Moab Trip Report: A Tale of Obsession
So on June 5, Arty50, lph and I all piled into Arty's sweet new ride with only 600 miles on it and began to head East. With 4 bikes on board, a DVD player, one very handy Bluetooth PDA, and lots of good snacks from Ikeda's in Auburn ("that Swedish FURNITURE store sells snacks???" said lph at one point...), we set out for the promised land.... Moab, Utah.
After 15 or so hours in the car, many pitstops (I have a small bladder, what can I say?), one wrong turn, and one game of Name that Tune (I crushed Arty :) ), we rolled into Moab, where at 1:30 am it was 75 degrees... Aw yeah....
lph had set us up in a great condo facing West, so we could catch some sweet sunsets. Despite the fact that the living room was so small we had to take turns sitting on the couch, it was a far cry above the camping we usually had done.
Tuesday morning, after a killer breaky at Jailhouse cafe, we set out for Flat Pass, a ride we could embark on right from the condo. "This will be a good starter ride", we all thought.
The beginning of Flat Pass is about 7 miles on the road. Into the wind. I drafted lph and thus it was pretty pain free for me (ironic that I got the free ride, since I have the lightest bike of the three of us :) ). We pulled up to the gravel road, and after a fairly pain free climb, started our descent.
Imagine our surprise when the trail dead ends to a river. "Where's the trail?" I asked. lph pointed to the river. Turns out we had to do a little river crossing to get back on the trail. That was the first of many....
Flat Pass turned out to be a very fun trail - lots of little ledges to hop off, plenty of challenge, and some good fast sections. I was working on bunny hopping off of ledges, though with mixed success. About 10 minutes after we put our armor on, I took a nice endo off a ledge that was far too big to roll off of. Bruised my knee right through the armor, knocked the wind out of me, and basically gave me a good reality check on where I was.
After dusting myself off, we continued on. Three more river crossings later, we were flying down the road back to our condo. We took a much needed dip in the pool, headed into town for some equipment issues, came back and mixed up some gin and tonics to check out our first Moab sunset of the week.
I already knew I wouldn't want to leave at the end of the week...
(to be continued).
Day 5 - final installment
On Day 5, lph is out because of the wrecked thumb. Arty and I are moving VERY slowly in the morning. 4 days of hard riding in a row and admittedly, we're both a bit sluggish.
At this point, the Moab bruising has already begun to take over my entire legs. Even with armor, I've got several dozen bruises on my legs. Apparently, Altagirl has the same affliction of bruising ridiculously easily, so at least that makes me feel better.
We meet up again with the same crew, and head back up to the colder elevation of 8500 feet to get some more of the Kokopelli singletrack goodness.
Knowing the trail a bit now, we can navigate the ruts easily, though after 4 days of hammering, my bike is starting to throw a temper tantrum. It's not shifting well, break pads are wearing thin, and overall it just seems to need a break. As do I. My riding that day was less than stellar, and every turn seemed a bit too tight, and things I was climbing up with ease caused more problems today.
Arty, on the other hand, seemed to have gotten his second wind, and was riding much better that day. Except for the several burly falls he took, which left him in a state of disrepair on the ride home.
AG had a major battle with a tree branch that claimed at least 4 of her spokes, so she had to forfeit and ride the road down. You were missed, AG!!
We hooked up with two youngsters from Atlanta who were happy as clams to be riding out west, and rode like champs for kids who said they mostly ride in Florida, where the peak elevation is 345 feet ;).
More singletrack, more Porcupine Rim yumminess, some solid rain sprinkles, and then, the end. Just in time, since not an hour after we were off the trail, it downpoured like nobody's business.
And that was it - as quickly as it started - our riding in Moab was done. By then, I have to say, I was ready for a day off. Moab had treated me well, spoiled me rotten, and worn me out.
The ride home the next day was relatively painless, though I know we were all sad to leave what I think we all think of as home away from home.
Now, to start planning the fall trip back out there....
The end.
