Day 6: Porcupine Rim

GPS Data:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29514640

It was now time for the last ride of our mountain bike trip, the infamous Porcupine Rim trail. I had read about this trail many times and I was honestly really nervous about riding it. All I could think about was the exposed singletrack that was mentioned in all the trail books I've read. But then I figured I was probably ready for this trail after everything else we did during this trip. This was the final test.

Today's ride got the Canadian treatment. No driving and no shuttles. We were going to ride from town, up Sands Flats road and back to the condo, which adds about 9 miles to the ride. It was going to be a tough slog up the road after 5 consecutive days of riding...but we all wanted to maximize time in the saddle.

We started the ride out from the condo and it was really nice outside. Blue sky and shining sun. We all filled our Camelbaks up to the max and carried a couple waterbottles as we knew the hard part was going to be climbing under the hot sun for 2 hours. The two toughest parts of the climb were before the Slickrock trail so they were pretty early in the ride...which was good for warming up the legs. After an hour and fifteen of moderate climbing we reached the trail head. It was now time to cross Porcupine Rim off the list must-do trails in Moab and I was starting to get pretty excited.

The trail started out with a quick jeep trail descent into the saddle but soon we were back to constant climbing. This time it was a pretty rocky climb coupled with short sections of slickrock/sandstone. It wasn't an extremely techincal climb like in Sovereign but it was still a grunt to get to the top. Just before we got to the top we encountered another cyclist who was walking his bike up the climb...he looked pretty drained...and he was not even at the halfway point.

When we reached the top of the lookout we encountered a small group of riders from Pennsylvania. Apparently they had done the Slickrock trail first and then decided to finish the ride off at Porcupine Rim so the whole group looked pretty tired. They were lying down and seemed to be facing a water shortage issue as well. We took a short break and took a few photos and headed out before the group so we wouldn't have anyone in our way on the downhill.

Overlooking Castle Valley at the lookout point

After the break there was a little bit more climbing but when we finally crested the hill we got ready for the 10km of downhill. We got to the downhill and it was AWESOME!!! The first part was really rocky jeep trail but it was super fast and required almsot no pedalling. My suspension was definetely getting a full workout going down and there were a lot of sections that could really hurt if you weren't paying a attention and looking at your line well in advance. The downhill seemed to go on forever...it was so awesome. There were a few section that were pretty sketch and we had to walk/dab but it was all rideable...depending on your confidence/skill level. I'd rather walk a section then take a ride home in a helivac.

When we got to the bottom of the first downhill section we came across the famous 4 foot rock ledge. None of us dropped it as the landing was super flat and so could potentially wreck your bike (and you) if you took it wrong so we took the chicken line down just to the right. I got Brent to take a couple photos and as we were getting ready to go again, the group that we met and the lookout had caught up to us. All the riders except for one took the chicken line but one defiant rider went for the jump. The rider landed in a bit of a nosedive and completely bottomed out the suspension on his rental Nomad, so I'm sure he wasn't super concerned about its well being...but his jump could have gone wrong in so many ways.

Next came the section I had been thinking about the entire trip. The Porcupine Rim single track. The trail started out with a quick descent down some slickrock to a canyon and then crossed over to the exposed single track section. The exposure wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. I personally think some of the stuff on the Kokopelli trail in Fruita was much worse but there were still some really technical sections that could spell disaster if you bailed, so some parts were much safer to just either dab or get off and walk. As Brent always says...sometimes you have to think about the risk vs. reward...and some areas were way to risky.

After navigating to about halfway down we came to another canyon where there was a portage down a pretty steep area. It looked sorta rideable if you took the right line on the switchback but we chose to just dismount and carry our bikes down...which was still pretty tricky. I personally could not see a line that would not be uber technical/risky.

Halfway down the singletrack section

As we decended the final part the trail became slightly wider but was still really technical. We could see the parking lot but we were still pretty high up. The descent was not too bad and we finally made it all the way down in one piece. I had done it...I did one of the harder trails in Moab trail with no injuries and I know I had a huge grin on my face. For me it had been a great accomplishment to not only do this ride...but also do the manly version which included the big road climb. I probably rode about 95% of the trail with most of the walking being in the really technical/exposed sections of the singletrack.

After reaching the parking lot, we were all smiles but pretty tired. We had a quick breather and then shifted into our big rings and rode back to our condo on the side of the highway.

