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A Snowy Porcupine

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I was adamant that Jackie should ride Porcupine Rim before leaving us as I had just as much fun, if not more, on it as we had had on Amasa Back & Captain Ahab the previous day.  This of course was more than convenient as I was extra keen to ride it again.  Alex was of course keen as well, which was also convenient as Megan was probably the most exhausted of all of us as Finn had suddenly developed night terrors (as opposed to the normal restlessness & noise-making in the  middle of the night) and kept all of us awake for quite some time absolutely inconsolable.  It was a beautifully clear morning, therefore freezing at camp; as we drove up to the trailhead the temperature dropped further to -4ºC and I was starting to regret the decision to wear shorts.

Considering the cold, we spent quite a bit of time horsing around at the car organising ourselves and then pretending to stab people with icicles for the camera – I await those photos, Jackie.  I knew there was a good two kilometre climb to start with, so that may have been part of it; at least that got us warmed up as Megan carried on to the sealed La Sal Mountain Loop Rd and the easier drive (when you’re half asleep especially).

On the climb, it wasn’t particularly snowy (but definitely much more so than the week before); but as we got into UPS & LPS it got snowier & icier.  It was good fun breaking through all the icy puddles that had appeared in the intervening time, but the riding was a little slower – it was also a little difficult to see the trail through the snow when moving.  I was pleased that I got to see the trail and surrounds dusted with snow, it made the ride interesting – even if I didn’t ride any of the downhill sections as fast as I had the previous week.  There’s little point describing the ride for the third time, so here’s a few snowy pictures & some others.

Snow cactus

I ended up riding just as many of the larger drops as I had the week before and decided I wanted some photos – so made Alex take some as I sessioned this two-foot drop.  Of course, the first time I rode it as part of the trail was the best – alas, no camera waiting; it took a bit of trial & error to get a decent photo & find the best approach.

A good one of my bike & my puny legs – at least, I’ve been told repeatedly that they are

Almost got all of me

Not a great landing – but at least I’m completely in the air & in the frame

I rattled through the last piece of singletrack, but the lack of sleep started to wear a bit thin; it was with some surprise I hurtled around a corner near the bottom of the trail & found the source of the lack of sleep running towards me.  Megan & Finn had made their way up the trail from the parking lot to meet us; but I had trail to finish, so I took off back to the car.

Every time we drove up to Sand Flats to get back to camp we passed Milt’s Stop ‘n Eat – a diner that has been sitting on what was once Main St since 1954.  It looked like a classic American diner, so after a chilly start & a good ride it was most definitely lunch time & a good opportunity to try out the advertised milkshakes.  That’s a double (I should have got the single) chilli burger below & it was fantastic, even if it doesn’t look the sharpest; the butterscotch shake was also well worth it.  I can’t think why I struggled to finish a large bowl of four-cheese pasta that night – maybe it was because I went on only one ride that day.

Sometime earlier in the week in a rare moment in Moab of committing to anything other than riding (in fact committing to not riding!) I had agreed that I’d watch Finn while Alex & Megan went for, what I imagine is, a very rare ride together without towing an increasingly heavy toddler.  It was time to collect for all the organising, driving, gear supply and general awesomeness that Megan & Alex have shown me – which also worked well as I was rather tired and had a very full stomach.  Jackie was having none of this child-minding business, so packed up her tent & left for more rock-climbing while Alex & Megan hit Slickrock.

Finn passed the time watching a Thomas the Tank Engine film, again, until the tablet gave up the ghost due to abuse at the hands of a two-year old while I wrote postcards.  Then we climbed rocks a lot, played in the sand & I generally contemplated the fast-approaching end of an excellent holiday, life and how I live on the completely wrong continent to regularly get a suitable mountain-biking-in-big-open-spaces fix.

Toddler throwing sand & being told off while I try not to crack up just out of shot

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, national park, snow, USA

Snow, Arches & Captain Ahab

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Waking up Wednesday morning, well before dawn it was pretty apparent it was a lot colder and the tent was sitting a little heavy. Sure enough, when the light came around there was a fair layer of snow on most things except the ground – from which it melted pretty quickly. Not overly keen to ride in the cold & snow, we finally got to Arches NP – not that I was overly fussed as I’d had a good visit there two years ago (I still haven’t got a better camera, oops) & the weather was warmer & sunnier.  I thought the others should at least see a little bit of it, so wasn’t too put out to be wandering around in the cool of the morning. Still we briefly enjoyed seeing the desert with a bit of snow on it, once we drove high enough, and wandering around a bit in the spring chill under various arches.

