Cycling the desert

i'll admit, when mo got the notion we should get a bike rack to carry our bikes down to the desert, i didn't pay much attention. knock yourself out, i thought, it don't matter a whole helluva lot.

boy was i wrong.

having our bikes down here has transformed the trip. you know how it is, you get tired of walking day after day. it's slow, the pack is heavy, your thighs chafe and your feet hurt. you're always hot. if the hike isn't great, the misery is all you can think about after a while. but mix in a little cycling, and it's a whole new experience. there's always a breeze, it's easy to carry extra water, and you use different muscles. best of all, the world unfolds at 15 km/hour. driving has its pleasures, but they are transitory. as soon as you see something you like, it's gone. cycling, on the other hand, is the perfect pace for seeing a canyon wind or watching a river wend.

we rode ten miles up the colorado from moab:



we did some off-road riding at dead horse point:



best of all, we bicycled zion. brilliantly, zion canyon is closed to private vehicle traffic. closed, to private cars. in america! its 1950s two-lane road had become a virtual parking lot by the millennium, so they implemented a free shuttle that goes up and down the canyon every ten minutes and into the village beyond, stopping at each trailhead and leaving the roads of zion free for cyclists.



i'd rave some more, only i have to hop on mister bike right now, to get us some provisions.