This was my last ride of the trip. I would have gone the next day but I decided that it would be best to give my knee a rest. I was on painkillers to make it through most of the rides as my knee had still been pretty achy from Tuesday so I really was riding through the pain most days.

Final thoughts:

This trip was probably one of the best trips I've ever done. It was great group to ride with and I found that all my crazy winter training had really paid off. I had orginally been pretty worried about doing 6 days of mountain biking in a row...but it actually wasn't really a factor after getting adequate food and rest after each day. The vacation almost seemed like a full-time job in the way we approached each day but it was actually really fun and very memorable. If you're a mountain biker you should absolutly go to Moab but I also suggest spending a couple a of days in Fruita as well. The riding is great in both locations and totally different. Fruita isn't really far from Moab so you could even make a quick day trip to do one of the sections and then drive back to Moab.

- Kyle

Day 5: Sovereign

GPS Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29434668

We finally arrived in Moab to finish off our trip. We had originally planned on staying here for the entire week…but as we’ve all been to Moab before and ridden most of the classic trails, we decided to stay in Fruita for a little longer.

Today’s ride would bring us to the Sovereign trail system. The trail was originally built by dirt bikers who opened up the trail to mountain bikers as well. It is one of the newer trails in Moab though it has been around for quite some time. The trail system is a mish mash of ATV trails, dirtbike trail and mountain bike trails so there are sections of jeep trail that connect some of the single track together.

Finally time to break out the sunscreen

We started the ride off from the campgrounds just off the highway a few miles from the trailhead as there was sections of sand that we weren’t sure if the Subie would make it through or not…and Jeff of course wanted big miles for the ride.

After a missed turn, we back tracked a little bit and found the single track then started on the first section of the ascent. Most of the first part was climbing on slickrock with a few ledge hops thrown in. While trying to spot the line for the climbs, I could already see the tire marks for the downhill portion...I was already hoping we’d get to come back this way again and bomb down the ledges. We got to the top of the first section and caught up with a few other mountain bikers who let us go on ahead. Then we got to another steep rocky section, the other guys were able to clear it but I stopped when another riders was walking up and wasn’t able to get any momentum for a line, so I quickly ran my bike down.

We then did another section of twisty single track descents and a few climbs. The single track was already way different then the stuff we were doing in Fruita. The climbs were a little more technical and a little bit steeper...or maybe that was just my legs after 4 days. After riding on the top of the mesa made up of broken slabs of rock we did a quick descent for our first lunch break.

After the break we did a descent down to the ATV intersection. We crossed over via single track and did a quick single that led up to a nice climb on a massive section of slickrock. After the slickrock section we did a nice climb then did a pretty technical creek bed/slick\rock single track. After finishing off the singletrack we once again got to a ATV trail. We rode up the road to a map where the second entrance to the trailhead is. After looking at the map we found a single-track loop close by.

The loop looked like it went around the top of a mesa...but there was a ton of climbing involved. The climb was tough with lots of dirt and pretty steep in some section. We got to the top of the mesa and decided to start the loop counter-clockwise. The trail climbed a little bit more before dropping down a sandy creek bed. There was a lot of sand in the creek bed and lots of big loose rocks so the descent wasn’t nearly as fun as it could have been. After the getting to the bottom we figured we would have to climb up to the top again but climb involved going up another sandy creek bed which given our current fitness levels was pretty tedious. After the climb up the creek we were treated more really rocky single track. This was really tough to climb as pedals and chain rings were hitting huge rocks strewn about the single track. This was a trail that wasn’t used nearly as much as the main trail and it showed.

After completing the loop we got treated to a nice technical single track descent back to the ATV roads. This time we opted to take the ATV route back as the creek bed single track would have been really tough to climb given our energy levels. After backtracking on some single track and going down the slickrock portion we got back to the main junction. Now it was a long tough climb back up to the top of the mesa. After retracing our steps back to the top it was time for the descent.

The descent was so worth it. Some pretty good speeds with some great ledge drops thrown in. All the drops had good run outs so it was possible to take all the 1-2 foot drops with ease. Even Jeff was taking everything on his singlespeed 29er. After finishing off the descent and getting back to the jeep road, I raced Jeff back to the car...it’s amazing how well a single-speed bike can keep up with a geared bike...I almost had him until we had to plow through some pretty deep sand. Needless to say...he made it all the way through while I bogged down about three quarters of the way through.

