03/31/01
Tales from Moab

After an exciting ride to Moab with blizzard-like conditions followed by a 70-degree sunny day Peggy and I found a great camping spot along the Colorado River about 8 miles outside of Moab. We did all the preliminary stuff like checking in, drinking beer, getting maps, drinking beer, trying on kayak skirts, followed by more beer drinking. We knew it was going to be a good weekend when Peggy bumped into some old buddies from Rag Brai. We were up at 5  the morning of the race, showered in gas station sinks and got to the race start in plenty of time. The first leg was 17 miles of kayaking but we ended up doing at least 35 miles from constantly going back and forth across the river, no matter what we did we couldn't keep the damn thing straight, but it was comforting see other teams doing the same! We both decided that we don’t want to see a kayak again for a long time and if we didn't rent ours it would still be floating somewhere along the Colorado River unmanned! As much as we both dislike mtn biking, they were a welcome sight after 3+ hrs in the water, 10 blisters on my hands, and uncontrollable shivering by Peggy. Things got immediately better when we were pulled in by our fabulous crew of Tim and Brian and greeted with fruit salad, sandwiches, dry clothes and a candle for aesthetics. Could not ask for better service, thanks guys! The first 3 miles of biking was great and on pavement, then we started a straight up climb for the next 5 miles and pushed most of the way. The scenery was absolutely breath taking and could not be beat. After 17 miles on bikes (best rush was doing 30mph attached by the tow!) we had a short run to a  250ft rappel down sandstone cliffs, which was amazing (besides the hot ‘biners and burnt gloves), then a 6 miles run/hike through the canyon and back to our bikes for the final 10miles. We had a slight trail finding error so we added about 3 extra miles and both bonked within minutes of each other, but luckily we only had a few more miles on the bikes during which we ran into "Hank Hill’s hillbilly reunion" on 4-wheelers. We topped the final hill and could see the finish line below, luckily it was all downhill. It ended up taking us 9.5 hours and then we proceeded to do what we do best, get shitfaced! After a couple beers and a short nap we kicked it into "Terrapin Party Mode" with several pints and  stories at Moab Brewery with our crew. Then we got back to the campground, drank till we were slurring and did shots of Johnny Walker and Tequila Rose with toasts to "Here's to John Eich", and "Here's to Team Terrapin" both toasts were quite slurred). I am sad to say that the only skin I left in Moab was from peeling off chunks from blisters and not for mtn biking wipeouts (per John E.’s request), close though. It was nice having a positive experience with our bikes and not having anything fall off or break! We ended up placing 5/8 in 2-person co-ed, 39/54 overall, and 1/54 in post-race partying. Also we cannot thank Allison Weiss enough for lending us some crew and Tim and Brian were absolutely great!!