Colorado

We went to Colorado for the 24th of July. For those of you who live in Utah you know that this is a Utah holiday. One of our family motto's is "when you have a state holiday leave the state for that day." I have never understood this motto, but I think that is has something to do with getting away where people don't celebrate so you don't have to worry about the crowds. No one in Colorado celebrates this Utah holiday so we didn't have to worry about traffic or anything, it was amazing. This blog is going to talk about the biking portion of the trip because I don't have the river rafting pictures yet, but believe you me, they are something else.

Not all of the Barker clan was up to biking, but the strong ones were Jamie, my mom, my brother, and me. Because we only had two bikes Nate and I drove Jamie and mom up to the top then drove down and waited. Waited is the appropriate word here, it took them forever. If you look at the top picture of Jamie and the following one of my mom I think that you can see why. They took their time lolly-gagging in the river :) I think that I have to note here that they also rode about twice the distance Nate and I did, so yea, they are pretty tough.



Because the trail was so long Nate and I didn't have the time to go back up to the top. This means that we only did a partial trip. (also we are not as strong as Jamie and mom :) As you can see, I caught my brother napping along the trail. He is the in shape speedy hair, while I am the slow and steady tortoise, but I didn't get to win this race. More on that after the picture.



About half way down the trail my tire blew. Here is a picture of my stem that I found. Don't worry about me, because I have such strong expertise in physical matters I was able to gain control of my bike and come to a stop without causing an accident. (also, I am a little out of shape, so I couldn't get going fast enough to get into any trouble :)



Here is a picture of my tire (where the stem should be)



Luckily I was close to where I could get picked up so mom and Jamie came to my rescue. Well, we rushed back down to the bottom to pick up Nate, then we rode back to the part where my tire blew so I could finish the trek. I am not a quitter :) Jamie told me that I had better take a picture riding by myself so people would believe that I actually finished and didn't wuss out. So here is the picture



The river in the background is the same one that I will write about when I get our white water pictures, so get ready for an adventure!

This picture is just a random picture that I took when I was by myself. This is one of my favorite parts on the bike ride. I couldn't resist, so I put it in.



Lastly, this is a picture of my nephew. (he is also the reason that not everyone came on the bike ride. Someone had to stay in the hotel and watch this cute little guy so he wouldn't get into trouble.) Here he is playing the "where is it?" game. You show him something (shown here we are showing him food) then you hide it behind one of your hands and ask him "where is the food?" He then puts his hands up and says "where is it?" then he chooses a hand and you give him the object (again here it was food.)I have to say that I have the cutest nephew in the whole world!

My Bike

Yes you read it right, I am giving free rides all month long on my bike. 7-10-08 is a historic day. That was when some over paid bank owner looses one of his greatest assets. He looses the right to stop by my house and take HIS bike out for a spin. I paid off what I owed on my bike and now I am a full owner. He now has to grovel at my feet if he wants to sport around town on the coolist bike in the world.

Anyway, this picture was taken when I was stopped at a stop light. The digital screen that reads 107.7 is my trip-ometer and not my speedometer. It is one of my favorite pictures of my bike.

So, don't be afraid to stop on in and ask for your free ride this month!