We got back to the car moderately exhausted but had a great time. It was one of the nicest days we had so far and our longest ride. We got changed and drove back to town for a well deserved dinner at the Moab Brewery.

- Kyle

Day 4: Rabbit Valley and the Western Rim

Rabbit Valley Trail and the Western Rim
GPS Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29343598 (Check out the trail using the Google Earth plugin)

Today was a much better day. The wind had died down, the skies were clear and the sun was out. After going for our usual coffee stop and staring at a map, Jeff decided that we wanted to do the Western Rim trail. The trail was out a little bit from Fruita so we packed the car with all our stuff as we were going to drive to Moab right after we finished up the trail.

We parked pretty close to the highway as Jeff’s Subaru did not have the clearance necessary to drive any further down the road to the trailhead. The 4X4 trail was pretty uneventful but we were glad to finally be biking in good weather. The road was pretty flat which was good because as usual we would have a long ride ahead but there were a few sections of sand…which was not so great…but it was all rideable.

Awesome day, nice breeze, boring, sandy jeep road

We got to the first marker junction which the guy at the shop had described and could not see where any of the trails led. After consulting the map several times we just rode a little bit down the trail and there was a sign pointing towards the Western Rim trail. The trail towards the rim was extremely sandy and we were looking out for the Juniper tree that marked our turn. Apparently if we missed it we would go into a sandy pit that would have us “hating life”.

After making the turn, Jeff signalled that we had found the trail and it was time to light it up. The trail was AWESOME!!! It was super fun flowy single track along the rim of a Mesa. It was also slightly downhill which made it even better. It wasn’t super technical or really exposed but it was just awesome riding along the rim with a few small rollers thrown in (from dirt bike traffic) and a few small climbs. This was by far my favourite trail so far. The view from the rim was spectacular with mesas on the horizon and an awesome view of the Colorado river down below in the valley.

Western Rim

Then we got to a part in the trail where we met up with a couple other mountain bikers. We talked for a bit aobut bikes and such then they said they were going to do the Western Rim in reverse as they had never done if that way before and the jeep road back to the trailhead was really boring. Jeff wanted to push on a little more because we only had 1.5 hours of riding time or something and he wanted to get closer to 5. We went down a couple steeps and found a single track spur off one of the jeep roads. We decided to follow the single track for another hour and then turn back.

The single-track runs along the shelf between the cliff and the bushes.

We had all noticed that the trail really didn’t have a huge amount of elevation change and then all of a sudden on the second half we were pushing our bikes up super steep hills and riding back down the other. We did this for a little while until we followed a single track section down an old creek bed to a dead end at a railroad. We couldn’t find any more trails, so we turned back and followed the single track up…but this time we wanted to skip all the hike-a-bike so we followed the jeep trail back to where we started the single track.

After we got back to the single track junction we thought it’d be more fun to go back on the rim trail instead of the jeep trail so we geared up for a slightly uphill ride back to the junction. Surprisingly the ride back was a little slower but not nearly as slow as I thought it would be. The small rollers were definitely not as fun going the other way but I still enjoyed the awesome view going back the other way.

After getting to the junction we decided to follow some more of the coffee shop guys advice and ride the number 2 trail back to the car. The trail was really fast going back but pretty rocky with a few short steep descents thrown in. We then got to a point where the trail forked into a easy and hard section…we took the hard section of course and about 100 meters in we got to a super steep hike-a-bike...it was hard just pushing the bike up the trail let alone trying to ride it. After that,  it was another fast technical rolling double-track section back to the car.

When we got back to the car,  we were all feeling way better. The weather had held up…we all had a really fun time and Jeff seemed to be satisfied with the time on the trail. It was now off to Moab for the rest of the week.

- Kyle

Day 3: Lunch Loop

GPS Data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29244969

Today, we rode the Lunch Loop in Grand Junction which none of us have ever ridden so it was pretty much flying blind with a bunch of hand drawn maps. When we woke up, it was still really windy outside and we could see dark rain clouds in the horizon. The general consensus was that the Lunch Loop trails would be a good idea as we could ride several shorter loops and if it started to rain, we could just cut the ride short…at least that was the plan.

We got to the trailhead and it was pretty brisk outside. The wind was still strong and really wasn’t gearing us up for the ride ahead. After trying to read a bunch of maps both at the trailhead and in our book we decided that we wanted to do the Holy Cross trail.

