Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Annual Rabbit Valley Riding Trip

Riders, start your engines!!! Last weekend was our annual Rabbit Valley riding trip and we had a blast. My brother Greg and his friend Neil came from Denver, and the Sonzini's (Mike and Kathy) along with Carpenter Mike, came from Park City. This is a great trip that we do every year, where we meet up for the weekend and ride our motorcycles until either someone crashes horribly, or until we are all sore, stiff, and too tired to ride anymore. Mike Sonzini never seems to reach that point, but the rest of us do by Sunday after riding Friday and all day Saturday.
We all met on Friday afternoon and rode near the Book Cliffs until dark, hit the local brew pub in Grand Junction on the way back for some eats and drinks, where the guys in the group were very happy to check out the sexy college girls alls dressed up in their very skimpy, sexy, little Halloween costumes. Photos were taken, however none would have been appropriate to post on this blog........you'll um....have to take that up with Sonzini.....(cough!)
Anyway, Saturday morning, despite our soreness, and after changing out the tube in Neil's Yamaha, we rode and rode and rode, all over the Rabbit Valley area. The weather was amazing, and by the time we took our lunch break, it was 4:30 pm and we were hungry! The guys went out for another 45 mins or so after our super late lunch break, while Kathy and I tried to get out of our sweaty riding clothes and start putting on warmer, fresher clothing as it quickly became dark. As expected, Mike Sonzini decided to ride back via trails to the hotel in Fruita, and so began that journey since the dark was setting in for the day.
Last year, Sonzini and Carpenter Mike decided to ride the Kokapelli trail back to Fruita from our riding area in Rabbit Valley, and ran into a few..........no, more than a few major obstacles. Loss of trail, terrible rain which then turned to sleet, high winds, the carrying of bikes up steep, unridable hillsides, and Carpenter Mike being blown over by a large wind gust, sending both him and his large KTM flying down the tracks at very high speeds. Carpenter Mike later reported that he was actually watching the sparks fly from his bike in front of him, while his helmet bounced off each and every railroad tie along the track until he finally came to a stop - NOT without much damage to both his body and his bike. Carpenter Mike rode back to Fruita in the trucks with the bikes this year, along with the rest of us.
On the ride way home Sunday, we stopped at Grogg's for a delicious bite to eat and refreshing beverages.