A Moab trip unlike the others

This turned out to be a Moab trip like no other. This time it was my wife that wanted to go. She's not a biker either, so it kinda sounded funny when she pitched it. "Want to go to Moab in late March?" Well, the standing answer to that question is pretty much always yes, so I agreed. Moab 1/2 Marathon. First day of Spring. Sounded great!

After a winter of preparation (for her) and lots of beer drinking (me) we were all set. Perfect timing, too, as strong March snowstorms were supposed to paralyze the Colorado front range right after our departure. We checked out the weather scenarios and decided to leave late on Thursday night. We'd get in super late but would be refreshed to wake up on Moab the next AM to have the entire day. It worked out well. We woke up Friday anxious to see friends from far reaches that were meeting us in Moab. The ladies will run and the boys will ride. That and the fact that we weren't camping were shaping this into a trip that defied previous molds.

Friday came and our buds showed up. We were able to squeeze in a ride late in the day, the last day of winter. Although Moab didn't get the big snow that the Denver area did, it was breezy and chilly, with bouts of snow in the morning. We bundled up and headed out. Not having a lot of daylight left, we opted to head north to the M-O-A-B trails between Arches and Sovereign. I had heard only that they were new and good. OK. Pablo, Matty and I parked and headed off down the dirt road.

We planned to hit Rockin A, Circle O and back on Bar M, missing Killer B. Well, we should've hit Killer B since it has real dirt singletrack. Bar M was tame jeep road. I was pretty unimpressed with the bumpy no flow "slickrock" of O and A.

Oh well, at least it was new to me trail.

Next day/ladies race day/dinosaur bone hunting with the kids day/ and another late day ride, our goal was to hit some Sovereign in the northern reaches. We'd climb up singletrack ala lollipop to a loop on top of a mesa. At least the weather had drastically improved. Long story short, the first bit of singletrack was good


but we missed a turn and ended up doing quite a bit of road riding. It wasn't a total bust, though, as we got to hang out and catch up on times long gone by. Not to mention that Pablo had a broken toe and serious thrashing wasn't doing it any favors.



We rallied and pulled it together, basically doing a humongo loop around the damn mesa we were trying to get on top of. We ended up on the highway a couple miles north of where we were sposed to be. Ever see the quad track next to the fence on the other side of the ditch from the highway? Well, now you know why it exists. After doing a little ditch riding, we were back to an acceptable location where we'd hit some singletrack. Just one more climb to the descent.


And then it was over with too quick. I'll definitely be back for this one, but next time I'll take that left turn at Albuquerque.

After the requisite post race/post ride partying, that "early morning start" on Sunday (our last day to ride) didn't really come too early. The pancakes were good though, and I'm not even a pancake guy. Since Pablo wasn't riding this day, Matty and I sweet talked him into "shuttling" us out of town. Or dropping us off, rather. The game plan was to depart from 191 south of town, Behind the Rocks to Back of the Behind then back into Moab via Pritchet Canyon and Kane Creek Rd.

Yeah buddy. It started out good and just got better. Just me and Matt. Matty and I make a good team and have quite the history of covering serious ground together. I remember the first time we rode together like it was yesterday and it was (damn) close to 17 years ago. Homey Chaybo and I met up with Matt (local fast racer at the time) and he proceded to stomp the crap out of us on 50 miles of dirt roads around Lincoln, NE. Good times, good times. Matt and I still maintain a competitive friendly relationship.


Our dropofff right off the highway 15 miles out of town.


As we started off on the ride, the weather was absolutely beautiful and the dirt was fantastic. Fridays snow squals still held onto a couple of spots tucked into the shadows.



For the first 1/3 or so of the ride, it roughly follows the 24 hour of Moab course which both of us have ridden several times. We detoured a couple of spots to keep it interesting, though. The scenery is otherworldly. From crazy water hewn drainages to humongous hillsides of rock, there was always something cool to look at.