We started out by climbing up Kurt’s Lane trail where we were encountering signs for trails we had not even heard of. We then found the trailhead for the Holy Cross trail. We went up the Holy Cross trail and the judgement is still out on whether we did it the right way or the wrong way. It was extremely technical and we spent most of our time pushing and carrying our bikes. This might seem like we did it the wrong way…but I’m not really sure if it would be easier the other way as there were tons of ledges, steep technical drops and really tight sections that looked like they would have been really difficult going the other way as well.

When we reached the top of Holy Cross we decided to try and bike up to the infamous Ribbon trail. After a few more miles of climbing we got to the highway where we met up with some locals and asked for directions to the Ribbon. The locals told us that with the wind that it would pretty much be hell climbing up the road to the trailhead and that the Ribbon was more of a downhill trail…and then told us we would have much more fun on the Gunny Loop. At this point we were tired of hiking and the wind so just wanted a sweet single track downhill so we opted to do the Gunny Loop back to the car.

The Gunny loop down from the road was tons of fun. It was fairly fast single track at the top which was pretty windy but not overly technical that went into a high-speed jeep trail descent. This almost made up for the climbing and the sun started to come out a little bit although it was still really windy. There were a couple really steep descents where my butt was pretty much an inch away from my rear tire but it was probably much safer to ride down then trying to walk/slide down. As we finished off the Gunny loop we decided we would try and take the shortest way back to the car as the rain in the horizon and cold wind just weren’t conducive to enjoyable riding. We rode back up to Kurt’s lane back down to the car and called it a day.

- Kyle

Day 2: Kokopelli Kraziness

GPS Data: http://connect.garmin.com/player/29125585

Today’s trip was over to the Kokopelli trailhead which is starting point for the famous Kokopelli trail ride to Moab. It seems that many of the trails in Fruita are area based with a whole bunch of loops in each area so your ride can be a short or as long as you want it to be.

Today’s ride was pretty interesting and was a huge test for my now rapidly dwindling fear of heights (I know crazy right?).

First we started off with Mary’s loop which starts out with a moderate rocky climb up onto the first ridge and then some fast jeep double-track to the first optional loop.

Horsethief’s Bench:

We rode up to the trailhead and met fellow Canadian Dave Whitten (Tara, his daughter, is on the Canadian National Track cycling team), who was having a snack with his son after just completing the Horsethief’s Bench loop. We looked down and there was an extremely rocky staircase descent onto the bench. I’m sure someone has ridden it…but to most mortals…it was much safer (even recommended) to just portage the bike down.

Rock staircase down

We started the loop in the recommended clockwise direction and right away it was fast, flowy and fairly technical. Before you knew it we were riding on the edge of the bench with a spectacular view of the Colorado river on the left (not to mention a 400 foot drop about 10 feet away). There wasn’t a huge amount of climbing on the trail but it was pretty fast and lots of fun. There were a bunch of cool sections that really stood out for me and it was a great way to start the ride. After we completed the loop, we hiked up to the top of the rocky stairs for our first break.

On Mary's Loop looking down at Horsethief's Bench

After the break we kept on Mary’s loop until we got to Steve’s Loop (Handcuffs).

Steve’s Loop:

Steve’s Loop was pretty technical but full on single track. This one ran much close to the edge of the plateau with more death of the left as we rode. But in the words of Ken, “It’s not fun, if you can’t die”…not too sure how I feel about that, but there were several instances where I would only look at the single track in front of me and try to completely ignore the sheer drop only a couple feet to the left.

Lion’s Loop:

After’s finishing Steve’s we got to our first junction in the trail. We hadn’t really ridden that far and we still had some energy to we decided to do Lion’s loop to go all the way around the Mesa. The loop started out with a steep rocky climb which seemed to keep going. After the big climb we were treated to a steep rocky descent. The wind was really starting to pick up here and there were several times I was blown a little off my line as we did the descent. As we started heading more towards the north we had the wind at our backs which made things a little easier. There was one section that we had to ride a little bit to the southwest and suddenly there was a huge crosswind. I tried to ride forward a little bit and a gust of wind blew my bike off the single track and careening into a slab of rock. Needless to say I bailed pretty hard as I was not expected to be literally blown off my bike. I picked myself up and had to wait a while with my bike in hand until the wind died down before I could move again. After we met up, Jeff said he had been blown off his bike as well. It was really crazy…and far beyond any wind I’ve ever encountered in Calgary.

