edwardvanroberts

Graduation

2008-05-07T15:45:00.000-07:00

I finally graduated. May 4, 2008 - MBA. It was a good ride but glad that I am done.

Meeting with the Bro

2008-03-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

My eldest brother, TOC (The Old Coot) came over today on his way to a family trip to Moab without motorcycles. I had to show him the latest and greatest stuff that I had been doing to my bike. Here is what he wrote to the rest of the MMMM clan:

"I have just been formally introduced to Eddie's new motorcycle, Wolfie. Yes, he wants to call his bike Wolfie. Anyway, he has had his bike for less than a month and the following is a list of the work that he has done on Wolfie thus far, at least the stuff that I can remember: disassembled front end and greased his steering bearings, rewired the back light to make it into a brake light, a horn, a new light switch that includes low and high beams, a speedometer with self-designed bracket, license plate holder, rear view mirror. And he has purchased a new FMF pipe and jetting system that still needs installation. And all of this in less than 4 weeks. This guy is a maniac."

Yes, my bro, I am a maniac. The motorcycle shop is working overtime, baby!

Work on my bike

2008-03-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

I have still yet to come up with a name for my bike. But I have done A TON to it lately. I have put the speedometer on. Not only is this a speedometer, but it has a tachometer, ambient temperature, engine temperature, tripmeter, and odometer. It installed pretty neat and it is even ran off of the motorcycle's battery. Here is a link to it:

Vapor Computer

To make the bike street legal, I had to install a horn and a brake light switch. Luckily, the WR already has a dual filament bulb and wiring all set up for the brake light. I just had to wire it up with a switch in between. I also switched the kill switch to my horn switch, and vice versa. I have a switch that can turn off the headlight, and go to high and low beam. I think that my bike is already set up for that except the plug to which the wires go into at the headlight. I am thinking about wiring it up, but I don't know for sure. Not sure if it is necessary or not.

So I got it inspected, insured and licensed. I was really pleased with Progressive motorcycle insurance. My main concern is that it is going to be stolen, so even with $100 deductible, it only costs $157 per year to insure it. That is cool.

I also have installed some nice Acerbis Rally Pro hand guards.

I have yet to install my James Dean jet kit or my FMF Titanium Q slip on exhaust. Tha should happen in the next week or so. I am getting it ready for the big Moab trip on the 10th - maybe on the 17th depending on how many people from MMMM group can come.

I have also been doing a lot of greasing of the bearings lately. A lot of people from the thumpertalk forum" say that the bearings come from the factory very dry. So I took off the front wheel, the forks, the handlebar, etc etc etc and greased the bearings. They were right. They were bone dry it seemed. So now my steering is smooth as a baby's bottom. I need to do that to my rear linkage, but that can happen another day. I also greased the bearings on my front wheel. Man - that is so nice.

Anyways, this has taken me about 10 or 12 nights working on my bike. Wow. That is a lot of work. But I just love to go out there and work on it. I love getting my hands dirty, I love the smell of grease, I love the thought of accomplishing something. It is just a good feeling to say that it is done.

Oh - and I have to say that nothing came apart, or fell off, or broke while I was driving to work this morning. Yes, it is warm enough here to ride a motorcycle to work. Let's hope that it stays this warm so we can start riding in the hills!

eddie

A New Era

2008-02-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

So here is the story:

I have been looking at this bike for about 2 weeks. I first saw it on KSL classifieds and thought that it was a screaming deal at $4400. I guess the only catch was that the bike was in Blackfoot, ID. I called him and he said that he still had it. I basically told him that I wanted it, but I didn't have the money for it right now. But I will have it around the middle of Feb after we close on our house.

So I have been checking every now and then just to make sure that it was still listed. I finally decided to give him a call last night - around 8:00pm - just to make sure he had it. He said, "Uhhhhhhh, I guess I still have it." Dang, I thought - he has already sold it! "A guy is coming from Provo tomorrow to look at it and I assume that he is going to buy it." Adrenaline started to flow through my veins. It would take a couple of hours to get to Blackfoot. How were the roads?

I called up my dad and asked him, and as I was talking with him, I thought that I should have just got on the internet to find out. But my dad said that he was more than willing to go and take a look at the bike. He just didn't want to buy me a lemon. He asked what my brothers were doing. I quickly gave them a call. Couldn't get TOC, but Handlebars came to my rescue! He quickly accepted, expecially since his next best alternative for the evening was to watch Supernanny.

