Moab Skinny Tire Festival — Day Two
I woke up this morning at about 6:30 am. I looked outside. It was just starting to get light out and I could see that it was going to be a sunny, cloudless day. Perfect spring riding weather!
Except it was only 14 degrees. The schedule for today’s ride called for an 8 am mass start — an hour earlier than the other rides this weekend. Not that delaying the start would have mattered much. At 8 am, it was 19 degrees at the start and by 9 am it was still just 25 degrees. Hey, but at least it was sunny, right?
Today, we rode on Scenic Byway 128 which parallels the Colorado River to the northeast of Moab. The river cuts through a deep canyon with mostly vertical walls of deep red sandstones.
This area along the Colorado River is incredibly scenic. The Moab area has provided scenery for a number of movies including Rio Grande (1950), Ten Who Dared (1959), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1963), Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1988), and Thelma and Louise (1990).
We debated leaving an hour later, so we could let it warm up, but we decided against it. Off we went, on schedule, at 8 am. It was cold, just as we had expected. The 500 foot canyon walls kept most sections of the ride in the shade and it was noticably colder in the shady sections.
At the turnaround, Paul showed me his water bottle. He had some kind of energy drink in it and some of it had leaked out at the nozzle and formed a frozen, slurpee-like substance on the top of the bottle. It was nearing 10 am, but I guess it’s still pretty cold.
About a half hour later, Paul and I were on the return route back towards Moab. I reached for my water bottle. It was still full and that’s not a good thing when you’ve ridden 40 miles in two and a half hours. Like Paul’s water bottle, mine had a small ice cap around the nozzle.
We finished at noon. At the finish we had some lunch provided by the Festival. Despite temperatures still barely above freezing, it felt pretty warm sitting in the grass.
| Total distance: | 55.71 miles |
|---|---|
| Time: | 4:30:13 |
| Average speed: | 12.4 mph |
| Maximum speed: | 31.6 mph |
| Total calories: | 3692 |
| Average heart rate: | 133 bpm |
| Maximum heart rate: | 162 bpm |
| Total ascent: | 2372 feet |
| Total descent: | 2117 feet |
| Ride profile: |  |
| Ride comments: Today, we did the Colorado River ride. After leaving Moab, we take Scenic Byway 128 for about 24 miles and then we return along the same route. It was cold! I woke up at 6:30 am and it was 14 degrees. By the time of the mass start at 8 am, it was only 19 degrees. Just after the turnaround, a support vehicle shared with us the current temperature — 30 degrees. Despite the constant battle to stay warm, it was a beautiful day and beautiful scenery. |
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