heaven on earth.

I am writing you all from my dear friend Chiara's grandparents cabin in beautiful Creede, Colorado. Yes, that's right, I made it out of the hellish lands of Utah and on to my fourth state! I am enjoying a wonderful few days of rest, lovely company, delicious food, and the dreamlike scenery of this gorgeous state.

I'll try to back track a few days to give a little recap of the crazy happenings in bike world.

After months of talking up Utah and all her glory, I decided we are absolutely not on speaking terms anymore. Utah and I, that is. While the landscape is absolutely stunning from the grandiose red rock canyons to the spiraling hoodoo rock formations, there is a twist. Never, and I repeat never attempt to cycle through Utah, unless you are in fact crazy. I may just be living up to the most frequently asked question I get on a near daily basis, which is just that, "umm, are you crazy?"

Alright, I may be exaggerating a little bit, although if you had maybe seen me on any one of my last days in Utah I might have been unrecognizable. I have never been beaten down so hard by one state before; I was beginning to feel a little defeated. The incredible headwinds were nearly enough to knock me off my bike, my knee was hurting something fierce, and the intensity of the heat was enough to make my bike look like a camel packed with water bottles. Literally packed, there were at least six alone strapped to my tent on the top of my bags. Needless to say, I made it out alive, and could not be happier.

On a lighter note, I was able to camp in one of most amazing natural landscapes I have witnessed, on Lake Powell in Southern Utah. I rode into the lake, more like crawled at snail pace to the lake, as the sun was edging toward the canyon walls. I took my first dip of the trip in the lake, and proceeded to fall asleep on the rocks immediately after crawling out of the water.

Now I am enjoying a wonderful retreat at the Benhams cabin in Colorado, literally a little heaven on earth. This week was definitely a huge motivater in getting my legs to work the rest of the state of Utah.

We have had some great adventures out here in the mountains so far, although yesterday I took a little spill on a four wheeler, and nearly thought my trip would be finished. We enjoyed a whole day of reckless driving around Bristol Head Mountain on the ATV's, and of course the minute we slow down to normal speed, the ATV landed on top of us. Luckily we were moving at my normal bike speed, very slow, and were near a ditch. I was lucky enough to roll away only a couple scratches, oh and a giant black eye and nose. Just adding to the effect of this whole look I'm going with.

Otherwise, things are looking up. I only have a few more 'hills' to climb in Colorado, which may or may not be referred to as the Rockies. Those little things should only take me a few days to get over, no worries. Heading out on a camping adventure tomorrow to continue enjoying my new favorite state, Colorado. Only a few more hours of hot tub, bed, showers, company, and five star meals all day until I am back on the road again.
Lots more stories to come, so stay tuned. Its hard to think about biking when I'm sipping a cold beer in the hot tub, so maybe once I'm back in the zone the stories will all come back.

PEACE Y'all.