Moab, Utah

Wed, Aug 10

Early morning (6am) to catch a shuttle up to ride one of the most famous trails in the US, the Porcupine Rim trail. Unfortunately, it was really raining, but the shuttle guy said it would clear up. I am probably one of the few people who has ever ridden the Rim trail in the rain…but boy was it sweet!! After about a 3 mile climb, I started the decent, and it was very rocky, with some pretty big drops. Great technical training, and I got more and more confident and was hopping off some pretty big hits. Really a fun trail, had a great time.

I shot over to the hostel to grab my stuff. Time to get moving b/c I want to ride the Kokopelli trails in Fruita, CO also. After a short 2 hour drive, I arrive at these trails, get a map from a local bike shop, and head out to the Moore Fun trail. Second ride today (nearly 5 hours of total bike time) and my legs are really feeling it. But, I have to push hard and fast b/c I am expected for dinner at 6pm.
I arrive at my friend Alison’s parents house (Battlement Mesa CO, and Wayne and Cathy Morris welcome me quickly. After a quick shower, I enjoy a great homemade pasta dinner with awesome meatballs! Wayne is quite the cook. We hang out all night and talk about my trip and all the stories, quite enjoyable. I can’t even explain how great it is to have a home cooked meal at this point of the trip, and my own room with a comfortable bed! What more could a vagabond like myself ask for?!?!?

Tuesday, Aug 9

Woke up early for my second climbing session of the trip. The climbing in Moab is supposed to be some of the best in the country…pretty sweet stuff. Climbed some 5.10 climbs today, def much tougher than Durango climbing. Did I mention in my last post how much the climbing shoes hurt your feet? Imagine if you wear a size 9.5 shoe, they give you what feels like a size 8…womens! Crazy small. My feet were just killing me today, but got in a ton of climbs and had a great time with the group.

After climbing I went and checked out some of the local attractions. I drove out of town and up the CO River, checked out Fisher Rock and Castle Rock. Really pretty drive. I got back to the hostel and met up with a few hostel friends and went to the famous McStiff’s and grabbed dinner and a few pitchers of microbrew ($8/pitcher).



Monday, Aug 8

A little bit of a late start today, but I was tired from the days and days of hard rides in huge mountains. The only problem is that it is so hot here in Moab, most people start rides at 7am, and get off the trails by 11am. Oh well, I am in good enough shape to defy conventional wisdom, and head off to the famous Slickrock trail at 10:30am (loaded down with extra water). Looks like the temp is in the upper 90s…but I feel ok in the warm weather (training from the crazy hot race in Milwaukee). I jump onto the slickrock…and this is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Just rock after rock, arrows pointing the direction of the trail. This is really the coolest mountain bike trail that I have seen…EVER!! The rock is so tacky, that you can ride up very, very steep angles, and still have traction with your rear tire. I am amazed over and over as I climb these huge uphills, standing and hammering on the pedals and rarely loosing traction. This is so cool. Well, I pushed the limits a bit, and my tires gave way crossing the side of a steep rock, slammed down on my right side, and have a nasty strawberry on my leg/butt. The tacky rock rips up your skin quite a bit worse than even pavement!! I have the time of my life, and hit every bit of trail possible (~17 miles). I meet up with this guy Brian, and we ride for a while…good times.

Back to the hostel in the afternoon where I work on my bike for 2 hours (all this riding requires a bunch of bike maintenance). I also needed knobbier tires for a big ride I am doing Tues or Wed, the Porcupine Trail.

I meet a guy from Switzerland at the hostel (Dani), and we grab dinner and a few beers ($7/pitcher for microbrew at the Moab Brewery…sweet)!!

Oh yeah, and I ordered a new camera cable from Canon today…b/c mine was “lost” and of course…I found it 4 hours after I placed the order…and Canon said it was too late to cancel (it had been “exported”)…figures!! Ha ha.