Mom and dad graciously made arrangements to pay for the motorcycle so mom and dad - my check is in the mail. So tehy get there and I guess this guy just lives in a mansion. He was working here in Centerville last year for something and ended up at Full Throttle Motorsports buying new bikes for his entire family. It is a 2006 bought brand new in the spring of 2007 and rode it all of 350 miles. He has changed the oil in it 4 times. It has a dent in the exhaust protector and the clutch lever is bent. It has Renthal handlebars. Handlebars said it looks like it is in very good condition. I guess he is having his 5th baby and he wanted to get out of some debt that he had. So all it takes is just good timing.

I am so pumped. I am so giddy. Christmas truly does occur after December 25th. The Moab date is set - April 10-12. I am getting more and more excited about this! HOW COOL IS THAT? I will end up picking up the bike next weekend when we come up to IF and visit the family.

Eddie's Motorcycle Shop is open for business!

End of an era (and a friend)

2007-06-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

It is hard to fathom, hard to comprehend, hard to deal with. But the truth just has to be told. I sold my motorcycle on Saturday. Yes, the motorcycle shop is still open, but unfortunately, there is no motorcycle in the shop to work on. It has been almost 5 months since I have ridden him. The last being the Moab trip in February. With school and work, I have not had time to ride him at all.

But there is a good side to this story. Dream Bike v.2, a Yamaha WR450F, has a shorter ETA than before. Plus, because of the sacrifice, the Mrs. said I could get a bike with any accessories that I want! (within reason) A little information about the motorcycle:

Power is incredible
Weight is less that dream bike v.1
Yamaha has a better reputation for durability
I can get a Rekluse auto clutch
Stock gas tank is only 2.1 gallons, but I can get a Clarke Manufacturing 3.2 gallon gas tank

Yes, the sacrifice is great. I will miss a few rides including July 4th, Baumgartner, and a Moab trip. But in my mind, the ROI is greater this way. That is what keeps me going. I even have a picture in my office of v.2. I can almost feel the power now.

Documenting my life

2007-04-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

I feel that far too often things from our past are not written, videotaped, or photographed and are lost and will be soon forgotten. My dad is an excellent example of how to constantly document his life with a journal. I hope that one day I can have as many volumes of his life with my own version.

In a meager attempt to document my life, I have started to write in my journal. But like my previous post says, all of the precious thoughts that I have are saved for my personal hand-written journal, in which I share with very few people. But for those of you who wish to keep up in the life and times of eddie and his family, let me know and I can add you to my journal list.

Going along with the documenting theme, I have been taking more pictures as of lately and have started using the program "iWeb." It is a really easy program to use in which you can create a website. I love it and I am going to try and update it as much as I can - with pictures, videos and other stuff relating to our family life. The link is:

My site

eddie

4/11/07 6:58am update

2007-04-11T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well, grandson number 5 (from Allie's side), and grandson number 17 (from my side) was born at 5:43am this morning. Everyone is doing fine, even when Allie didn't have an epidural. He was 8lbs, 3oz, and 20 inches - one big boy! CP is already eating.

Allie did absolutely awesome. I can't even begin to say how well she did. Many times she said she wanted to quit, but she didn't. I love her so much.

eddie

4/11/07 2:08am update

2007-04-11T01:08:00.000-07:00

We were woken by a phone call around 12:00 this morning from LDS Hospital, wondering if we still wanted to have our baby. Of course we did. So we quickly gathered all of our stuff and left and called M.A. to come meet us at the hospital. We checked into the hospital, got all connected up, and around 1:45, her water was broken by the resident here.

We are now watching Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, a classic with Steve Martin and Michael Caine. Allie hasn't seen the movie, and the other movies were all action packed, so we wanted something soothing - or at least funny. That is what M.A. recommended.

So now it is a waiting game. We are excited for number 3! Hopefully, it won't take too long.

eddie

In the life and times of...

2007-04-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was thinking about writing in my journal. I had a few thoughts run through my mind:

1- I really wanted to write on my computer, but I thought better of it (computers are not allowed after we go to bed)
2- I really wanted to express some of my feelings in a written matter
3- I really don't want to send out a journal (to everyone) with some personal feelings

So I kind of decided to do a small experiment. Most of the time that I want to write in my journal, it is late at night. I do have some journal pages that I had left over from my mission, so I thought that I could put some of my personal feelings on those pages, and if I felt inclined to do so, I could put some of my secular history on the computer and send that out. Just as Nephi did of old, I will divide up my history in two parts, in two books.

