Leaving Sturgis I headed for Mt Rushmore. A lot of tourist traps on the way but the view was worth the drive and $10 to park. If you have a family with kids there were plenty of things to see and do with them for sure. I headed for the hills, Black Hills that is :) I did a ride 15 minutes away from Mt Rushmore and it was super cool. Almost forgot the night before I was talked into putting on a number plate for a weekly race series in Sturgis. I believe they do it every Wed fo

Who knew there was mountain biking in Miami Beach. This was our third visit to Oleta State Park in North Miami Beach. The park touts over 15 miles of trail from green to black with most being blue. A lot of the blacks were not open and looked to be in an area where there was some groundwork happening. We rented full suspension Stumpjumpers and covered about 10 miles. The trails were plenty rooty with a few rocks here and there. The only climbing amounted to a bunch of quick

Here are some figures from the trip. The total mileage was 6724 covering 16 states. We visited 3 National Parks, stayed in 23 different hotels for a total of 44 nights. We ended up doing a total of 40 rides for a total of 707 miles. We rode anywhere from 2,500ft to over 11,000ft and from desert to high mountains. Social distancing was fairly easy as most of the hotels were not very crowded and we were able to cook and grill at a lot of the properties. We only ate out a handfu

First rainy day in 40 days. So, no riding today just a Costco run while Erin was working. And did not see much of Louisville, just passed through the downtown. Costco did have some great buys on wine! We were staying at a hotel on the west side of Louisville in Indiana and this was a walking/biking bridge across the Ohio River to Kentucky, I was going to take to get to some trails. Not today! On to Charleston WVa. #mtbblog #travelblog #marriott #bonvoy #westernroadtrip #selfs

Today we are in Missouri and it turns out right by the Missouri River. Since my bike was stolen I decided to take Erin's ebike out for a little spin. I decided to ride it without any assist since it was flat and smooth trails. I was surprised by how well the bike rode without the motor. I rode right from the hotel to a little park that had a few singletrack trails that offered some views of the river. Next stop is Louisville after a 4-hour drive. No update on the stolen bike

After my ride yesterday I returned to the hotel just before noon and parked right in front of the hotel and locked the bike on the rack since it was only going to be a short time before checking out. After taking a shower and eating lunch I gathered up stuff to load the car and found the cable cut and bike stolen in about an hour or so. Not a way to end a great trip. Hopefully, the criminal will get caught and jailed. #mtbblog #mtbtrip #mountainbiketrip #lakewoodcoloradosucks

Today was a workday for Erin and since we have a 7-hour drive to our next stop in Kansas, I decided to do a ride close by again. It was only 11 min to the trailhead. The ride was fairly easy but did have 3,200ft of climbing in 16 miles. Snowy peaks in the background. It was in the '60s at the top and around 80 at the end of the ride at the bottom. The ride started near the town of Morrison I could see the Red Rocks park from the top. Remains of Walker's home at the top who ha

Today for our last ride in Colorado we took a 30 min ride up the mountain to a town called Evergreen. The ride ended up being 13 miles with 2,000 ft of climbing and offered great vistas at the top. There were again a lot of riders and hikers out enjoying the trails. Many big rocks again. The climbs were good with switchbacks. Erin was feeding chipmunks at the top. Tomorrow Erin is going to work and then a long drive through Kansas. Chasing the ebike Rain coming in the distanc

Today we drove 15 min to the trailhead to ride trails in an around the Red Rocks area. The ride ended up being 18 miles with 2,700ft of climbing. Being Saturday we saw a lot of riders and hikers on the trails. The weather was nice, about 80 degrees and it actually rained a little at one point. Notice the dirt track in the background Apparently there are many dinosaur footprints, (which we saw ) and other related artifacts in the area drawing a lot of families with kids. One m

Today we decided to take the gondola up to the top of Vail Mountain to ride the cross country trail, Grand Traverse. The temperature at the bottom was in the 60's and at the top, at 11,200 ft it was 55. To warm up we did a downhill run down Big Mamba. Very long and many many turns and jumps. Then on to Grand Traverse. It was uphill from the top but most of the climb it felt very level but the lack of air made it seem much worse. Then we turned around to ride it back and found

