Meg, B-boy, and I headed out to Moab, UT for a short weekend vacation. I rode the Gran Fondo Moab on Saturday while they played in the hotel pool and then we explored Arches National Park on Sunday before heading back to Denver.
The ride was way smaller than I expected. I believe there were only 254 riders registered and 223 finished. I thought I finished dead last as I was by myself for the last 1/3 of the ride, but apparently I finished 111 out of 223 overall and 34 out of 53 guys my age. There were some seriously fast guys (and gals) here. They pretty much all passed me going up Castle Valley and the Big Nasty (GoPro video evidence below).
Get ready for the excuses: I was completely out of shape after suffering the worst allergy season in March and April in years. I think I only did short training rides on weekends for the 2 months leading up to Moab. I was also drinking more beer than I should have and generally focusing more on the technical side of maintaining my bikes (vs. training). It was a serious kick in the balls.
I hung with the lead group for the first 1/3 of the ride, but once we hit the first set of hills at Castle Valley I was blown out the back. The pace in the pack for the first 1/3 of the ride was insane (I think we averaged 28mph for 20 miles). I normally don’t ride at such a fast pace and it was exhilarating.
At the end of the day I was just too out of shape to enjoy the climbs and didn’t stay hydrated so I was miserable. A few beers afterwards, dinner at Pasta Jays, and pool time with Meg and B-boy and I was feeling way better.
2 guys touched wheels in front of me. Note the guy skidding sideways in front of me. I skidded at the same time. Luckily I don’t think anybody went down, just landed in the ditch at the side of the road. I think we were moving at like 27 mph when this happened.
The descent from La Sal pass down into the south side of Moab. I sped the video up to 4x, but you’ll notice I’m literally the only rider for miles. It was boring and I was ready for it to be over at this point.