So I started that last night. It felt really good to put some thoughts down on paper. It will be good to look back and see some of my thoughts as I go through my life. I hope that I can keep it up.

On the other side, though, I need to start with my day-to-day life. I hope to have a version ready pretty soon.

Another birthday 22 years ago...

2007-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

From the words of my father:

It is hard to imagine that Eddie is old enough to be baptized but his
baptism was held this evening. It was necessary to hold a special baptism
for him as Uncle Erv (Ervin Carlsen) died and his funeral was scheduled for
the same Saturday as was the stake baptism in which Eddie was to be baptized.
Eddie is a special young man and we enjoyed a special visit with the Bishop
(Bp. Petersen) where he was instructed and interviewed for his baptism.
Eddie is a pretty smart young man and knew an awfully lot about baptism
before the interview. We had a lot of family present for the baptism and
that made it special, too.
The family met at the stake house on Thursday evening. Mom and Dad were in
attendance as well as D ans S and others. TOC was given the
opportunity of baptizing Eddie and that made it special not only for Eddie but
also for TOC. It was a good missionary experience for him.

From the words of my mom:

I had the day off today. I got a lot of cleaning done and I baked bread and cookies and fixed a nice dinner.
We held a baptism tonight for Eddie. Our regular Stake baptism is on Saturday but we will be in SLC for Uncle Erve’s funeral so D made arrangements with the Bishop to have Eddie baptized tonight.
At 7:00 the bishop made the arrangements. He assigned TOC and Giant to give talks. Eddie had an interview with the Bishop – that took about an hour. Then we met at the Stake House. D had filled the font.
Our family, Uncle B, the Bishop and his two children were the only ones there. D conducted, I played the piano. TNSOG gave the opening prayer. Giant spoke on Baptism, TOC spoke on the Holy Ghost. Then D called on me and Uncle B to bear our testimonies. TOC baptized Eddie. He did the prayer word perfect – just like a pro. It was just beautiful. It was like a special family home evening with our family. I’m so grateful for good boys and a good husband.

I am grateful for my parents who kept journals. It makes me want to be better in doing so, especially when I think of all the memories that go by the way side as we are living our lives.

I am also thankful for my baptism. I am so blessed to be a member of God's church on earth. Far too often I take it for granted.

Am I really THAT old?

2007-03-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, today is the big 30. It didn't really sink in on how old I was until I was playing basketball this fall. Our church team went undefeated and went to regionals where we won our region. We were pretty happy about that. But I looked around our team and slowly did the math. Him? No. Him? Nope? Anyone? Nope. I was the oldest person on our team. Wow. Now that made me feel old.

But we had a cool party on Saturday where we had junk food (hot wings, little smokies in BBQ sauce, chips, dip, home made root beer) and we watched a few movies on our new projector that I got for my birthday. It was really nice.

The Mrs. also got me a really nice present - she framed my degree from the U in a really nice diploma frame. It was awesome. All in all, I have nothing to complain about. Even though I am 30, life cannot get any better.

Almost a year

2007-03-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Has it really been that long? The shop is still open, although it is not being used quite as much as it has been used in the past.

One trip this year has already passed - MMMM v.Spring2007. A good time was had by all, and almost everyone escaped the misery of crashing. One of the leaders of our group, TOG, got injured pretty badly. He took a nose dive right into the rock, cracked his helmet, split his chin and lip, and probably received a concussion.

Miraculously, he was able to drive out to the hospital and get the necessary treatment there in Moab. There were a couple of spiritual experiences that were had by the entire group that made the trip worth while.

Not sure when the next trip will be. We are still hoping for warmer weather where the sun can melt the snow on the neighboring mountain tops. One can only hope.....

Multiple MX rides

2006-06-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the layoff. I have been training a lot for a 17 mile race. But in between the running, the Mrs. let me get in some rides.

