Moab,Fruita,Grand Junction-Day 1

I had been wanting to get back to Moab and the Grand Valley ever since we were there in 2007 on our family road trip and this was the year. Jamie was in right away then not sure and finally he was going . Do or die. We invited a wide group of people and when it came down to the wire it was Jamie, Aaron Nation,Donny, Todd the Big Mac, Big ring Dale and my self. Callin was planning to go but broke his shoulder at Post canyon two weeks before our big send off. The plan was to leave on Fri April 30th and ride sat-mon in Mab, and then ride Fruita/Grand Junction the rest of the week. Jamie and I were at my place at around 3 ish ready to get out of town but soon realized we should just sit down and watch mountain bike videos until everyone arrived. So we did.

We left around 5 ish and headed to the east side to pick up Todd and get on the road. At mile post 24 the Ram jam van started hopping and the left rear tire exploded. Off to a great start as usual.. It was a good thing I was with 5 guys that had 10 bikes and just as many cell phones. So Todd changed the tire in 4 minutes flat and all the other guys used their phones and facebook to find out where we could get a tire at 7 pm on a fri night. That was of course after Dale ran onto the freeway to gather the best peices of the tire to tape to the van latter. So at 8:45 we had 2 new tires and were $$$$ poorer but at least we were headed east and out of the rainy North West. We drove all night and saw plenty of odd things ( every thing is wierd after driving 10 or more hours) and rolled into Moab Utah in the early Evening and after a quick drop by at out campground we hit up the slick rock trail. It was 12 miles of climbing and descending on the slick rock trying to stay ahead of the storm that was passing by. One time I was taking a break ( one of many times) and I turned and saw Allison Dunlap riding by. Crazy. Dale got a pic of her and I so that was cool. Don't meet Famous mtbr's every day. So by the end of the ride Dale had crashed 3 time and Jamie once. Back to the camp for food and the David lee Roth jumping contest and get ready for riding on day 2.