What have I been doing?

Well, lots of things actually.

-Lost my job
-Buzzed all of my hair off
-Saw the Black Keys and My Morning Jacket at Red Rocks
-Went to a family reunion in Iowa
-Looking forward to a birthday without SNIAGRAB
-I'm going to ride my bike with reckless abandonment this weekend

That's just the short list and I'm really going to concentrate on the 3rd and 4th points above in this post. I'll be posting plenty about the others later...

Simply put, Red Rocks Kicks Ass! I don't think I've ever seen a bad show there. Here comes the pathetic part though; I haven't seen a show there since The Dead in 2003. Funny how kids can put a damper on your concert attendance! I've been wanting to see the Black Keys and My Morning Jacket for a while. Although I think The Black Keys would be better in a small club, both put on great shows. Here are some pics of the show:

The Black Keys

Still figuring out my new camera...getting psychedelic..

My Morning Jacket

Some nice blinding light!

An incredible red moon rose in the distance as My Morning Jacket took the stage.

The next morning, Ab and I loaded the kids in the family truckster and headed off to IA for a family reunion. It had been three years since I had been back to the event and I'm glad I went. We pretty much did everything. It started Saturday with a big BBQ at Moquoketa Caves State Park. What an awesome place:

There are several caves in the park. This is the entrance to one that you can walk about a half mile through to an exit. Well worth visiting if you're on the Eastern side of Iowa.

On Sunday Ab's folks reserved 6 canoes for the family to float down the South fork of the Maquoketa river. We floated 8 miles total and had a cookout over a fire in the middle. It's really amazing how many bluffs and hills are on this side of Iowa. It was a great time and I look forward to doing it again:

We had three to most of the canoes with plenty of beer and food to go around.

On Monday I was able to sneak away for a few hours and get in a ride. I had done some research the week before and found an area called FDR Park near Dubuque. Apparently, this was a city park that Dubuque had stopped maintaining years ago (decades?). The information I had was sketchy at best (Perfect!) and I knew I was going to have to do some exploring to figure out the area.

I arrived in Dubuque and parked at a softball field where one pieces of info said there was good access:
I crossed over a small stream and down a mowed path to the left of this picture and looked for the single track. It didn't look very worn in and there were definitely not any bike tracks to be seen. I second guessed myself and rode toward the fields and looked for another way. Convinced that the original way was the way to go, I went back across the stream but hit a rock in the murky water and went over my bars into the water. Nice. I was totally soaked and had hit my funny bone on my leg (It's not funny!). Now I was determined to figure this thing out and rode back down the cut path without bike tracks. Then I heard an ATV fire up and start hauling ass my way. Great. I stopped and waited for the confrontation. A guy in a softball shirt and sporting a camo hat rode up to me. "Do you have permission to be back here?" I told him that I had some information on a bike trail in the area and asked him if he knew anything about it. He said "No." So I'm thinking, what could happen..."Huh, well I didn't see a no trespassing sign. Is this private property?" "Yes." was his answer. "OK. Well, I guess I'll go back to my car then.." as I'm turning my bike around. "Do you understand me?" He says in a authoritative all knowing voice. "Yah. That's why I'm going back to my car. Thanks for your help." I rode back to the car and quickly vacated the area.

The other directions I had for the same area had an access point near a kids zoo. That was the ticket:

I went through the gate and quickly found my way onto some sweet trail:

There is an unbelievable amount of tight single track in this area. Next time I'd love to ride with somebody that knows the area. Even so, I was able to ride for 2.5 hours and not hit the same trail twice.

I worked my way off a bluff and down into a valley with a small stream running through it. There were signs, outhouses, buildings and the swing set above all overgrown with vegetation. The trail actually went through this swing set. It was kind of eerie in an "I am Legend" kind of way. I was just waiting for a zombie to get me! The zombies are not what I should have been worrying about:

There are a bunch of these abandoned mine shafts all over the park. Most are surrounded with an orange warning fence like above. Some have steel grates over the top of them:

Happy to say that I didn't even get close to falling in one. Somebody put a ton of effort in this trail system. The trails flow well and loop into each other seamlessly. I had the feeling I was lost a couple times but found my way out easily.

There were several bridges and jumps built on the trail.

This bridge goes over a nice mine shaft to the right. All of the structures are well built.

Some of the loops are even named. I came across three named trails; Mangrich Lane, Crankshaft and Snake. I'm sure there are more.

Can you believe there's great riding like this Iowa?! I can't wait to go back and explore more!

I got back to the car and drove back down to Maquoketa with plenty of time to spare. In fact, I think Ab was amazed to see that I wasn't late. Perfect!

We drove back home yesterday and unfortunately I missed the Redstone Tuesday work/ride on Hall ranch. It looks like they had a great time! It's not often you can ride Hall Ranch in the dark!

More fun to come this weekend....