We have ridden quite a few times for this summer, probably the most I have ridden my bike ever. IT HAS BEEN AWESOME! Let me see if I can remember all of the rides up to now:

Stansbury front: TYG, Handlebars and I
Kelley Canyon: Handlebars, Disney and I
Stansbury Front: Handlebars and I
Around the "B": TOYG, TOC and Lil girl, Lil gator and I
Around the "B": TOYG, Crack and I
Around the "B": TOYG, Crack, TOG, TOC and I

It has just been the best. And summer isn't even over yet! The MX shop was also open for business, although the only upgrades it has received has been more room by cleaning and organizing! We had a carb party after one of those rides. Still wondering why I have an off-idle bog. Need to take off the carb and do some more fine tuning. I think that it has something to do with my needle clip position.

I helped fix TOYG's bike - after the big crash. We took off his front steering system and exchanged his steering bearings. What a trip that was! We had to take the dremel, a sledge hammer and huge peice of conduit to get them off - and then use the hammer to put the new ones back on! But we got them done and now it is as smooth as butter.

I fixed a flat on my bike, washed it a couple of times, and now it is sitting pretty for the next ride. I think that there is a flat in my front tire, as the last ride it was pretty low. But my last ride, I was feeling it really good - until I started comeing down. 2 crashes. Yah. No good. No good at all. And TOG was behind me and saw both of them. Not good again.

But El Diablo is purring right now. What a great feeling that is.

eddie (gottabehomeby)

A moderate success

2006-04-04T18:35:00.000-07:00

Sunshine and Handlebars come down here to Utah for the weekend for conference weekend. We got together for a ride only to find that there was still quite a bit of snow where we were going. There were two places up in the bidding on where we were to ride: Stansbury Trail near Grantsville or Five-Mile Pass near Lehi. I had ridden the Stansbury trail, but never been to Five-Mile Pass. HandleBars said that Five-Mile Pass was just a bunch of roads and very little singletrack. So we decided to ride the Stansbury.

We didn't get too far before we hit snow. We still had a lot of fun riding in the mud. There is something about getting dirty that is just satisfying. Riding along the hillsides was terribly fun.

One of the other reasons for their visit was to have a carb adjustment party. We all met in the motorcycle shop and started to dismantle our motorcycles. What fun that is. Too mad there wasn't enough time to do other things as will. I adjusted my pilot jet screw - I turned it a half turn out. This last week, I adjusted it a quarter turn out, but found that it didn't change to my expectations. So I turned is more, only to find my bike performing even worse. So, till another time when I can take my carb out and adjust it again. I will turn it in till it is a 3/4 turn out.

I am excited for the next adjustment. I will also install a light switch to turn my light off and still have my key turned on. That was kind of bugging me this ride, and will be a good modification to El Diablo.

eddie

The next trip

2006-03-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

In talking with a couple of the founding fathers of the MMMM group the other night, i was pleasantly surprised to know that on our March 31st motorcycle trip, there will be more than a few of us that are going. That makes for a very exciting time. At least that makes me really excited!

On a similar topic, my lovely better half keeps on reminding me about my birthday present. I guess that is coming up pretty soon, too, and along with that, I will officially be one year older. 29 years old! That makes me sound really old. Sorry for those of you that are older than I, and already feel old, but I haven't been there yet. I have always felt young. So this may be just a little shock to me.

Anyway, for those of you who do not get my weekly journal, but would like to receive a free copy, I will happily add you to my email list. This blog will contain some excerpts from my journal, but I would rather just keep my posts as short as possible (sorry about those where I just go off). Until next time.

eddie

Church basketball

2006-03-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

Far too often do the Mormon cliche movies hit the nail on the head. Sadly to say, I was a part of this, but gladly to say it was not me who was the perpetrator. An excerpt from my journal:

"Saturday morning we had another game. This time it was against the Viola ward. We have been injury plagued the last couple of weeks. It was the championship game for the stake. The regional standings have already been decided so the game really didn’t mean anything. We had 5 of our team show up, and one of them was Delbert Dillingham, being in his 50s. Anyway, we wanted to have a decent game with them, so we brought in a few other people and decided to forfeit the game but play the game nonetheless. Anyway, let me just preface this by saying this is classic church basketball.

My calves were feeling pretty good through the game – thanks Eric – and we were actually womping on them. They weren’t even playing very good. But right before the half, one of our guys gets fouled pretty bad, and he said, and I quote, “you hit my freakin’ hip!” The Viola guy just blew up! He started to tell the guy that he needed to shut his mouth and stop swearing! I am not sure if “freakin’” is a swear word to them, or if the guy thought that he heard wrongly and our guy actually swore, but he would not stop! I am not kidding in saying that it took about 5 complete minutes to restore order. And even then, order was not restored. He got in a yelling match with the refs, the refs really didn’t do anything about it, and so they just called the game.

