Almost Gypsy Soul

If a large number of pictures is an indicator of how much fun a weekend was then no one should attend WYDAHO bike festival at Grand Targhee. ever. never.ever. But I'll let you in on a little secret, I was having too much fun and I failed to remember to take out my camera....except for that ONE time. Horseshoe Canyon Trail System WYDAHO bike festival is a 4 day festival over Labor Day weekend held at Grand Targhee Ski Area in Alta, WY. The festival is a fundraiser for Teton Valley Trails and Pathways, the organization responsible for building and upkeep of the super awesome trails in Teton Valley. The festival has group rides, skills clinics, raffles, music, drinks, food, giveaways, downhilling, tons of trails, shenanigans (keg pull, strider races, hill climbs, huffy toss) and a whole lotta fun! So get out there enjoy the outdoors and have so much fun that you forget to document it!

In my quest to expand my mountain biking destinations, I called up an old high school friend who lives in Fruita to see if he might be around and interested in biking over Memorial Day weekend. Lucky for me, not only was he interested, but his wife and their neighbors/friends were too. A couple days on the trails turned into a small camping trip and a whole lotta fun! We started the weekend out by visiting my friend at his place of employment....which just happens to be Peach Street Distillery in Palisade. My friend...well...he's a distiller. Now that is a cool job and he gave us a behind the scenes tour. Rode them all, but Joe's Ridge to Kessel Run was my favorite The next day we headed out to 18 Road for some camping and biking. I'm here to tell you this is how to bike. We would bike for an hour or so, come back to the camper and refresh with shade, snacks and beer .... gatorade ....beer. Then out we'd go for another ride. Jen, Tyler & Will on Joe...

One of my goals for 2016 was to get more involved in my community. A new friend from spin class had been bugging me about coming to the mountain bike club meetings for a while and I finally caved. And I'm glad that I did. The Sweetwater Mountain Bike Association (SMBA) is a great bunch of guys and a hidden gem of a trail system in Green River, WY. Wilkins Peak was even voted on the 2016 Best Mountain Bike Trails by Singletracks.com. Trail maintenance on Brent and Mike's Each year the club puts on a Trail Days to introduce people to the Wilkins Peak Trail System and mountain biking. The club, along with sponsors, offers a free pancake breakfast, guided rides on the trail system, night ride and raffles/giveaways. This year we were even able to raffle off a brand new Trek mountain bike with the support of Bike & Trike in Rock Springs. The event was attended by approximately 100 people, the most we've ever had. Trek bike raffle winner Logan (L) with President ...

I re-started spin classes a little over 2 years ago with no intention whatsoever to ever go biking. I used it solely as a calorie scorching workout, but then the Mountain Bikers happened. The talked me into getting on a real bike on a real(not so real hard core) mountain biking trail, which was actually a double track and not really a mountain bike trail at all. This summer I really put some miles on the ole' Giant that I bought last year. My first mountain bike and I couldn't be happier with it. So where am I going with all of this? I've learned a lot about myself and about life from mountain biking! Things I never though possible....are. 1. You are more capable than you think Nothing makes you feel stronger and more alive than crushing a drop, a corner, a steep hill that you've never had enough confidence to even try. When you nail it, you nail it and you are on top of the world. Have faith, be confident.....you are capable of great things. 2. Be ...