Once we got off of the 24hr route and into foreign terrain, we definitely started to feel "out there." Really out there. We'd seen a couple of 4 wheelers all day, but that was it. Remote. Just what the doctor ordered. Backcountry and no people = a good day.

Then, all the sudden, way the hell out in the middle of nowhere, we ventured onto a couple of features knows as Roller Coaster


and White Knuckle Hill.


White Knuckle Hill is reputed to be one of, if not the most demanding jeep obstacle in the greater Moab area. I'm pretty sure it's rideable, but not by me. The biggest feature is a drop to flat that was about shoulder height on me. The rest of it was pretty cool. They even install bolts for jeeps that go rock climbing, just like people. Just hook your winch up and tractor out of there.Very shortly after White Knuckle Hill, we navigated Back of the Behind to the sand dune roads near Pritchet Arch. Pritchet arch was sweet, by the way. It is a gargantuan arch, one of the biggest I've seen.

I think a few places refer to it as a natural bridge even, instead of an arch. I dunno. I'm no expert but it was cool.

It's also important to note that right as we rolled by the arch, the rock smackings of the day decided that they had taken their toll on my rear der hanger. Luckily, we found a bikestand nearby.


Shade tree, bikestand, soft sand to sit on and it was lunchtime. One stop shop. Once we left lunch, we were officially on the last trail option of the day, Pritchet Canyon Jeep road.

I think we were lucky that sand/dirt conditions were pretty good after recent moisture. Pritchet is a ride that can definitely offer up some beach sand talcum powder if it wants to.

The trail down was a mixture of babyhead river bottom, sand, HUGE rock features and drops, slickrock and stunning views from the bottom of a canyon that gets tighter towards the end.







I was seriously impressed with Pritchet Canyon. To say it was good would be an understatement. Couple of things that make this ride not for everyone, though. A, it's seriously technical. Without skillz, it would be a frustrating walk down a lot of the fun stuff.

B, it wouldn't make a great out and back with all of the ledge scrambling and power killing sand. C, it's a pretty long ride to do as a point to point. Not to mention an excersize in navigation. One missed turn out there could lead to more and you'd be out there all day. Maybe next time, I'll do that and just bring some camping gear. Matty and I busted it out pretty quick with minimal breaks and it still took us just over 3 hours.

The ride back into town on Kane Creek road seemed really long. It was worth the ride, thoug, as we capped 'er off with a stop at Moab's best burgers since the 50's, Milt's. Slider baby, here I come.

Moab 24

I last competed in the 24 Hours of Moab in 2000. I raced on a Coed Pro team, Schwinn/Jamba Juice. We went in with the intention of winning, trained our butts off, and raced for the entire 24 hours. Strategy, full on hard efforts, racing, it was all there. Also there was the fights with teammates, legs on fire, chafed ass on fire, and mental anguish (head on fire) associated with racing for 24 hours. We made money but I vowed to not ever again "race" in 24 Hours of Moab.

The last several years have afforded me the option to participate in a number of teams, but I declined all options. The memories of 24 hour torture haunted me and I had no inkling to want to suffer like that again. Until this year. I can't remember exactly who did the cajolling, but in the end, myself and fellow Redstoners Art, Jason, and Chris were packed up and headed to Moab for the 14th edition. We were all under the very strict understanding that we were there for fun. All competitive drives would be washed away by beer. Fun only.

The fun came to a screaching halt as soon as we rolled into the venue. The desert winds seemed to be blowing 500 miles per hour as we tried to set up camp. Setting up took about twice as long as it should have. It took 3 of us to set up Art's dome tent that we would use for hq. Thanks again for bringing the 2x4 firewood, too, Chris. It was perfect. In years past, we camped closer to the scoring tent and staging area. This year, though, we opted for the wind protection of the trees further up the hill.

It was time to preride the course. Chris and I had done many, many laps in the past, but it was a new experience for Jason and Art. I put on new shoes for the occasion. These Pearl Izumi X Alp Enduros were my last set of prototype freebies. Good fitting and shiny, they lacked the black finish and good looks of the production versions.
This was also the last trip for the 5 Spot. I made sure to enjoy every last minute.
Chris leads us out on the course. Desert and mountains, pretty stuff. Them thar LaSal Mountains are tall, too. Couple of the big ones are over 12k.
The course nears the "Behind the Rocks" WSA. There's lots of freaky looking things in the Moab desert.

