Looking back...
I'm trying to remember what triggered my first trip to Moab. Normally an early-season trip for me is my way of finding someplace warm after a bad winter, but in 2001 my bike and I headed to Hawaii (Maui) in March for a taste of warm weather riding, so I'd already escaped winter once. I think what really happened is that I'd been trying to figure out a tour that would allow me to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and every time I looked at the roads in that section of Utah I was scared away by the distances between towns. I know, I know, if I camp and carry lots of water I would be fine - but somehow that tour never happened. I kept going back and researching the area though, and I finally decided to just go and see the area by doing day trips, using Moab as my base.
One of the reasons I bought my Bike Friday Pocket Rocket was so I wouldn't have to think twice about traveling with a bike. For me, taking a bike along on a quick trip to an interesting place is a natural, and having a traveling bike makes it easier for me to dream about places I'd like to explore on a bike - whether the trip is a multi-day tour, or a series of day trips like my two trips to Moab were. I had the bike; now it was time to travel...
I didn't keep a journal on either of my treks to Moab, so this account was written from memories, helped along (of course) by my photos. My 2002 trip to Moab was the last trip I took before entering the digital camera era - but when I had my pictures developed I also had them stored on a CD. After looking at the number of pictures I took on my 2003 cycling trip to Ireland, it's clear to me that I had a film camera with me on these two trips - I didn't take as many photos as I would have if I had a digital camera with me. Maybe that's a signal to go back again!Actually the trigger for my Pocket Rocket was a trip I took in the fall of 2000. I was supposed to do a 2-week tour in Montana and Wyoming, with the intent of visiting both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I was scared away by an intense fire season, with active fires within 5 miles of where I was planning to ride. If I'd been on a cross-country journey I would have kept on pushing, perhaps finding an alternate route. But since my entire trip was planned for an area that was engulfed in flames, I canceled my bike tour and went hiking in the Canadian Rockies instead. Since I had biked there on my first solo tour, I figured that hiking would give me an opportunity to get to some different places. I loved my hiking trip, but I would have been happier if I could have interspersed my hiking with a couple of days of biking. As soon as I got home from my hiking trip I called Bike Friday... and now I have a bike that is built for travel, no oversize luggage fees, no problem fitting the bike in a small rental car... I took 4 trips in the first year that I had the bike, with only one an extended tour - all of the others were either biking day trips, or just having a bike with me on a non-biking trip in case I wanted to ride.
And why road biking? Because that's what I like! All of you mountain bikers out there may think I'm a bit crazy to road bike in such a wonderful place for mountain biking - but hey, people have told me I'm different before. I'm just being me!