More interesting for the little bushes dusted with snow than catching Finn mid-step

There I am

The rest of the structure towering above me – I’m just visible

With a bit more driving & a little stroll, we saw Delicate Arch from the reverse angle to my last visit

Jackie had opted for the comforts of town over wandering around rocks – after a cafe lunch, stocking up on delicious gooey raspberry brownie (that proved a fantastic post-ride item earlier in the week – maybe after the mud ride), a quick trip back to camp to load bikes into my car, Megan & I were off to meet Jackie to ride Amasa Back & Captain Ahab in the still overcast, but slowly warming, afternoon.

Jeremy had been raving about Captain Ahab since well before I even got to Utah – & it was this recommendation that saw him reach the highest levels of our esteem.  Amasa Back is in the same area & is a Moab classic ride apparently (I’d never heard of it), so we decided to combine the two – which is completely achievable.  With a nice rocky downhill straight off the road, we crossed the only creek of the week (it was tiny) and were hit by a nice climb with, I think, some nice challenging step-ups even if the gradient wasn’t too steep.  I stalled on one particularly optimistic attempt – couldn’t move forward & close to losing balancing over backwards; a charitable push got me going again.

It should now be obvious why the new trail is named so

Even the climbs are enjoyable in this place

We continued along the wide rocky track past the beginning of Ahab & soon we were skirting around the top of Jackson Hole.  With large cliffs dropping all the way down to said hole, there was plenty to think about even if the trail wasn’t particularly hard – having said that, there was one really nasty rocky drop/descent that we all walked for quite a few metres.

That’s me & Jackie carefully riding around, & not into, Jackson Hole

That’s Jackson Butte sitting in Jackson Hole

It was a bit more climbing up to the lookout, which once again had us on top of a massive cliff overlooking the Colorado River valley.  We were all lying on the edge of the cliff looking down an awful long way – that was, until Jackie started talking about undercut cliff edges cut a little close to the bone & various fears of plummeting to doom.  I’m not sure what happened, perhaps a whole week’s worth of excitement reached some sort of zenith as we took in the vast views, cliffs, rocks and celebrated so much excellent riding; whatever it was, general frivolity & hilarity ensued as we had much to be excited about (apparently Bieber can speak French).

A summit shot for the bikes (Moab is just behind that ridge)

and the bikers

For such incredible views and vastness, I have disappointingly few photos – there’s the Colorado yet again

Not knowing much about it, except it was there, we decided there was enough time to head out on the Pothole Arch singletrack to close to the end of the mesa (or whatever it was).  Unfortunately, it was perhaps the worst marked trail we’d seen all week – eventually we found the faint red line to follow.  The riding was fun, even if we were going down too much & would need to climb back to the main trail – but the red line just sort of stopped and we weren’t too sure if we even found Pothole Arch.  But there was enough time to tape (the most use my first aid kit had all week, mercifully) up Jackie’s brake hose away from the rear spoke, again, and turn to head back to Ahab.

When Jeremy first mentioned Ahab, I looked it up online & thought it was a bit big for me – I’m not one to wear body armour or go on trails that need such excesses.  This sign didn’t really help, but Jeremy had assured it us that it was no harder than Porcupine Rim.  There was a fair bit of riding around the top of more exposed cliffs, and maybe more climbing than we expected – but we were well used to all that by that stage of the trip, so it wasn’t too bad.

There were some nice little drops to ride

In the sun – we spent a fair bit of the ride wondering if the dark clouds to the east & the west were going to rain, or even snow, on our merry ride

Every so often one feels obliged to stop & look at the view/rest.

The whole trail was most fun and is extremely well designed & built.  I can’t remember too many details, but there were some steep little descents and pinch climbs – all the descents were rollable, I think, one just had to have the confidence (& skill I suppose, as the sign suggests) to do so.  I remember only one obstacle that I couldn’t clear –  a series of three consecutive ~foot-high step-ups, on which Jackie tried her best to acquaint herself with her steerer tube & then saw stars briefly.

For the final mile to two kilometres of the trail before it rejoined the main track back down, there was a sudden & marked change in the riding.  Most importantly, from a self-preservation side of things – we were back right on the top of a very large cliff; the difference this time being that we were riding downhill and therefore much faster, if anything should go pear-shaped it would be a very large pear-shaped thing indeed.  Also, the trail got quite a bit smoother and was just good fun – even if the sign warning that precise bike skills were needed on one really exposed corner was a little worrying.

Yes, that’s a fall to certain extinction a metre to Jackie’s right

All too soon, we were barrelling down the big wide trail back to the stream, grunting up the last little bit to the road and celebrating  with beers & brownie a successful ride (on a day that started so snowy too) that easily ranked as high as the blast I’d had on Porcupine Rim a few days prior for best ride of the trip.  Somehow we managed to persuade ourselves that we deserved a second large Mexican meal in as many dinners – I think we were right.