Trying to not get blown away by the wind

Mack Ridge:
This was a deciding point for us. There was a huge climb looming before us or we could take the service road back to the car. We opted to do the climb as Jeff said that Mack Ridge would be an awesome way to finish off the ride. The climb was a death march…you can see on the GPS elevation chart we went from the lowest elevation to the highest point of the entire day. There were several false flats with tiny descents where you thought you were at the top but there was yet more climbing. I was to the point where I was wondering how we were going to get down again. When we finally got to the very top we could see everything…imagine looking down at 3 plateau levels of single track…and we had probably done most of it. Then it was time for the Mack Ridge descent. The descent was fairly steep with rock gardens littered throughout. There was one portage section but the rest was really tight technical single track.

At the bottom of the descent we made a group decision to skip Moore’s Fun as we were all pretty tired and running out of water. It would have been another massive climb with one of the most difficult descents in Fruita so we decided that it would be best to take the service road back to the car. When we arrived back at the car, we all ran out of water pretty much at the same time so we thanked ourselves for not going too overboard…still plenty of riding days left.

- Kyle

P.S. Brent has been recording Hero Cam video all week so I will be making some short videos to music when I get back to Calgary.

Day 1: 18 Road Trails

Fruita Day 1
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28981504

I have finally arrived in Fruita, Colorado. I had planned this trip with a couple of friends back in December so it’s been a really long wait until the day finally arrived. Of course as luck would have it…I got really sick Tuesday after my testing at the University (I’ll go into this later when I’m all finished up) so spent most of the week trying to battle a cold and the first day of the drive blowing my nose and taking cold medicine. We decided to take it easy on the drive so we drove to Helena Friday night, stayed at a hotel and then finished the drive off to Fruita the next day.
The trip was pretty much incident free. The only problem is it was super windy through Montana and Idaho which had us pretty worried about all the bikes on the roof and the road was covered in snow through one of the passes in Idaho so that was a little sketchy to say the least.

Anyways onto Day 1:

Today we drove up to 18 Road Trails and decided to do a few fun loops out of the lower parking lot trailhead.

The first loop we did was an ascent up the Prime Cuts trail and back down Chutes and Ladders. The first part of Chutes and Ladders was pretty technical with a few tricky spots but overall not too bad. The second part was slightly downhill and super flowy. We pretty much hammered out in the big ring and twisted our way through the single track at some pretty high speeds.

The second loop was up the Kessler trail and then over to the Zippedy Doo Dah. The only problem with Kessler was everyone was descending at some pretty high speeds while we were trying to climb the trail so it was a lot of stopping and waiting and watching people with huge smiles on their faces fly past us. When we finally climbed up to the Zippedy Doo Dah trail, I have to admit I was a little worried when I saw the sign and it said Double black diamond – experts only. Brent looked at me and said I’ll be fine…so I followed them through to the trail. The trail actually wasn’t really as bad as I thought it would be..but juding by some of the people we saw riding the lower trails...it's probably a good thing they put a sing thre. There were a couple really sketchy exposed areas on the trail and a few really steep descents but overall, it was all rideable…even for me. There was only one section we all walked because it was pretty eroded and the risk to reward factor was pretty high but for the most part I cleaned every section…although a little bit slower than the other guys.

After getting back to the parking lot we decided we needed to get in one more loop. After watching yet another group of people come out of the Kessler trail with huge grins on their faces…we knew which one it had to be. We decided to ascend up the Prime Cuts trail again as it was not as busy and then cut over to the Kessler trail. After getting to the top of the trail we shifted into the big ring and bombed down the Kessler trail. That was super fun…so much flow and it felt like we were in a downhill race. It wasn’t overly technical but it was more trying to control your speed so you didn’t fly off the single track through the tight turns and banks. Near the bottom it was awsome flow through banked turns with a few gulleys thrown in but we could totally see why everyone had huge smiles on their faces after riding the trail.

Overall, today was a really good day. The trails were really dry and temperature was great for moutnain biking. My legs felt fine but it was a little weird getting used to the mountain bike again. This is only my second ride on a mountain bike all year so it took some getting used to riding trails again. Really glad I took my Prophet along with me for this trip as I’m sure my back appreciates the extra travel on the suspension. Tomorrow's forecast does not look awesome so I'm not totally sure what we will b riding.

- Kyle