Let me just go off on this topic for a bit. First of all, this is church basketball we are talking about. And on top of that, the game had no meaning whatsoever. It was meaningless. I have thought about the event for a while now and have drawn a few conclusions as to what actually happened and what some of the problems were. First of all, I don’t claim to be a person who does not say pseudo-swear words. I do try to refrain from saying “freaking” as I don’t like that, but I have to say that it has slipped out of my mouth at times. I think that any exclamation that is uncontrolled isn’t warranted nor approved. It is hard to go throughout a basketball game and not be angry with yourself and say something that you should not. Swearing, in my opinion, should not be tolerated and shows that person’s lack of intelligence to say something intelligent at that time. But to say that “freakin’” is a swear word and get all in a huff about it – that is going a little too far. Dude, take a chill pill and calm down.

The refs should have had better control on the entire situation. The guy was threatening our player. The moment he went and approached the guy like he did, the refs should have called a technical on him. If he didn’t calm down, they should have thrown him out of the game. There was no reason that he should have been doing what he was doing. They didn’t have that control, and the game got called because of it. Even the other team didn’t want to stop playing. And they couldn’t restrain him either. It was not very pretty.

The guy confronted the current stake sport directors, and the future sport director. He was uncontrollable. I think that in those instances when that person is just so out of control, there are some real issues about that person’s persona. One doesn’t just blow up because he heard a swear word during a church basketball game. Of course you can get angry, and complain to the refs and such, but blow up like that he did. We often joke about getting a T in church basketball will result in an interview with the stake president. In this case, I think an interview with the stake president and a clinical psychologist would be in order."

I would like comments on this. Please feel free to leave any comment you wish on this topic. Church basketball, sometimes, can be really fun. Other times, it is the exact opposite. Again, please leave comments.

eddie

One of my birthday presents

2006-03-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

My lovely better half has bought this wonderful present for me. It actually wasn't a purchase, but it is something that our credit union does for free. You can get any picture you want and put it on a card. Well, since the wife knows that I LOVE Van Halen, she decided to surprise me with this. Isn't it awesome!?!?!?!?!?

Isn't my wife awesome?? I love her so much!

eddie

The next motorcycle trip

2006-03-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

Well, since the latest Moab trip, I have been really excited to go on another trip. I have not even cleaned my bike since Moab, and it is badly in need of a cleaning. It just makes me sick thinking of it. But as my lovely better half has said, it does have a nice spot in the garage. It is sitting on its stand, so that is really good. I am excited to get out and clean that bike.

Soon, but not soon enough. March 31st cannot come fast enough. TOC, TYG, and maybe a few of the other MMMM group will be coming down to Zion for the weekend. I will be ready as the motorcycle shop is open and ready for business. I am excited to get started.

eddie

Today at church

2006-03-12T17:10:00.000-08:00

The wife and I gave talks. We have known for quite a while so we have been preparing for a while (yah right). G&G came to church so they looked after the little ones. We were assigned to talk from the little red "Family Guidebook" that the church publishes. I had not looked at in depth, but it does provide some guidelines about teaching the gospel in the home. The second counselor had previously talked with Alice when he assigned the talk to us. He called Saturday night to verify of our assignment. I answered and denied knowledge of the assignment. He got his blood pressure up a bit. It was pretty funny.

I cried a lot during the talk. It was not intended to do such. It went very well, though. I must have done a good job as I received comments from it all afternoon. The best one was from a priest, and he said that it was the best talk that he has listened to. That was a nice comment - especially coming from a priest.

If you want to read the talk, you can download it here.

Please leave a comment on what you think.

The shop has officially opened for business

2006-03-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

The garage has been cleaned, the van is in the garage, and business is finally open. Let the games begin.

