Moab TR 10/1 - 10/4

[Arty50]

Well the pictures are up and it’s time to wax poetic. No, none of that haiku crap basom and mildbill inflict on us. Just lots and lots of my stupid humor. So without further ado, it’s time for the Moab trip report!

Thursday lph and I jump in the truck and embark on a nice little 13 hour drive. A brief stopover in SLC is made to pick up flatrider’s new bike. At this point I should mention that GT40 drove all the way from Ogden to SLC just to drop off the bike. It’s just one of the MANY reasons why GT was, is, and always shall be THE MAN!!!!! ( <- understatement of the millenium)


[inside Arty’s head] “I man not be able to break this thing, but I’m sure as hell gonna try!”


After a brief 5 hour jaunt from SLC, we arrive in the promised land. It was around midnight and so we really couldn’t see a thing. When we awoke the next morning, I was blown away. So this is why everyone loves this place. How little I knew.



So we ate a nice breakfast…mmmmmm…baconnnnn… and then trekked up to slickrock. The first carnage of the trip would occur in the parking lot. In front of a fairly decent crowd, lph wheelied his Heckler right onto his ass. Despite the fact that I could empathize with his situation, I laughed hard enough to cry. He muttered something about having his cross country tire/rim on the front, and thus he wasn’t used to the light weight. Sure. Sure.

So with his pride now crushed and my nerves jumping due to the unknown, we decided to hit the trail. Once again the view was awful.





I quickly learned that my Sidi Dominator’s needed to be thrown in the trash. Nothing like trying to stand on steep slickrock in hard soled shoes. Thankfully, my Ahhhhnold like calves saved me from a lot of embarrassment.


“Grrrrrrrr”

Somewhere between spring skiing in Mammoth and Argentina I had discovered something strange…catching air is fun! So I took my new found sense of stupidity and proceeded to huck my meat.



Hmmm…that was easy. Maybe I’ll step in up a bit…


“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!”

Do over!



So with me now full of sand, we decided to head back. Time for the hot tub, a long shower, dinner, and some of that famous Utah beer.

[Arty50]

Saturday dawned with lph’s new VP-Free calling from the car. Psssst. Ride me. So we drove over to Amasa Back for some great technical climbing (which the VP surprisingly killed it on) and some of the best downhill I’ve ever ridden. We bombed the shit out of that trail. I never knew I could ride like that. I guess I was having so much fun, I forgot to be scared. Lph of course was exuding his usual smoove. He even killed the gnarly entry staircase too.

At this point I was extremely jealous of the big bike. I felt inadequate. I needed more… Give me the green machine! We’re going to Bartlett Wash!!!

Oh wait…so this is why they call it a “Downhill” bike…



Hmmmm…a natural kicker…



lph breakin’ out the maaaad steeze…



…oh and did I mention he had a crowd! Yup, he’s the man.

Nobody tell hardrider, but I’m not giving him his bike…



And once again…a pic of lph gettin’ ready to kill it…pretty huh?



Paging National Geographic…



Yup, it was a good day.

[Arty50]

Sunday was it’s typical lazy self in the morning. We missed the shuttles to Porcupine Rim since they only run early in the morning. So we called an audible, and decided to tackle the Moab Rim Trail. I have three words for those hitting this in the future. USE THE CHAIRLIFT!!!!! Unfortunately it was broken and we had to climb up that godforsaken hill. I walked about half of it, but lph killed it. He rode most of the way up. It was steep as fuck and super technical. This pic doesn’t even begin to do it justice. I’m actually riding up to a 5-6 foot ledge.



Once again, we were greeted with a hideous view.



Just thinking about the climb makes me tired again. So let’s show some pics of lph while I’m recovering…















So after our jaunt out into the Moab Rim wilderness, we decided to check out the Downhill course. This is what we thought of the black/expert course…


Note the name on the sign.

We pussed out on the black course…maybe it had something to do with the multiple 6 foot plus drops. So we hit the blue instead. Gapers!!!! Lph hitting the teeter…



More gaper action…







I heart my 5 Spot.

Another amazing day of riding. Thank god for the hotel's pool!!!

[Arty50]

When I woke up Monday, I had no idea what was in store. You know when you have permasmile on a killer pow day. Well this was my first experience of that on a bike. Porcupine Rim was simply amazing.








“Who’s your daddy?”



Len airs it out in style…



…my turn…



The following is the pic I wish I could have back. I was all set up to catch multiples of lph hitting this section. Then I fucked up at the top. If you can imagine someone absolutely positively killing this section at high speed with tight air and making it look super smoooove…that was lph. Sorry mang. The vision of it is still trapped in my memory.



As I mentioned earlier. I’ve been feeling exceptionally brave the last month or so. Well it finally caught up to me.


“Why the fuck didn’t I bunny hop!!!!!”

Best of all I had a nice audience which also included 3 beautiful ladies. Nothing like totally casing a drop in front of a crowd. Especially since one of the guys had just cleaned it a few seconds earlier.

