Last month on our 2 week west coast swing road trip we took a ton of pics...I've been meaning to post some. Here ya go, included with a small caption of the moment. The view from the drivers seat..we took back roads pretty much all the way to the Grand Canyon. Absolutely NOTHING for hundreds of miles. Anyone who says the world is overpopulated just needs to head west on some not so popular roads. Prior to the Canyon we spent a day in Flagstaff hitting up the Mt. Elden trail system and pretty much DIED after coming from 0 altitude to 7000ft and trying to hop right out of the car and hit it hard. For those who don't know, including myself till we got there, this is one of mtn biking best kept secret and according to the locals, they want to keep it that way. Not quite sure the exact mileage of this system but it's for sure an entire days worth of single track.

After spending a few days at the "HOLE", then Durango, then Fruita/Grand Junction(see prior post on those adventures) we headed back east to Golden, Co home of the "bestlitebeerifyouhavetodrinklitebeerbutwhohastoreallydrinklitebeersowhynotdrinkanewbelgiumbutthatsjustmewhatever," Coors Brewing Co. and our good friends Tyler and Renee Clark. Thanks for the floor space Clarks and the kayak rodeo, much appreciated.

It always amazes me when you hit up a local shop and ask for beta on the local spots and they tell you that, "this one is great, chill ride, not steep", that it is in fact a great ride, a little chill but a whole lot steep. We've just gotten spoiled living in Mobtown that we've forgotten about the word "mountain", in the term mountain biking. We climbed and we climbed for over an hour, then went down a little and climbed for another hour...tired/heavy legs to soon follow. Luckily on the whole trip we only had one little hiccup, a sliced tire headed back down to the car....thank god for Park Tool Emergency Tire Boots.

Dear Mr. Boot,

After a long road trip out west where i encountered countless tire splitting rocks, and my tire finally caved. It couldn't take it anymore, and i don't blame him. I just want to tell you that you are a life saver. You saved me even when Stan's couldn't, and that's gotta be one big hole. Mr. Boot without your service to the rescue I would have been walking in extremely stiff carbon soled shoes for over 3 miles down hill in steep and rocky terrain. But no. You saved me. For that I'm forever grateful. I will never again ride without you or toss you aside in the bottom of my bike bag in a dark, dirty, little corner. You will forever ride up front, with a good view and with wind in your hair. You held fast even when my large carcass railed you into a turn just moments from the car...your a true American hero. Godspeed Mr. Boot, Godspeed.

Forever grateful,

BLEE