eddie

My journal entry for the MMMM trip

2006-03-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

Moab Trip – Spring 2006
February 23-25

The time had finally arrived for when we were to get together for the coveted Moab trip. I woke up earlier than I thought – even earlier than Jack and Andy. That is saying something as they wake up pretty early. I had quite a bit of stuff to do before the trip so I started. I got all of my stuff put together and tried to get out as fast as I could. I was in contact with Darin and Caleb the entire morning, getting hourly updates on where they were.
I was really worried about Darin’s bike. I used quite a bit of cell minutes last night because I was trying to help Darin get his bike to idle. He had just bought a new exhaust system – a full Yoshimura head, mid and tailpipe. I guess we are all pretty excited to see what the full system does compared to just the tail section. He installed it, and his bike would not idle. Anyway, after taking the carb off multiple times, he finally got it kind of running. He put the throttle cable in a tension so it idled.
Anyway, it was kind of a short night last night. I was thinking of Darin’s bike and I also had to do a little of work before I left. I had to fold all of the laundry and clean up the house. Alice appreciated that. But I did stay up until 2:00. It wasn’t that bad to wake up. I was just kind of worried because I wasn’t going to get very much sleep over the next couple of days. But hey – you gotta do what you gotta do.
I was kind of late getting over to Eric’s place. I believe that I was the last one to arrive. But, I must say, and add to my defense, that Eric was still the one for whom we were waiting. We got loaded up and we were on our way. Alice was meeting us there because I wanted Andy to see all the motorcycles all loaded up. She had to take Jackson to preschool so she was a little late getting there. So to be fair to Eric, we really weren’t waiting for him, but he was the last person to get all of his stuff ready.
We also talked with Rusty – RUSTY!!!!!!!!!! (a la Kramer) – Jackman, Jacob’s friend, about where we wanted to ride. There was some previous talk about where we wanted to ride in emails. Eric wanted to ride what was called the devil’s racetrack, and Jacob wanted to ride what was called the Factory Butte. Well, Rusty – RUSTY!!!!!!! – wanted to ride the butte and stay the night in Hanksville. Well, we really didn’t decide what we were going to do so we said we would talk more as the ride continued.
We were on the road. It was Eric, Darin, Dallas, and I in George’s truck, and Jacob, Caleb, Ryan, Ben, Corey and Rusty in Rusty’s truck. They had brought Bruce L’s trailer from Pocatello and used that to tote their bikes. They had 7 bikes, Rusty’s XR 350 as a spare, in the trailer and we had the red trailer towing our bikes. Caleb had forgotten his backpack in Pocatello, so he had asked Eric to lend him some swim trunks. As we were driving along, Kynda called up Eric and said that there was a pair of swim trunks sitting on the kitchen table. It was kind of funny, because Eric was naming off certain things and saying that he had them – one of those being his swimsuit.
We stopped in Wellington and filled up our bikes with gas. We called the other truck and they were over a half hour behind us. I guess they stopped in Price and got some maps. There were some minor delays in getting the maps. But the maps they got were awesome. I wish that I could have that map. I am hoping to get in contact with them and get the file or something and get it printed at Kinko’s. The people who put it together are the Sage riders and I guess they are fighting a lot for areas where some people want to close to OHV use.
Well, we said we would meet them at the Hanksville exit, and talk more about where we wanted to go and ride today. We arrived sooner than they did, so we climbed the nearby hill and threw rocks and stuff like that. We finally saw them coming, and they just turned and went down the road. We were very disappointed in that. I think that the consensus in our truck was that we didn’t want to ride the factory butte, but ride the Devil’s racetrack. We were extremely disappointed – to say the least.
We got to Hanksville and talked with the group. It was still a little ways from Hanksville to the butte. But a comment on Hanksville – THERE IS NOTHING THERE! I can’t believe that Rusty wanted to stay there that night. We finally arrived at the butte – and my first impression was that here was NOTHING to ride. I was fairly surprised when we started to ride and found a huge drop-off into a pretty cool area. The ground was just this dirt that just sank when you hit it. Rusty – RUSTY!!!! – called it poof dirt. You just had to hit fast and let your momentum carry you. It was an amazing area. It was really odd because the Sierra Club wanted to shut this area down. There is nothing out there except dirt! Why would you want to shut that area down?
There was a creek crossing that different people found the deep spot in. I didn’t find that spot. It was really odd. Some people came out really soaked, and others came out dry – like me. There was one part where Dallas was not able to keep the bike going fast enough – especially for his frame. But he didn’t make it up this hill and so we all pushed him up. It was awesome.
