Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Had a great three days in Moab, UT last Thurs., Fri. and Sat (April 25th, 26thand 27th). On the heels of Spaugh and his crew, but did not have the opportunity to meet up. AND we did not endeavor to tackle 5MOH… Mad props to that group! Me and three buddies from CO organize an annual trip and spend 3 solid days riding. You cannot beat Moab for trail riding (or dual sporting, I would imagine). If you have never been, I highly recommend you plan a trip. Plenty to ride for all skill levels and plenty to do in addition to riding. Great food in town and great people. We have planned our trip to coincide with the annual classic car show in town. It's an awesome little bonus to have dinner in town after a day of riding and watch some really bitchin' cars cruise by. On to the trip… I left San Diego just before 8am Wed. 11 hours of driving straight through and I was in our rented townhome. (BTW, Vacation Rentals By Owner "VRBO" is a great way to find great accommodationsin Moab. Also plenty of camping available.) I drove the speed limit most every mile of the trip. 70-75 mph average speed limit with a few decent runs of 80 mph in UT. I was in my F-250 with no trailer, bike in the bed. Probably have to add a solid 3-4 hours if you are pulling a trailer (Spaugh?). The rides… Three days of nearly perfect weather! If anything, it was 5 degrees too warm, but no complaints at all. Sun out, nice breezes and beautiful clear views! Day 1: We started the day with a warm up run on Slick Rock Bike Trail. Fun rolling ups and downs on slick rock. From there, ran over to Hell's Revenge and had some fun on Hell's Gate. A few more technical obstacles there. We then loaded up the bikes and drove over to Moab Rim Trail. We hadn't ridden this one before and weren'tsure what we were in for. Right off the bat we hit a technical spot called the "Z Turn." Basically an uphill Z with a significant stepup transition between each leg of the Z. We struggled a bit, but made it up. One of a group of Razor's wasn't so lucky. A little to off camber and they were over in an instant. No one was hurt thankfully. Righted and on its way (DOWN the trail) in amatter of 15 minutes. The rest ofthe trail was probably low to mid-intermediate ride with 4-5 high-intermediate technical obstacles. We (or perhaps I shouldsay I) were pretty spent on the way down and we each had a couple of spills. Nothing too painful. Day 2: On Day 2 our plan included driving down to an area outside of Green River called White Wash Sand Dunes. It took about an hour to get there from Moab. LOTS of sand. Plenty of slick rock. But another fantastic place to spend a dayriding. We rode a couple of well known spots (Dead Cow Wash, the Tubes) and then got a bit lost out off of Red Rock Trail, I believe. We were able to find the trail again pretty easily. We rode a bit of Mary's Trail and then headed back to our staging area. Day 3: Day 3 we spent out on Poison Spider, Golden Spike, and Gold Bar Rim trails. We do this ride every year and really enjoyit. We started out at the trail head along the Colorado River off the 279. We rode up and around Poison Spider loop. Then headed out Golden Spike/Gold Bar Rim to Gemini Bridges. Stopped at an overlook for a snack along theway. Then another stop at Golden Crack. The Golden Crack stop was unplanned… I jumped the crack and cased the bike RIDICULOUSLY hard! Blew my skid plate off the bottom of the frame. The force of the impact blew the front bracket screws through the eyeholes of the bracket! Also put a 90 degree bend in the back of the skid plate. Luckily, a favorable bend in the skid plate, a couple of snap clips on my backpack and a couple of small bungies from my buddy and we were on our way. (And thank you to a kind Razor driver when quick wrenched the bracket from the skid plate to make it easier to carry.) Plenty o ftechnical obstacles of varying degrees of difficulty on Golden Spike. There are bypasses on a few of them, but I'dsay you'd probably want to be a solid intermediate to make it all the way out to Gemini Bridges. Also, a number of sections with soft, "fun," bike swallowing sand! VERDICT… The consensus was this was our best trip yet! Fitting I guess for a 5 year anniversary (for some of us). We rode hard (for us) and were wiped out atthe end of each day. But we enjoyed every minute of it! (OK, give or take15-20 mins of rants, F-bombs and general frustration sprinkled throughout the weekend!) We did apoor job of tracking mileage. Nobody paid attention… Likely because we knew we were just going to ride all day and had nothing else planned. I'd say we rode a solid 5-6 hours each