish a ride. Ok I realize I have no pictures of the great view or great friends..   But we were really hungry. 

  

LOL   I don't even remember the name of this restaurant!