Colorado National Monument and Moab
Thursday, we ended up touring the Colorado National Monument and taking bunches of pictures. It was REALLY cold and windy. We had snow flurries on and off all day. From what we could see, the Bookcliffs trails were probably snow-covered, and much of the higher elevations were snowed in, too. So, we did the “tourist-thing”.
Friday we headed over to Moab. The drive down scenic Hwy 128 was absolutely beautiful. The highway follows the Colorado River down in the canyon. We also enjoyed a great blues show on the local radio station while we drove…
We rented bikes at Poison Spider in Moab. They had some cool stuff on super-duper sale, so we also got t-shirts, stickers and socks there. (Yes, we’re cheesy tourists). Instead of renting another bike rack or taking the shuttle, we decided to ride to Slickrock from the shop. It was a HUGE warm-up ride, through town, UP, UP, UP a road for a few miles (did I mention all UP?)
We hit the Slickrock. It was fun. VERY steep, but fun. It was a mostly smoothe ride, but the downs were straight down, and the ups were straight up. I wouldn’t say it’s a “Beginner trail”, but there were a BUNCH of newbies out there trying. The weather was absolutely beautiful — mid sixties, the sun was warm and there was a cool breeze. We met a bunch of nice folks from all over. We ran into Perry Lee (local racer) who noticed Brian’s Trailblazer jersey. That was pretty random.
It was a fun ride, about 13 miles of trail, plus the ride to/from town. You really have to pay attention to the white blazes on the slickrock. If you aren’t looking, it would be REALLY easy to go off the side of a cliff.
We headed back to Hot Tomato’s in Fruita for dinner. I got another T-shirt, and we got some stickers. They were out of the sticker I really wanted, so if anyone heads out there, get me the one that says “Ride Bikes, Eat Pizza”.
We left town yesterday afternoon. Our takeoff from Grand Junction was aborted due to a Coyote that ran across the runway as we were getting up to speed to take off… wierd.
Other observations about Moab:
I’m glad we don’t share our local trails with ORVs, Jeeps, dirtbikes and ATVs.
Sidis are NOT a good choice on slickrock.
While Moab is fun, I think I prefer singletrack.
There are no shade trees in the desert.
Slickrock is FAST and it’s amazing how well tires will grip it.
Riding STRAIGHT down a STEEP drop is FUN.
My husband can climb some steeeeeeep rock.
I can’t. (More of a fear of stalling out and falling backwards down a steep rock).
Deep sand will stop your bike very quickly.
The climbs out there are WAY steeper and longer than the carpet climb and goat hill put together.
Renting different bikes is a great way to demo new bikes, and it saves the hassle of shipping or flying with your own bike.
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