day. Bikes all made it through with no major injuries or malfunctions. My skid plate separation was probably the worst that happened. Bodies were all intact at the end… Just a lot of sore muscles. Big highlight was sipping on ice cold beer from New Belgium brewery after each ride! Thanks Monte for bringing 6 growlers of very fine brew! Equipment… The CO boys were each on new two strokes this year. Two '13 KTM 300s (an XC and XC-W) and a '13 Husaberg TE 300. I was on my '12 KTM 350 XCF-W, mostly struggling to keep up with those guys in the sand! My second year on this bike in Moab. Performed like a champ and what a difference a year of saddle time makes in getting comfortable with a ride!! But honestly, I drooled a little bit watching those 300s! The two KTMs had Rekluses. They swear by them. Specially on the technical stuff. I have yet to ride a bike with a Rekluse, so I cannot comment on way or the other. But personally, I can buy a lot of other bike related crap I don't need with $800! (heh heh…) I don't mind stalling and falling over (a lot). I ran the Neutech Tubliss system in the rear for the first time. Was favorably impressed with it. No issues during the 3 days. I started at 9 psi Day 1 and had 9 psi at the end of the day on Day 3. Did not have to add air at all. PROOF… We didn't take many opportunities for action photos/vids, but there were a few. I also had my helmet cam running as long as it would each day. I will add some vids and additional commentary soon... Enjoy all…. Get to Moab if you can! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Bear with me as I get this photo/vid technology figured out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SICVIC 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Alright Chad! Glad the trip went well and everyone made it out with nothing but smiles. When the F-bombs start-a-flying you know It's a good ride. Sounds like you rode a lot of areas and trails; very cool. Great ride; great report! See you out there. Vic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bikeslut 1 Posted May 1, 2013 Moab is a mountain biking mecca that also has lots of dirt biking options. I'm familiar with a lot of those trails, but not all. Need to plan another trip out there; just remember to avoid Jeep Week and Mountain Bike week... weekends are crowded, but weekdays are pretty good Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Moab is a mountain biking mecca that also has lots of dirt biking options. I'm familiar with a lot of those trails, but not all. Need to plan another trip out there; just remember to avoid Jeep Week and Mountain Bike week... weekends are crowded, but weekdays are pretty good Agreed... We definitely avoid the Jeep Week. Car Show weekend was not too bad. Most of the bustle is in town. There was a lot of activity on the trails on Sat., but wasn't too jammed up. Most times we could slip around the jeep/4WD traffic without issue. I would think that would not be true during Jeep Week... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Alright Chad! Glad the trip went well and everyone made it out with nothing but smiles. When the F-bombs start-a-flying you know It's a good ride. Sounds like you rode a lot of areas and trails; very cool. Great ride; great report! See you out there. Vic Thanks Vic... It was a great time! Next time I'll have to drag you along... If nothing else, to drive part of the way! Looking forward to a redemption ride soon... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Day 1 Vids: Here's Monte working his way up the "Z Turn" on Moab Rim Trail. This is where the Razor did not fair so well... My climb up Hell's Gate. Get's a little slippery with a little sand on the rubber. Typically stick right to it. Glad I didn't completely bungle it given all the spectators at the top! My riding right hand for over 40 years... His thoughts on making a run up Hell's Gate. (Apologize for any offensive language.) He blew right up after filming this... Here's Monte and Franco coming down Z Turn. Just another perspective on the step ups/downs. More to come... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chad 0 Posted May 1, 2013 Day 2 Vids: As noted, Day 2 was spent at the White Wash Sand Dunes near Green River... Dead Cow Wash is an awesome run... Apparently I got a little tired toward the end of this clip! :blush:/> The Tubes is more fun than Dead Cow... Cool narrow run with some water fun! We stopped at this step down/puddle to have a little fun... This is Steve and I havin' a splash. (Phone vid quality is not great). Here's the same run from my helment cam... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
