Greetings From Moab, Utah

It's Tuesday afternoon and I'm proud to say that yes, I did ride the Kokopelli Trail in its entirety from Fruita to Moab, finishing with a 17 mile descent down Porcupine Rim. Riding the KPT was a great adventure through beautiful country and gave me an excellent opportunity to focus on my riding and log three long, consecutive days in the saddle for a total of 152 miles and 16,600 feet of climbing. The Fruita singletrack on Day 1 was definitely a high point, as was the fast, bermy descent out of Yellow Jacket Canyon, the technical rock-garden descent of Rose Garden Hill near Fisher Valley and, of course, the descent down Porcupine Rim... even if I was already 41 miles (and 6200 feet of vert) into my ride when I reached the "super-secret upper entrance" to Porc Rim (which, by the way, merely cuts off a small bit of climbing from the main trailhead). I had a clean, dab-free run going until I hit the singletrack section then a couple of mandatory walks forced me off. Better walk than die.

And with no offense to those who were at one point or another supposed to ride KPT with me, I was actually really glad to do it solo. It was great to just focus on myself and ride my own pace and not worry about helping others navigate. Kristin was a huge help, always ready with food and drink for me every 3 hours or so at one of the pre-determined access points and would even have the tent pitched and recovery food ready at the day's stop point. Her help was priceless and I certainly couldn't have done it without her.

I have much more to write about my trip across the KPT, but will end saying that I managed to not only avoid any mechanical problems, but didn't even get a flat tire. Also, I'm very happy to report that I actually felt "fresh" during the final descent down Porcupine Rim (and passed numerous other riders). I definitely could have kept riding and had I needed to wake up this morning and do it all over again, I could have. I'm probably in the best cycling shape of my life right now and it feels great.

We're off to Canyonlands tomorrow morning then it's on to Lake Powell for a couple days of kayaking. Won't likey check in again until next week when I get back. Have a good week.