schnauzers.ws

Though it seemed gloomy in most directions, there was still a remarkable beauty of red against gray.

I was closely following our SRV (Shuttle Recovery Vehicle) as we snaked along the Colorado river to our destination. A rally between a Mini Cooper and an Chevy Avalanche?

Once unpacked and settled in, we procrastinated as the rain came down and all things to the South of us disappeared. To the northwest, we could see a circle of blue. A hole in the clouds where the sun had decided to blast a beacon. The vote to ride or not came down to two "yes", one "no", and an "on the fence". Since I had the launch sequence for the shuttle, we chased down the hole to make a final decision. How fortunate that this small break of blue sky happened to land directly over some of the new singletrack in Moab! Proof that God must be a mountain biker. Liftoff was at 4:30 PM.

Don't be fooled by the gray muck in the distance shrouding the thirteen thousand foot peaks and the occasional rumble they produced. There was blue sky and sun overhead as we looked to link the "Bars".

There are some really fun singletrack loops here and the builders have done a good job of incorporating "challenges", though still keeping it as a great way to introduce intermediate riding.

This isn't Sovereign, but it's a great way to acclimate to the environment. Bar-B was a great jaunt over slickrock mounds, bumps, a few drops, and some great flow.

Rockin' A was F*ckin' A fun and offered something a little more than the standard slickrock fare.

I give high marks to a great new trail system in Moab!

We take a leisurely start to a sunny Day 2, which will be our longest ride of the trip. The shuttle has once again delivered us to a prescribed destination. If you want epic, this is it. We are packing extra water for this desert adventure. Two canyons, sand, and lot's of rock!

You won't find much in the way of singletrack, but for what it lacks in trail width it gains back in vast beauty and solitude. Well, at least for a while.

There are certainly some challenges and they offer many different lines. Most of them have soft sandy landings.

Occasionally, the sand and vertical combine to offer a slightly different challenge.

There is a reason for desert insanity. Maybe it's a merit (not a method) to my madness, a perpetual beating that seems disconnected from my heart and routed in emotion. It's how I try to explain to my children that this is the reason that every day doesn't have to be a Disney day.

Then again, how much different can a roller coaster ride be? They all start out with a climb and then rough you up.

They all end up with a primal scream of delight.

Behind the Rocks is not about that killer drop, rock hauling, or climbing the highest peak, For me, it is about understanding how much is here, why it's here, how it got here, and enjoying the time I have being a part of it. Wind, sun, and rain used to shape our environment. That part still exists to some extent here. I guess there is something special about that.

Alright, enough sappy conversation and onto pure bastions of brutal courageous testosterone!

As we wind our way through the final canyon, we come across the Transformer Brigade playing on the rocks. More testosterone without the physical effort. None-the-less, it is still amazing what these machines can do and we stand and cheer just as loud as the people driving them.

This area is being shaped and re-shaped on a daily basis. A never ending testament to the power of nature and the beauty it can evoke with just a simple word.

A hole through a rock becomes an arch.

A slot between the walls becomes a canyon.

A castle.

Or, a grand cathedral.

Or, maybe you just have "more bars".

There has been a concerted effort in Moab to create singletrack. Day 3 brings more clear skies and Sovereign trail. It's lot more complete since the last time I road here and there is a loop with Salt Wash trail (kind of) now. You can also link to the Bar trails, if you are so inclined to torture yourself in one day.

I don't understand why they don't move the parking area up the dirt road to where the singletrack begins, but c'est la vie. More dirt.

These are well thought out trails incorporating short ups and downs, flow, and some technical spots. Yeah, this is about what I call "feature" filled. For Moab trails, it is a must do.

The type of trail where when you learn the flow, it speaks to you.

The desert eludes a certain sense of ruggedness. Why did people endure (and still do) these conditions? What made them persevere with few resources, rocks, and a whole lot of dust? Do you think the first settlers thought, "hey, this area is FUN!"

On the forth and final day, it was time to meet my nemesis. A trail that I had attempted to ride early in my mountain biking experience. One that has gripped me with a fear of crashing and dying ever since. A trail that I had walked a good portion of due to lack of experience, skill, and a fear of heights.

Welcome to the most famous trail in Moab, Porcupine Rim.

When I last experienced Porc, it was at the tail-end of my first multi-day mountain biking trip along the Kokopelli Trail. I had not been mountain biking very long and certainly had no business being on that trail. I was also very tired by that time. Shortly after that, UPS was closed.

Fast forward to 2009, UPS is open again, and I have had a lot more time on the pedals.

We picked up Greg, who was visiting from Michigan. As someone who used to travel a lot, it's great to meet up with people to ride with. It beats riding alone on new trails. Our first idea was to ride the Kokopelli trail and ride all of UPS. For some of us, this would happen. For others, the mud bath was too much and they opted for Sand Flats Road. After fifty yards, we started carrying our bikes. It wasn't that far (less than 1/2 mile) before we came to a dry UPS trailhead. As we stopped to hack the clay off of our bikes, other riders were coming in from another trail. Hmmm… we didn't know about the connector from Sand Flats Road (which was a long way around the mud), but the other guys didn't either (or, so we thought). So, we were still set to meet at the cattle guard.

One last huck?

The upper part of UPS is a scrubby pine rock blast! Worth the mud? Heck yeah! We blasted through the section at a pretty quick pace. The recent wet weather had packed things down, but made some of the slickrock a little sketchy. Still, I don't even remember worrying about it.

We spent about twenty minutes at the cattle guard and finally thought that the others must be either way behind us or way in front. So, we continued on UPS and dropped down the notch to LPS. A word about the notch, if I may. I understand the purpose of switchbacks, but there must have been some perverted thoughts when this was conceived. Yet, though I chickened out (bouncing off an old tree limb to make a 90 degree turn on an equally degreed angle doesn't appeal to my insurance adjuster), I did witness a couple of storm troopers tackling the bad boy. Kudo's to them. I could barely walk down it.

We continue down LPS to the overlook and contemplate the fate of our mud fearing brethren. As we prepare to decide on meeting them at the bottom, they mysteriously appear from the woods, no mud, and all smiles? We promptly begin to extrude the glory of riding a great piece of singletrack after the mud. How they missed such a great opportunity. Well, apparently some folks from Austin, TX had hooked them up with the "alternate" entrance. Ha! Well, it had to add at least five miles work. Hey, there has to be some benefit to the mud.

Let the downhill fun begin! Ok, I think I may have stopped two or three times. Two of those were exposure related. Yeah, I'm still afraid of heights.

Our last night we slept well on a belly full of Miguel's food. Even my "Americanized" lamb burrito smothered in red sauce was out of this world!