Club Member Spotlight

Mountain Biking the White Rim Trail Canyonlands, Utah
Presented By Brad Baldwin

In spring of this year, my sister Sheryl and I took a guided mountain bike tour of the beautiful White Rim trail, located within Canyonlands National Park, just outside of Moab, Utah.  The 100-mile primitive jeep dirt and rock trail follows the edge of the deep canyons and gorges carved by the Green and Colorado Rivers.  The 4-day trip was guided by the Moab outfitter Escape Adventures, and they carried our camping gear plus did a marvelous job preparing all the meals – leaving us to focus on the ride and scenery.  Our sights included a vibrant colored array of spires, arches, buttes, and mesas that help define the classic high desert scenery, something I’ve always loved.  The camaraderie with the other guests was fantastic and new friends were made for life.

Each day was filled with visual surprises and great riding.  We stopped at a point overlooking the dramatic car-over-the-cliff final shot in “Thelma and Louise.”  We walked out on the Musselman Arch, a long, thin, natural bridge.  We rode by or in areas wonderfully named Washerwoman Arch, Murphy Hogback, Potato Bottom, Black Crack, and Hardscrabble Hill.  We rode patches of slick rock and through deep red sand that could (and did) catch your bike and send you flying.  We got off the bikes and climbed down into an incredibly tight slot canyon, doing true climbing with ropes and hand-holds, clearly not company attorney approved.

As a warm-up to the “main event,” I’ll share a handful of pictures taken at this year’s pro Amgen Race up on Patterson Pass Road.   During my annual 110 mile B-day Mt. Hamilton loop ride from a few weeks ago, Carrie Payne was nice enough to not only offer ride support, but to also take candid photos of the riders, and we’ll show a few of those as well.  You will also be treated to some pictures of Arches National Park, which Sheryl and I visited beforehand.

This trip will long remain one of my most memorable and enjoyable life experiences, and it gives me great pleasure to share it with you.  So please join us at the November 1 FFBC club meeting for a photographic slide show of the White Rim Trail in what I hope will be an entertaining club program!

Life’s Geometry
(Sonnet composed after an autumn’s day ride)
Wei Sun

The chill of autumn breeze foretells that time
When life prepares to shed another year.
The leaves, like days, recount our passing prime,
As trees once full turn swiftly thin and bare.
For some, the coming winter brings lament:
They see their shortened day approaching night.
The snow and barren fields mark life’s descent
And dim each soul now candles’ withering light.
But life, if drawn, is not a simple line,
From point-to-point is just too singular.
We rise and set as nighttime stars that shine
And live our lives on paths more circular.
     Those trees once bare in spring new leaves will grow,
     From winter’s sleep we’ll rise new goals to sow.

Close this article