We ended the ride with no problems – that was nice. We packed up and headed to Hanksville. Again, let me tell you – there is nothing in Hanksville. We went to the gas station and talked with the attendant. She said that the restaurant should be open, but looked over, and it was not. Well, I think that put the nail in the coffin – we were going to Hanksville. Dallas was hurting. We didn’t stop for lunch and he was starving. He did get a burrito – past expiration date – at the convenience store, so that help him over. We stopped at a bar in Green River and had dinner there. The Sage Riders were selling 5MOH t-shirts there and I bought one. The shirts were for $20, and $5 went to help their cause. It was a pretty cool shirt, too.
The hot tub was nice. More than once did I like the decision to come to Green River. I tried to get on the internet and do a video chat with Alice. We tried that at home and it worked there. But we couldn’t get it to work at the hotel. It was kind of nice because cell coverage at the hotel was not good at all. We had uninterrupted talking time. It was nice.
The next day, we got up and around and made our way to the truck. We wanted to go and do the 5MOH trail today. We ended up getting to the trailhead around 10:30. I am not sure if it was fast enough, or just the right time. It was pretty cold in the morning, but we did go there to ride.
I think that we all forgot how trying that trail really was. It was just one thing after another. I think that we all were kind of wanting to try out and back, but we just forgot how hard it was. There was still some snow on the ground in certain areas that made the trail less than usable. But we ended up completing the trail. I wrecked a couple of times. The pre-crux got me this time pretty good. Tried the hill three dang times and messed up all three times. Looking back on the video, I almost made it up the hill the last time. But I did eat it pretty good. I haven’t had a wreck like that in a long time.
I did conquer on of my nemesises on that trail. The post-crux had been nagging me for the entire time that we were waiting for the trip. It had been nagging me for along time. And I took it without even thinking twice. It felt good. Caleb took a different way, and a few other people did not make it. I felt really good about that move.
The other place that I wrecked was the end of the face. It was that bad, except my bike ended up squishing my leg between it and a rock. It didn’t feel that good. I felt bad that I did that. That was a stupid wreck. The rest of the ride, I felt really good with it. It was extremely taxing, and extremely challenging. Maybe it has bee too long since I have ridden the trail, but I think that it is doable to go out and back. There are a few difficult spots going the opposite way, but there are also difficult spots going the way we went. I still stand by my want to go out and back. I would be more than happy to just go out and back and do that for a trip. That would be worth it to me.
We got back to the truck and I was beat. I really just wanted to pack it in and call it a night. Dallas was wasted. Corey was battling a cold the entire trip so he was wasted. Rusty was battling his bike the whole trip so he was wasted. Eric was wanting to ride some more. Well, he convinced a couple of people to ride, and then a few more, and then a few more. We decided to do a small loop that had the Green trail to the orange trail, to the blue trail. We rode to the trailhead and were kind of disappointed to find out the trail was rated a 1. 5MOH was a 5. How fun is this going to be?
IT WAS A BLAST! It wasn’t hard, and so getting the bikes and opening them up was just fun. I think that I was standing up for most of the trail. It was so hard to stand up near the end – my legs were just killing me. It was a very exhausting trip. The green and blue trails were pretty easy – kind of just the whoops and stuff like that. The orange trail was more challenging. The blue trail was easy. But it was super fun. We ended up going the same distance as we did on the 5MOH trail with the last trail. It was well worth it. THANK YOU ERIC!
We ate at the truck stop this night – HELLO HEARTBURN! It was good as we had an entire area to ourselves. It was nice as we could be pretty loud and obnoxious, and no one even cared. The hot tub felt really good tonight again. How grateful I was that we were staying in Green River.
We got up earlier than yesterday and had breakfast at the hotel. Did I mention that there was a continental breakfast? Free? I would venture to say that it would be worth it to stay there even if we rode all the time in Moab. It was really nice.
We decided (from all of the people who I spoke to) last night that we were going to ride in Moab and do the Gemini Bridges/Golden Spike/Poison Spider trail system. We also found out that we needed to leave Moab by 4:00 so Corey could get to Boise on time for his flight. So anyway, we got to the trailhead. I don’t know what it was, but I was the last one on the trail. I am not sure if I have too much stuff to deal with, but it really bothered me to be the link that trail.
THIS WAS THE TRAIL THAT I WAS WAITING FOR! I love riding the slickrock. Golden Spike and Poison Spider was where it is was at! That is what I was waiting for the whole trip. 5MOH was just so taxing, but so fun at the same time, you never really got to fully enjoy the trail. This was the trail that I purely enjoyed the most. It was also so fun because after 5MOH, this trail felt like nothing! You would go over obstacles and just think that it wasn’t that hard. You would go down obstacles that you would definitely think twice. But it is nothing compared to 5MOH. It was just a purely fun trail.
