Mtn Biking Moab

5/22-26/03
Once again, bike in the morning and party during the afternoon and night! This time it was myself, Stinger, Peggy, Robyn, and Chad/Libby joined us on Saturday. Had an easy drive out to Moab on Thursday night and set up camp while drinking beers and waking up our neighbors (thank goodness for soundproof tent walls). It was quite a bit hotter than last year and got up to 105 degrees on Friday and in the upper 90's Saturday and Sunday. Luckily we had enough cold beer to cool down from the inside out! The full suspension bike absolutely kicks ass on Moab's trails and I got to abuse myself and my bike on Slickrock (finally), Gemini Bridges (plus 20 extra miles of road), and Porcupine Rim. Slickrock was easy to follow and pretty crowded, but had to be ridden. Lots of steep ups and downs and the key is definitely getting your ass over the rear tire for the downhill, or leaning far ahead and pedaling like crazy for the uphill. The rock is solid sandstone and would be very unforgiving to any skin that came in contact! I felt bad (but had to giggle) at the group on their way out with one person asking how to shift gears on their bike! Gemini Bridges was 90% downhill and a nice change, Peggy and I added some extra miles uphill by riding from camp and I got to ride it again since the keys for our shuttle car were in the car at the trailhead. D'oh! The actual bridges were about halfway through the ride and had some seriously steep drop-offs around. Porcupine Rim was pretty intense, definitely hard and abusive like the book says. Many different types of riding and terrain, from steep blocky uphills, to huge drop-offs and an area appropriately named the "Jackhammer". Towards the end there was about 1000 feet of exposure along the side of the trail! But I was very happy with the way I rode it despite a flat and a wrong tube, and was glad to be intact at the end considering I saw a guy bleeding and a girl with a broken axle not far from the start!
Denali wasn't quite sure what to do in the heat of the afternoons and was giving us the look that said, "alright guys this is enough, I apologize for everything I've destroyed, just get me out of this heat!" He would disappear but would always come running back at some point dirtier than ever and covered in sand. Luckily we had a couple storms come rolling in that cooled things down quite a bit, even some high winds that was whipping up sand everywhere like something out of StarWars! Our afternoons were filled with lots of beer, mixed drinks, Jager, and grilling. We figured 6 cases of beer would be enough, but glad that Chad brought another 18-pack! The Jager didn't last too long and led to some ridiculous moments and stories. Drinking games this time were Chase the Ace Squared, Golf, and Guess the 80's Artist/Song of the only radio station we could get. Along the way we came up with a new recipe for Bean Dip, figured out why our bodies can't digest corn (the Indians way of getting back at us for stealing their land and giving them alcohol), and fashioned Stinger a headlamp out of a flashlight and duct tape. Gotta love giggling uncontrollably for 4 days in a row.

Robyn and Stinger at Gemini Bridges; The actual bridge

Peggy and Robyn; the not-so-small drop off near Gemini Bridges

Typical afternoon/evening at camp...grillin' and drinkin'

I want what they're drinking!; view along Porcupine Rim

More views from Porcupine Rim; Looking back along the Rim

Nice tent Stinger; Nice headlamp Stinger

5/23-27/02
Spring time calls for another trip to Moab! Stinger, Peggy, and I went over Memorial Day weekend this time full well knowing that it was going to be hot as hell. That where the 4 cases of Budweiser cans came into play! When we left Colo Spgs for Golden it looked like it was going to rain. By the time we got to Golden it was pouring. We piled in Peggy's stuff and strapped her bike to the roof and headed off. The rain wouldn't let up and changed to snow on the way up Loveland Pass! It went from snow to full out blizzard with about 10ft visibility and cars all over the road. This was going to add a few hours to our trip and didn't let up until the other side of Vail, yep, it really sucked. Finally pulled into BLM land outside of Moab around 2am, set up camp, and had a couple beers. It was actually a little chilly. The next day we switched to an awesome campsite when some hillbillies left and headed out for a ride. It was nice to be able to ride right from the camp instead of having to drive somewhere. It wasn't too blazing hot and we got lucky with a nice breeze. We rode Dalton Wells and got to spend a couple hours playing on the wide open slickrock at the end of the trail. Back to camp and plenty of beers then! The next day we drove up to Amasa Back trail and got to watch a chick kick ass on the beginning steps but eat it bad on the last one. She had quite the bloody lip from kissing the rocks. We rode all the way to the end and had a blast on the downhill coming back. The third day was devoted to keeping cool in the shade and cooling ourselves down from the inside out with icy cold beer. The 9am tee-off of the drinking game Golf helped us to a good start! We managed to trash our site every night and laugh our asses off just to clean it up the next day. The only causality of the weekend was a taco'ed rear tire on Stinger's bike.

Wipeout at the start of Amasa Back; Stinger bitching about the uphill

I just can't understand driving all the way to Moab to drive more?!; Awesome scenery

Stinger riding along; View from part way up Amasa Back

Peggy at camp; Peggy sacrificing her bike at the top of Amasa Back

I have absolutely no explanation for these pictures!

Our campsite after many many beers; Stinger's creation

Camping in paradise, its free on BLM land right outside of Moab

10/12-14/01
Having the "Mountain Biking Mecca" of the world just 5 hours away calls for at least one trip there a year! There are tons of trails and it would take months to ride them all. This time we rode: Arches Loop, Hurrah Pass, and Amasa Back. Spring and Fall are the best season in Moab with 60-70's during the day and 30-40's at night.
Arches Loop was awesome but very hard to follow in spots. Not too technical (besides getting chased by a pissed off dog), and the scenery was outstanding. The last half of the ride is through Arches National Park and quite the treat.
Hurrah Pass was a nice long, easy to follow, 4x4 road winding through, then to the top of a canyon. The view from the top was great and the screaming downhill was a pucker-factor of 9.
Amasa Back was AWESOME! The first 100 yards puts you in your place with some spine-cracking cliffs, but eases off after that. Lots of technical spots to test your skills on slickrock. Pretty busy trail but one that I would definitely ride over and over again.
Enjoy the pics........

Along Arches Loop after entering the back of the park