This is worth watching if you’re interested in trail-building or just riding:

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, USA

Slickrock completely & Fins ‘n Things

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After that clear night shown in the previous post, it was rather chilly and a little grey when we rose Tuesday morning.   We spent a fair bit of the morning in the large RV of Chad & Michelle while Jackie did her best to cook pancakes that didn’t taste like garlic – & despite much analysis of all the ingredients, failed utterly.  It wasn’t raining much & looked, to the optimist, as if it might clear; consequently, it wasn’t long before I started itching for a ride.  As the Slickrock Trail was so close & I hadn’t done a whole loop after almost a week in Moab – it was about time.  Eventually we ended up a group of five heading out – I’m not sure how that happened, everyone else looked pretty happily ensconced in the RV.

What to say?  I’ve said it before I’m sure; it was rocky, up, down & around steep gradients; grippy and a lot of fun.  With a large group there was ample opportunity for photos.

Jacket weather for the first part of the lollipop stick

I’d avoided this the previous time; after Porcupine Rim it wasn’t a problem. Then pretty much everyone rode it

In our intermittent attempts to get a photo of Megan & me with bikes for our families & posterity, it’s unfortunate that the best one is when we aren’t looking at the camera

Off I go, down & back up again

Trying to remember to look at the trail

Megan riding up things

across things

and even down things – what a well rounded talent for riding, well, things

I clearly had plenty of time to take photos

At about the furtherest point from the trailhead, Megan & I for some reason decided that we should get back a bit faster than we were going to at the current pace (probably mindful of Alex watching Finn & not being able to ride), so we split off.  There are no more photos after that, as Megan took off & I struggled to keep up for a solid forty minutes back to camp.  I’ll just go with the excuse that I’d been riding ahead quickly & then trying to snap photos, so was a little tired; yip, that sounds plausible – let’s run with that.

Late afternoon I strangely found myself going on a ride that I hadn’t really thought of to do or instigated. Just the other side of camp is Fins ‘n Things – where you follow stegosaurus markers painted on the rocks. It’s mostly a Jeep trail, but you can ride it. Alex, Jackie & I rode off in the prevening sun looking at the storm clouds rolling in across Castle Valley. I remember a strong wind (which had revealed itself on the last few miles of Slickrock), large sandtraps, some steep climbs that were longer than those on Slickrock and some fun lines down various drops.

bikes, friends, GPS, MTB, USA

Klondike mud

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Outrageously, rain had set in come rising time on Monday morning. The edge of the storm we’d been hearing about for a few days seemed to have come to visit. We settled for a morning of doing things that people living out normal lives do as a matter of course – laundry, using a shower & not smelling mank, sitting in cafes and so on. By mid-afternoon I was tired of that nonsense & wanted to go ride bikes – even if it was still raining a bit. Somehow I suckered Megan into joining me – it was riding bikes, it wasn’t hard.

We headed back out to Klondike Bluffs as there were a few trails there that I wanted explore. At least the sand had dampened the big sand trap near the start of the trail system – about all it was good for. I think I was pretty wet very quickly. We had intended to stay relatively low & ride Dino-Flow out & EKG back; however, we were duped by friendly moto-x riders that Baby Steps (a much larger loop, up & over the ridge) would be awesome. Dino-Flow was pleasant & holding up well in the rain – on account of all the rock; we climbed up on the Baby Steps loop & proved that the rock is still really grippy in the wet before doing a little bit of singletrack.

The second bit of singletrack was more slippery – I think I had my first little spill of the trip. Lost my front wheel at low speed balanced on a slick small boulder and had a good go of jumping over the bars before I was catapulted over them. We rode under a rock too – really the only photo opportunity of the ride.

Shortly after the soil changed slightly & as it was wet this stuff became really awful mud; not only did it stick to tyres, it stuck just as well to itself.  Soon our bikes had doubled in weight and we couldn’t even push our bikes there was so much mud rubbing between the wheels and fork & frame.  Mercifully there wasn’t more than a few hundred metres of this awfulness; with the rain still falling, we turned & headed for home.  It stopped raining as we got closer to the car.  So a bit of a trial that ride – but it has to be pretty awful for me to dislike a ride, so I was still pleased we’d made the effort to get out.

It was sunny & quite warm back in town as we gave our bikes a good wash at the bike shop, grrr.  Our small riding group doubled in size that day as Jackie (a friend of Megan & Alex from Melbourne in the country on a climbing trip) arrived from Nevada, as did Chad & Michelle (friends of Jackie’s) from Colorado.

It must have cleared up that night, as someone took this

Biking to go places, going places to bike.