I had another nemesis conquered this trip. There was this spot where I Corey and Ben made it the last time we rode this trail. I saw that spot, and I knew that I just had to try it. I was a little nervous in doing it, but I said what the heck. I went up to it and just did it. I felt so awesome. Caleb tried it and didn’t make it. That made it feel even better!
Corey, Ben and I were heading on and others were just goofing off around some up and down hills. I ended up being in the lead and we were almost finished with the ride. I actually got to the rode where it leads down to the trailhead. Rusty and Ben and I turned around, saying that there was nothing left to ride except back to the truck. It was going to take that long anyway. We met up with others and they just passed us by. What is up with that? I reluctantly turned around and saw that everyone was stopped. Good, I thought, now we can all turn around! I was sadly met with everyone huddling around Ryan with him holding his arm. That’s not good, I thought. Well, a correct prognosis from the trained and licensed PT Eric Roberts correctly diagnosed him with a broken clavicle. Of course Jacob was telling everyone what the clavicle is and how it is connected with the rest of the body and how many muscles control that part of the body and what their names are and how many ligaments were stretching because of the injury and why it was important to do this and do that and blah blah blah. Jacob! A man is injured! We don’t want to have an anatomy class in the middle of nowhere explaining to us how the body works!
Well, luckily a jeep was driving by and they helped Ryan down to the parking lot. Rusty and I took off for the trucks. I was about to take Rusty on the back of my bike (his isn’t registered to ride on the highway) but Darin drove up and let him take his bike. It was nice as it was about 10 miles to the truck. And even on the highway, that is pretty far.
We loaded up the bikes, and decided to take off. Rusty’s truck decided to go to Moab and get a prescription. I guess they talked Ryan out of it, as they turned left at the highway towards Green River. Our truck decided to go to Sovereign Singletrack and ride there. That was another good move. I wasn’t terribly excited about another ride, but that was well worth it. Sovereign had changed quite a bit since the last time I had ridden there. It was a good ride. I rode pretty good on this trail but I was following Eric and I got to a spot in the trail and just stopped. What the heck was I thinking? Eric went over it, and I didn’t. MAN! Another nemesis! I felt so bad after that. I mean, come on! Eric made it over that spot and I didn’t! What a slap in the face!
Actually, I thought a lot about those types of things. Each different obstacle can present anyone with problems. One obstacle can be so easy for someone, but the next person may struggle like nothing to get over it. But the next one will just be the opposite. Jacob’s wreck on the Z was a perfect example. It was just a fluke that happened and he wrecked – and wrecked badly! It is just a weird thing.
The trip home was uneventful. We stopped in green River for dinner. We ate at Arby’s and also got the laptop out with all of the pictures that we had taken. Darin hadn’t taken very many pics, so most of them came from me. That was a surprise as last time, I hardly took any pictures at all. I was glad that I had taken so many. There were quite a few pictures that I took that looked really good. I was quite impressed with my photo taking ability.
We arrived in SLC around 10:15. Compared with other MMMM trips, that was pretty early. Alice was glad to see me – although she was asleep when I got home. I was glad to see her, too. I was really tired. As was stated before, sleep is a commodity that does not come very easily on a MMMM trip. It felt really good to climb into bed and fall asleep.

The Spring Moab Trip

2006-03-08T10:31:00.000-08:00

It was a fun trip this year. I am working on my entire explanation of the trip, but for now, the pictures will have to do. You can see them here:

MMMM Spring 2006

A fun time was had for all. There was one casualty. Ryan broke his clavicle - similar to what happened to me last year about the same time. We all have seen him and he seems to be making quite a recovery. I think that his break was cleaner than mine so he is recovering faster. I remember I was bed ridden for almost a week. But hey, extra love from the family doesn't hurt!

The next major ride is coming in July. We will be in central Idaho near a campground called Baumgartner. By the way, for those of you who don't know, there are only 133 more days till then!

eddie

Spring Moab Trip - 2006

2006-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

My fellow brethren of the MMMM (Mormon Motorcycle Men of Moab) and I along with the designated friend, Rusty Jackman, had a wonderful time in the southern regions of Utah this last weekend. I have not posted pictures from this trip, but the pictures from the previous MMMM escapade is well accounted for at this website:

here

Check back frequently and updates to the site will follow.

eddie