Knee check...A classic road ride through Colorado National Monument.

FR being the conservationist he is, waters a dead tree in the Monument.

A day after barely missing disaster in Boulder after survivng a rather nasty crash event at the start of my CX race. It was time for some quality "buddy" time and to make sure my newly bruised knee would still work OK. Bring to the plate Charlie Brown, owner of the Mountain Pedaler in Eagle and Fred Reynolds...two guys who road tripping with and then riding with are guaranteed to provide some great entertainment as well as the unsolicited attacks that only your best riding buddies can provide. The drive over to Grand Junction to ride the Colorado National Monument ride back and forth to Fruita was full of the normal lunacy of all of our road trips, and the ride itself was simply amazing, as this ride always is. This is one of the routs of the old "Coors Classic" and is plain and simply my absolute favorite road ride. To make it even better, the Monument had just been COMPLETELY REPAVED with brand spankin new super smooth asphalt....it was SICK! When riding with these knuckle heads...one thing is for certain. Despite the normalcy of the beginning and middle of these rides, the attacks are sure to come at some point. The ride over to Fruita was sane enough, and as usual I was dropped on the descent due to the fact the Fred Reynolds is just the "death wish" descender, plummeting down winding roads at breakneck speeds....Charlie Brown is not far behind, and then there is me just trying to get to the next climb safe...but arriving in Fruita with a huge smile just the same. Then it's back up into the Monument where the shit is going to hit the fan...it always does, just when and who is not known. The first effort comes from Fred and Charlie and I decide to sit back and let them go as there is waaaay to much climbing left on the way back...I've learned this lesson before. They arrive at the visitor station well ahead of me and we regroup at the potty. As the climbing intensifies the attacks continue and are viscous. We all take turns trying to do our best Lance or Contador or whoever the hell we think we are until we finally arrive at the guard station on the GJ side....IT NEVER CHANGES, WE ALL LOVE TO TRY AND PUT THE HURT ON EACH OTHER AND ALWAYS WILL. And you know what....we do indeed hurt each other, but soooo much fun.

The trip is completed with a stop at Outlaw Ribs in Parachute, if you have never eaten there...DO IT, this is the place Vance Johnson (ex Bronc0)opened two years ago and the food ROCKS...get the ribs, dont mess around!

Thanks for another GREAT day guys...one for the books!

My knee is hurt from yesterday's crash and doing some funky stuff as I post this blog, keeping my fingers crossed it's just soft tissue stuff.