So I dumped the sand out of my hair, mouth, ears, and well just about everywhere, changed my blown tire, and got back on the horse. Thankfully, I got this next pic a few minutes later…



Another angle of the same drop…



In case you’re wondering; no, we didn’t clear the gnarly section just before the wash. The landing was sandy and washed out. Even still, we wouldn’t have hit it. That is fucking hairy.

Naturally though, we hit the little kicker right at the end. The perfect end to what may be the perfect trail. We didn’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.

We really lucked out too. Our shuttle driver had ridden with a group right behind us…and he brought a 12 pack. So we all downed a few beers, packed back in the van, and headed into town.

I’m still in awe of our trip. I’ve seen and done a lot of amazing things the last few months. It all started with a dream. To ski all winter. And somehow I stumbled into this cool world along the way.

Thanks to all of the amazing people that have helped me along the way. You’re too numerous to list here, but you’ve all made the last year something I will treasure forever. I do need to give a special thanks to lph for conning me to visit such an amazing place. Not to mention the fact that when I went through the pics, there seem to be more of me than of him. Just ain’t right. Somebody’s gotta film him for a change. I mean, even Gaffney is shameless.

[Telenater]

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Should have found a way to go. Fuck work, shit.

edit: awesome pics and looks like it was more fun than is legal in Utah.

[CS]

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Damn I hate you guys.

Kickass TR Arty.

[Ferniefreeheels]

Nice pic's and trip report Arty. We're going back for sure in the spring, There is so much new terrain for us to explore. Moab Rim and Amasaback pics look awesome (we were told that that chairlift never runs anymore...the company went bust or something) no matter, Moab Rim is definitly on my to do list next time we go.
Thanks for the stoke man!!

[zion zig zag]

niiiiice!!

[GT40]

Thanks for the TR and all the pics. Very cool

It looks like you were really stepping it up, and LPH was killing it. How long has he been riding? You would think with all the broken bones he sees, he would take it easy.

[altagirl]

Awesome pics! Looks like you guys had a great trip!

I love the hiking the DH bike pic... The green monster has been hauled up a good amount of red rocks - I rode it on the entire Slickrock trail a couple years ago. (And had twice as much fun as I'd ever had riding that trail on an XC bike... ) Really cool to watch other maggots having fun with it too!

[lph]

Great TR, Arty!!!!

Porcupine rim rocks!!! I can't remember the last time my face actually hurt from smiling and laughing (sorry Arty but casing that ledge was classic! It is burned into my memory. )

I have been lucky enough to watch Arty's transformation in two sports. This past ski season he stepped it up while at the Utah mini, in particular the two days we had at Snowbasin. Then, while in Moab he went from a slightly timid mtn biker to a mad hucker in all of 4 days.

Even though I feel extremely lucky to live in Lake Tahoe, I hate leaving Moab. I coulda stayed another week, another month...........I don't know, I just didn't want to leave. As we were driving back to Tahoe i was already thinking of how and when I could possibly make it back.

[cumerritt]

Paging National Geographic…



Yup, it was a good day.

I have a somewhat similar shot from a couple years back.

Awesome pics and TR!

[Arty50]

Nice pic, cu!!!

And lph gives me too much credit. Today I wasn't really feeling it, but I managed to clean a bunch of stuff I've never done on Gnardanelles. Except the 3 sisters, which I have done before. I kinda had a run in with them. It was the thrill of victory and then the agony of defeat all in one millisecond. Now I'm limpin' like a mofo. Oh, and there was that little concussion I gave myself while being stupid at the end of the trail. I've gotta stop landing on my front tire. It was my brakes fault. Yeah...that's the ticket. I haven't had one of these in 10 years...I think...wait...what's my name again...oh that's right. I am Batman!!!

[watersnowdirt]

DAMN!!!! What a great TR and pics. You guys are at a whole new level! So cool.

Wish I'd been able to go. What an amazing trip. Next time, next time...

[lph]

You guys are at a whole new level! So cool.

Wish I'd been able to go. What an amazing trip. Next time, next time...

The pics really don't do us justice, you should've been there to see it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Next year by this time I will have a DH/FR bike...and I will have been to Moab...oh yes....

sweet pics and report guys.

[lph]

Next year by this time I will have a DH/FR bike...and I will have been to Moab...oh yes....

sweet pics and report guys.

i'm gonna bump this thread in a year. It better have come true.

[Superstar Punani]

Oorrrgghrrrggh...no more red X's! SWEEEEET!!!!

[Arty50]

Oorrrgghrrrggh...no more red X's! SWEEEEET!!!!

Whatever could you be talking about?

[SPREAD EAGLE]

I wanted to enjoy a trip to Moab this fall but had a fam reunion in San Diego. Now though the stoke is up to get er done before November
Nice pics and great experience

[Squirrel99]

I wanted to enjoy a trip to Moab this fall but had a fam reunion in San Diego. Now though the stoke is up to get er done before November
Nice pics and great experience

Dudes, Arty, NICE TR! Damn, I miss Moab. Great pictures!