Back in the Saddle!!

Path? What path?

So, for all those of you that were worried about my bike crash: don't be. I am back to 100% and have been out riding again the last two weekends.

On the 19th, Fern and I road 14 miles. We checked out some exciting new territory as well. We rode back into the mountains on a road out of town (mostly gravel, mountain bike a must), and at 6 miles out of town, we found a little village with smiley, happy farmers.

The Village. The fields you see are actually potato fields: apparently it is one of the only things that can grow in the soil where we are.

We then could pick any number of trails and head up any number of hills. We selected a good-looking path and eventually reached the top of one of the many hills outside of Lanzhou.

View during the Ride up (it's awesome!)

What a view! Watch out for the sheep on the way down! (Yes, those are sheep on the far hill with their shepherds)

On the way down the mountain, we discovered some caves. There are caves all over the hills. Supposedly they are dug by people who use the gravel for building houses, roads, etc... Check out the fun video of us going down and finding the cave. Its a little long but the fun stuff is at the end.

Some of the ride down (Make sure you watch the end: It's kinda funny :)

Then this last weekend, Fernando and I went biking again (16 miles) back up toward the village. This time we took two of my graduate students: Jacy and Jerry. I met them around 9:30 Saturday and then we went to the bike store where Fern and I bought our bikes. The store has 2 nice rental mountain bikes which we rented for them.

Fern met up with us and, after a quick stop for some Gatorade (yes, it is a new development: Gatorade is actually here), we were off to the hills.

Getting ready to go (me, Jacy, Jerry, and Fernando)

The road into town.

We rode up the road toward the village and, after some bike switching (Fern liked the rental better and Jerry was having some trouble with the gears of the rental). In the end, I ended up on Fern's bike, Jerry ended up on mine, and Jacy and Fern were on the rentals. We hit the town then up the mountains (sorry, hills).

Short break in the town.

So, we start up the mountain and we are taking a break. Jacy and Jerry say to me, "Next time we go with you, Jerry and I will have to eat breakfast before we come!"

I say, "You didn't eat breakfast!?" Now, me being the smart guy that I am, I had brought a Snickera bar with me. We were going to be riding over the lunch hour I thought a snack would be good.

But since I wasn't hungry yet and I had eaten breakfast (instant oatmeal, thanks to the package Jane sent: Thanks, Jane!!), I cut the snicker in half and shared. So, yes, that is something in his mouth, my Snickers :). Oh and the guy up on the hill in the back is Fernando checking out the view and where to go next.

Heading up the hill.

The four of us at the top.

View from the top. Wow!

Lanzhou cave tours coming soon.

While riding around, we found some caves (see video above). After riding around the hills for a bit, Fern accidentally checked his watch and determined that his wife was gonna kill him. So, we headed down as quickly as safely possible.

Once we got down to the main road, the rest of the ride was very exciting. Actually for a while, it turned into a race between Jerry, Fern, and me. Eventually we stopped and had to wait for Jerry to catch up. This is where Jerry got the nickname, Slow Poke Jerry. Fern left us at this point to hurry home to his bride, and the boys and I made our way back to town.

What a great day! If anyone knows the guy who invented bikes, make sure you thank him.