There's also a fiersome sandy hike on course, too. Guess that meant we were mountain biking after all :)
And slickrock. Slickrock happens in Moab. This is at the far point on the course. The big cliff/rock you see is Prostitute Butte.
Friday ended up being a great day. The sunset was beautiful. The race starts at noon on Sat, the next day. Time to party!
The moon was bright. The course would be naturally well lit the following night.
The course isn't the only thing well lit. Art wasn't the only one either.

We climbed up the cliff behind camp. It was like we were looking down on Lyons from the L. This was tent city. The brightest light was the jumbotron near the scoring tent.
Ah, no mountain bike trip is complete without a visit from our nomad friend, Whiskey Dave. Or Fixie Dave. Or Fixed Whiskey Dave. This is his bike as he has it outfitted for randomly touring the western US. Fixed gear rigid fork 29er. Dave couldn't find a handlebar bag to his liking so he mounted a kitty litter box. Dave says it can handle anything he can throw at it. Dave left after several samples of Stranahan's finest. Whiskey of course. It was time for bed now.
The riders meeting the next day was kind of brutal. The wind was howling by now, the strongest it'd been all weekend. It wasn't cold, but everyone had their winter coats on to protect from the wind. Lucky me, I got to go first.
My lap was good. I had the running lap. The race starts with a LeMan's style start, meaning you have to run to your bike. You run 200 yards down the desert, around a 12' tall bush, and back to your bikes. My running fitness ensured that I would get out onto the starting road at about 200 of 360 racers. Did I mention that I suck at running?

I ended up with my first lap being 1hr, 18 min. Chris was next. He clicked off a fast one, too, before rolling in to hand the baton to Jason.
We were all pretty fresh at this point, seeing how it was all of our first lap. Jason had a smile as he left to go out on course.

I didn't get a pic of Art as he left to ride but I got a pic of the aftermath. Art was realizing after lap 1 that this would not be an entirely easy affair.
That's about all the race recap I've got on film. Basically, if you see our time, you'll notice a 4 hour or so delay around 4am. That's when we all opted for sleep over competition. The next morning, we all go up about the same time, ate breakfast together (beef and pepper fajitas with eggs, heck yeah) and sent Jason out on course. After Jason's lap, Art went out for his last one. Art came in at 11:26am so we still had plenty of time to take in another lap. We decided that 3 laps each was good, though, and we refocused on having fun.

I had to take this pic for perspective. Art was easily the tallest of us and he chose to sleep in his girls play tent. Way to go, family man. Jason poses here with the kiddy tent.
Did I mention that we lost focus easily? Race was over, it was time to relax.
I've been around a while and have seen a lot of bikes. This one caught my eye in the staging area. I've never seen a KTM bicycle before. I suspected that the motorcycle giant had something manufactured for them by a factory like KHS, Fuji, or Hodaka, but the head badge read "Made in Austria." Good on you KTM. Got to keep those moto guys happy even when they're pedaling.

Tinker was steadfast as usual. 2nd place solo behind the mighty fast Josh Tostado. Chris Eatough finished a dissapointing 32nd in the men's solo. Anybody know what happened to him?

We asked, but she was referring to someone else.
We hotelled it on Sunday night, which was a good call. No one was in any shape to drive across the state. We were all pretty tired. We wrapped it up with beers and margaritas at a local mexican place.

Monday was good. Anytime you get out on Mary's Loop in Fruita is good. We only had time for a quickie, though.
Just over an hour on Mary's and Rustlers. Good times indeed. I always seem to forget how the trails are smoove like butter there. Yum.
Duck! Chris finally learned how to throw the boomerang that he's had for years.

That's it. Moab 24. Be warned, though. We're doing a few teams next year ;)