Coyotes prancing across the grassy hills, Trout jumping three feet out of the water, finches and dragonflies racing along side of you and spooking the chuckers and mule deer as you turn a corner; all the things that you wish you could have had your camera out at the time. Even still, what an amazing ride today. I guess that is one of the advantages of being in the right place at sunset. The pitfall is riding on a pitch black trail with a 24 lumen headlamp to get to you ending destination. This winter I plan to resolve that situation. I don't like getting caught in the dark riding, but when I do I need light. There are some great deals on Amazon.com right now on some 300 lumen flashlights. I just have to adapt them to a bike mount. I have some Ideas and will share them this winter. You bikehikers are going to love it.

September is passing so quick and the season it seams is coming to and end. Get your riding in wile you can. This has been a very wet September but today was amazing so I jumped on as soon as I had a chance. With a nice breeze, a beautiful sunset and a full moon the ride was perfect.

Hobble Creek

     Hobble Creek has sure changed a lot over the years. Some really nice fishing spots are now in peoples back yards. I guess as a trade the people who do not own those houses get a really nice bike trail. The creek still runs through the city and the trout still bite even in the middle of the city.
     Cari and I decided to not do our fun morning ride to our favorite breakfast burrito place. Instead we drove there and then went to do the Hobble Creek trail. It is great exercise on the way up the trail as you most certainly earn the quick ride back. I am not sure which I like better. The scenery is always better on the slower uphill, however the downhill is exhilarating.
     We have had a wet September which is bringing out the mushrooms. And the days are much cooler than the usual fall season. The leaves haven't quite turned yet but this will be an amazingly beautiful ride in three weeks. I'll be back.

San Francisco by bicycle is the way. I found the Amtrak sleeper car to be a good experience. We left at midnight from Salt Lake City and woke up to breakfast served, some beautiful mountain scenery and more including: Perched Bald Eagles, Donner lake, the bike trails in Truckee and the ocean inlets of the Sacramento river. The Amtrak station was a great place to assemble our bikes and gear and then San Francisco was ours.

The one place I regret not seeing there is the Bath Ruins.

Picture by: Buzz Andersen

Monks Hollow

Monks Hollow is just up the diamond fork turn off from highway 6. The turn off to Monks is not very well marked. It is an ATV trail that is not frequently used by off roaders because of the shortness of the trail, however it is better suited as a bicycle trail. Beautiful scenery but be prepared to earn your downhill. I don't always follow my own advice but it is better to go as a group. There were some big cougar tracks right next to my bike tire tracks that I saw on the way back. He must have been stalking me. Not the first time. Also this is bear country.

"Tribett's Trail"

     With my saddle set low and the cool breeze funneling through the air vents of my helmet, arms vibrating as if I was operating a jack hammer and flowers and shrubs whipping my legs as if  going through some strange gauntlet for a right of passage, I mentally prepared myself for 12 miles of amazing trail. Suddenly I realize that I am Separate from my bicycle and the helmet that I almost always loathed to wear is the only thing between me and the pounding rocks jolting my neck as my body was suspended in air for what seemed like along time or as if time were suspended, eventually coming to a rolling stop. My nurse training taught me to assess my health situation: A little buzzed in the head, cuts, bruises and some pretty good gashes on my right calf. My survival instincts are telling me that I was the last to leave and nobody was following, so get back on your bike and go. To stupid to feel pain I caught up to the waiting group, to stubborn to admit my situation, I said I was fine and continued the ride. And what a fantastic ride it was. Twelve miles of down hill worth a trip from anywhere, some new friends and some of the most beautiful scenery around (even if it was blurred by speed). The trade I made for the ride was a concussion and some macho scars on my leg that will stir up conversation in the future. Well worth it. I totally recommend the "Stump Jumper trail" if you have the need for speed. Best down hill I have experienced. Thank you to Todd Tribett and Miguel Vasquez.

Video produced by Todd Tribett.

 Syria has got to be a lot like Utah. Those Idiots are going to mess up all that good biking. Kind people will be replaced by paranoia. Hatred will be a plague. You cannot gather figs from thistle.

He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
Albert Einstein 

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
Dwight D. Eisenhower 



There was never a good war, or a bad peace.
Benjamin Franklin 

Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.
Ernest Hemingway 

Sometimes it is who you bike with that makes the ride.