Today we planned a ride from our hotel to the North Trail. The ride was about 13 miles with the bike path back and 2,000 ft of climbing, The ride offered great views of Vail Mountain. We took it easy since I had a broken spoke that needed to be fixed. There were many switchbacks up and down throughout the route. Tomorrow we plan to ride the lift up Vail and do multiple downhill runs. #vail #mtbblog #mountainbikeblog #northtrailvail #bonvoy #marriott #mtbtravel #mtbtrip

Today was a workday for Erin and Mark and Heidi headed home so I did a solo ride from the hotel. It was a quick ride to the trailhead climb of about 2 miles up to 9,300ft. From there the trails in the aspens were great finishing with a bombing downhill back to Aspen. There was an old mine in the area with remnants still around. The stream at the bottom looked refreshing although the temperature was only 70. Today we leave Aspen and take a short drive to Vail for our next stop

Today was a high mountain ride starting at 8,000 ft headed to almost 10,000. The air is a tad thin climbing up the top of the mountain. Heidi and Mark joined us for an epic adventure. We ended up with 30 miles and 3,500 ft of climbing. At the top of the mountain. The work was done and the rest of the ride was a blast. This trail was a 2 mile smooth flowy downhill. We saw hang-gliders and hikers along the way. Everyone was having fun in the aspens. #mtbblog #aspen #mountainbik

We started early in Moab with a ride 7 miles from our hotel. the trails were mixed with desert riding and Slickrock. The temperature was in the 80's by 8:30 and was 91 when we finished at 10:30. Time to move on to high elevation riding in Colorado. Interesting brown stripe to follow on the slick rock. After a 3 hour ride to Aspen, we settled in at the W which is a very nice Marriott property. Welcome champagne and tray of goodies. The hotel does not seem very crowded and ever

Today was going to be all about Arches National Park. We drove 7 miles to the trailhead and did some riding on trails before taking the 4 miles into the park via Willow Springs Road. Along the way, we saw 138 million-year-old dinosaur tracks. Our plan was to return the same route and take a picture of them but we exited out the main entrance. We saw half a dozen arches including this on which is Windows Arch Erin was checking her stats. We ended up with 32 miles with about 2,

After checking out of our hotel in Grand Junction we headed out for a ride at the 18 road trails. I selected a route that took us up the mountain 2 times and allowed for a good sampling of the trails. This was probably our least favorite area in Fruita that we rode. It was still very fun and worth doing. The soil here was different and not as sandy. It had ruts and holes from horses in some areas. After finishing we drove 1.5 hours to Moab and had a late lunch. Had a little p

Today we rode trails near Grand Junction. I was planning on riding 23 but ended up with 17. The temperature was 75 at the start but ended up in the low 90's at the end. Heidi and Mark met up with a local and had a guided tour. The trail system was massive and you could ride all day. The cave was pretty cool and I did figure out it went all the way through and came out on the other side. Tomorrow we are riding flowy trails before heading to Moab Ut. #mtbblog #bonvoy #lunchloop

For our first ride in Fruita Co, we chose the Kokopelli area with many cool loop options. The trailhead was 20 minutes from the hotel and 10 minutes from Mark and Heidi's campsite. The weather was cooler at the start in the '70s and overcast. For the first couple hours, it was pleasant and then the sun appeared shooting the temperature into the '90s with no shade of course. We did mostly blues with a few green and blacks mixed in. The trails were dry, sandy with loose on ledg

For our last day in Virgin, we did a shorter ride near the hotel. Although it was near there was a 4-mile drive up a really dusty road to the trailhead. Erin had to work but Mark and Heidi were able to ride. It was mostly a Slickrock ride with lots of twists and turns with vistas everywhere. However, there was no paint to follow only cairns and it became hard to follow the trail at times. On to Fruita Colorado. #mtbblog #bonnoy #guacamoletrail #travelblog #moxiecycling #wicke

Today's ride was from our hotel in Virgin Ut. It was a couple of miles to the trailhead and a 24-mile ride for a total of 28 with about 2,000ft of climbing. We started early but it got hot fast! We finished by noon and headed to the room for lunch and then to the pool. #mtbblog #mountainbikeblog #vacationblog #jemtrail #virginutah #moxiecycling #wickedgirl #bonvoy