Friday, November 27, 2009

'Cranks'giving Day

19 miles
50 degrees

 Last year on Thanksgiving Day I rode from my parent's place in Shelley, Idaho to my aunt's home in Rigby, Idaho for Thanksgiving dinner.  It was freezing too.  I decided to carry on the tradition but since we were eating at home I got to pick my destination.  There is a park on top of the rims, Zimmerman Park, that is known for its excellent mountain biking but its always been too far away for me to go for a lunch or early morning ride.  Since I had a couple of hours yesterday I thought I'd give it a try.


I started out on the rims trail that I have ridden many times before with Mike.  The picture above is part of that trail.  As I rode along this familiar trail a tree branch reached out and nailed my left hand turning my front wheel down the steep slope.  Luckily it didn't rip the handle bar from my right hand and I was able to right myself before riding off the trail and down the slope.  That would have been fun, Thanksgiving in the Emergency Room (like my sister and brother-in-law).  Sarah said she wouldn't come get me from the ER until after the bird was done if I actually had hurt myself.

I finished this part of the trail which ends at Zimmerman Trail Road going up the rims.  I hopped onto the road and pedaled up the hill until I reached Zimmerman Park.  At Zimmerman Park I tried a few trails that really rattled me.  It seemed more of an obstacle coarse than a fun trail.  I soon found a trail that lead out of the park to the West.  I'd heard there was a trail that would take me clear to Molt Road so I decided to try and see if this was it, although I knew I didn't have time to ride it all. 


Goofin' off


More of the trail


View of the temple from the trail


Time to turn around

 I made it as far west as the temple when the trail turned into the rock shelf of the rims.  Its a really rough ride and I couldn't tell where the trail continued so I decided to turn back.  It was getting late anyway.  I told Sarah I'd be gone only two hours.

I got back in just a hair over two hours.  When I opened the door I got a whiff of delicious turkey and other Thanksgiving treats.  After cleaning up, I helped Sarah out with the feast although I probably wasn't much help.  Everytime I got a chance to sit down I could feel the drowsiness taking over.  I'd never gone moutain biking for more than an hour at a time before.  It is really taxing on you.  I have dreams of big rides doing 40 miles a day and camping out but I'll need to work up to that point.

Thanksgiving was great.  Sarah did a wonderful job with the dinner.  I really messed up the sweet potatoes and squash so no one ate them.  In fact, I fed Evie some sweet potato and for the first time ever, she pulled a disgusted look and spat it all out.  I tried my sweet potato later and realized why.


Sydney's ready to devour dinner.  This is our feast with exception of a few items like Sam the turkey.  The girls made placeholders for everyone and ended up with one extra so they decided to make one for the turkey and called him Sam.  Sydney, instead of asking for turkey, asked more more Sam.

3 comments:

AliJ said...

It looks like a great dinner. I'm glad you got a fun ride in as well. Are you going to ride to Grandma's on Christmas?

Russ said...

That's an option as long as its not first thing in the morning and 10 below. I can load up on Reese's peanut butter cups and chocolate before the ride and burn it all off by the time I get there.

AliJ said...

Well, it won't be first thing in the morning, but I can make no guarantees about the 10 below. It is Idaho! It was 70 degrees in Las Vegas. Are we all crazy for living in this frigid part of the country?!?