05/16-18/2008

Utah fun-fest on White Rim Trail and Mt Peale (12,721)
Bike: 100miles
Hike: 8miles
Combined elevation: 13,610ft
Fellow masochist: Steve Knapp

White Rim In A Day (WRIAD):
The seed was planted years ago for me when I heard it was possible to mountain bike the entire 100mile White Rim Trail in a day. Last year after Steve and Beau biked it, I was extremely jealous. Not long afterwards, Steve and I were talking about a repeat for Spring of 2008. A plan was hatched and Steve mentioned hiking the highest peak in the La Sal Mtns while in the neighborhood… why not?!
Thursday evening we headed out of town and set up camp after midnight near Dalton Wells. Friday we rode the awesome Sovereign Trail and drove to Mineral Bottom after stashing a couple hundreds ounces of water near the turn-off for Dead Horse State Park. This would save carrying all that extra weight for the first 17miles and 2K feet of elevation gain in the dark… a mighty fine idea! It didn’t feel like cheating to me since we had a triple digit mileage day ahead of us. Down at Mineral Bottom we set up camp next to about a dozen trailers, dirt bikes, and jet skis before grilling some grub and heading to bed early. The stack of pallets next to the fire ring was sure to bring some good late-night entertainment. Sure enough, about 2am I heard some hootin’ and hollarin’ then someone shout, “This is why I love America!!” then they proceeded to light off dozens of bottle rockets. I had to laugh, as I would’ve been the guy chugging a beer and cheering them on if I didn’t have to get up in an hour.
3:15am came quickly. Steve and I tore down our tents, ate a quick bite of breakfast, and were on our bikes with headlamps right at 4am before we really woke up. It was only 46 degrees by the river and sure to warm up real soon. It’s a good thing it was dark so we didn’t have to see the 2mile/900ft climb up from Mineral Bottom. Afterwards, it was endless miles towards the horizon on Mineral Road… another good reason to do this section in the dark. After 2hr, 17miles, and 2K of climbing, the sun was coming up and we were at our water drop. The next several miles went by real quick as we flew downhill on pavement dodging cows congregating in the middle of highway 313.
At the entrance to Island in the Sky, we made the quick turn onto the rugged dirt road leading down Shafer Trail. It was pretty rough and kept our speed in check. Mile 31 after 3:20 and we took a break to check out Musselman Arch and walk across it. Steve biked across it last year, and I could hear Jean in my head telling me not to even dare think about doing the same. HA! The day was warming up nicely and we got rid of our long sleeve shirts.
At this point we were cruising right along the White Rim with towers and bluffs everywhere, my favorite parts of Utah! Mile 40 and 4:20 into the ride we were at the Airport camp and finally started seeing other bikers lumbering out of their tents and starting their ride. Gooseberry camp was the halfway point for us and we reached it just after 6hrs. We were both feeling good, eating lots, and drinking plenty. With all the vehicles along the road, we weren’t worried about bumming water if needed.
More rolling trails and before long we were at White Crack camp, mile 58 and 6:45. It was starting to warm up quite a bit and we were both starting to feel a bit knackered. I put my mp3 player on and rocked along to most of my favorite bands. This was huge to me, music really keeps my mind where it should be.
Steve warned me about the upcoming Murphy’s Hogback climb and I was actually looking forward to it. A Hammer Gel and Stone Temple Pilots pulled me right up with just one brief stop in some sand. Nothing like a huge climb 65miles and 8hrs into a bike ride! Some guys at the top were giving me crap until I made fun of them for NOT doing this ride in a day! Good fun stuff. Steve and I hid out under a rock alcove and enjoyed some ice cold water from some campers.
Mile 74, it was hot and another decent hill came up. I thought I found a desert oasis as there was about a dozen chicks on bikes at the top! I knew it wasn’t heaven though… no margarita bar with the ladies. 10 miles of mostly downhill got us to Candlestick camp were Steve and I escaped the mid-80’s temps in the shade of a bathroom. I was still feeling great but Steve was starting to feel the effects of an epic day. Mile 85 about 10hrs into the ride and we were near Potato Bottom. I was in this same place just last month, but in a kayak on the Green River instead. Sure brought a smile to my salt-caked face. The slight headwind from the north wasn’t bad as it actually helped keep the temps feeling reasonable. We chatted with some Canadian’s at Potato Bottom who peppered us with questions of our sanity.
At this point I won the mental battle by convincing myself that the last 15miles would be all downhill despite the rumors of Hardscrabble Hill, which I personally renamed Easy-scrabble Hill. A pack of Grandma’s fudge cookies and some bluegrass got me up this one with heart beating behind my eyes and just one short section that I couldn’t ride clean. 88 miles, 11hrs, and a cooler full of beers was drawing me closer. I was psyched and felt amazingly great…. Except my bum. Felt like I had a jackhammer in my pants for the last couple hours. I can’t imagine how Steve did this on a hardtail bike!
Less then 10 mostly downhill miles to go and I didn’t want to stop. Some sandy spots slowed me down a bit, but it was mostly big chain ring spinning all the way back to Mineral Bottom for a grand total of 12:15, 9:45 riding time. It didn’t take long to get 3 beers and 2 hotdogs in my belly before Steve pulled up at 13hrs even. What an awesome day!!! It wasn’t long before we had the car packed up and chowing on some pizza in the circus of Moab and heading to……..

Mount Peale (12,721); highest peak in the La Sal range
We camped part of the way up the La Sal Pass road and awoke out of a deep sleep by my alarm clock at 5am. Ugh, a couple more hours of sleep would’ve been great… but the alarm doesn’t care. Driving further up La Sal Pass road we hoped to start at the 10,250ft top, but a snow drift at 9K stopped us. What’s another 1200ft on top of almost 10K yesterday?! For a second we actually contemplated biking up the road past the snow drift. Glad we didn’t though, as there were several more. I was in a bit of a rush to get out of town at a decent hour, so we boogied up the road on a good mix of dirt and snow. We’re not sure we actually hit the pass as the elevation was way off, but we left the road and started bushwhacking. It was a mix of post-holing and jumping over downed trees. Next was some dinner-plate talus that lead us to the bottom of the climb just after an hour and at 10,600ft. Surprisingly, we both felt great and yesterday’s ride didn’t completely wipe us out. On with the crampons and ice axe, and off we went! The shaded snow was perfect for cramponing up the next 1300ft loving every step. Solid and bonded all the way through, nice! It didn’t even take an hour to reach the top of the coulior at 12K. Sunny and warm, with a slight breeze. The 45 degree temps was quite the change from the near 90’s of yesterday! We picked our way up the last 700ft of shaky talus and popped up on the summit after just 2hrs and 50mins. Great views all around towards Colorado, the rest of the La Sals, into the Fisher Valley, and down toward the canyons that surround Moab. After 15mins we headed back the same way we came. Steve attempted to glissade the softening snow near the top, but conditions just weren’t perfect. I plunge-stepped all the way down knowing that my sore arse from yesterdays ride would have nothing to do with glissading! We cut through a couple small meadows and found the road again, and high-tailed it back to the car for a round trip time of exactly 5hrs. Not bad for 3700ft considering yesterday’s ride! Now just a long ride back to Denver with ear to ear grins.
This w/end was perfect and combined two of my favorite things to do in Spring…. Mountain biking in Moab and snow climbs. I can definitely see why Steve has ridden the WRIAD for the third time now… I’ll probably be back in the future as well. If Steve suggests this to anyone next Spring, take him up on the offer!!