DigDug's Moab Adventure

[Crawdaddy 96]

It was Doug and Mickey's party.....I was just lucky enough to be invited.....here are a few teaser pics while you're waiting for Doug's write-up.......

We arrived at San Rafael Swell about 4am on Thursday morning, parked and slept for a few hours.......here's Doug's Toybox in BFE near the trail head:

We decided to hit the Red ("easy?" ) Trail first to warm up for the "5 Miles of Hell"...........here's a few pics from the Red Trail:

Ok, no big deal, time to head over to 5 Miles of Hell for a bit more fun.....Hey, it's only 5 miles, we should be fine starting down it around 1pm (Wrong! The trash can of bike parts at the trail head should've clued us in ).....here's a few teaser pics from 5 Miles of Hell:

The Crux:

Day two consisted of Hell's Revenge followed by SlickRock Bike Trail, followed by Fins and Things, followed by Porcupine Rim......a few day 2 teaser pics:

After a viewpoint on Hell's Revenge you drop down this.....

Then, as some sort of perverse award for making it down the plunge, you have something even nastier waiting around the corner to bring you back up again!

The scenery along Porcupine Rim was awesome.....as were the consequences if you fell to the right heading down the single track :

Doug, best not let Mickey's mother see the below photo or we'll both be hearing about it!

The bottom of Porcupine required a bit of bull dog work to get up and out of a stream bed and back onto the trail:

DigDug emerging from under the road at the end of the Porcupine Rim Trail:

We rode all the "Gold Stuff" trails on Day 3 - Poison Spider followed by Gold Spike to Gold Bar across the Golden Crack, blah, blah.....over to Gemini Bridges and back to camp along Hell Roaring:

View down through "Little Arch" (located on Poison Spider Trail)....you can just barely see the parking area for the Moab Rim Trail through the arch.....it's probably about 2K' (? ) below along the highway):

Mickey discovered he had NO FRONT BRAKE!!! shortly before descending/sliding down this BIG/STEEP/SLICK downhill (somehow the brake fluid leaked out of his master cylinder....probably due to an earlier crash)......the kid was an absolute STUD to ride the rest of day 3 with no front brake considering the terrain we traversed ....Mickey, you're the :ok: This pic shows Mickey being helped down the slippery slope by Doug and a couple of Trials Riders who were equally impressed with Mickey

We followed the rim along the top of the Gold Bar Trail:

The Golden Crack:

DigDug cleaning "the crack" (~6 foot deep fisure in the rock).......or did he?? .....see aftermath photo pasted in lower in this thread ......I wasn't going to put that one in but since he put in a SPLAT shot of me in his post.....well.....fair is fair

Gemini Bridges:

Thanks Doug and Mickey for a GREAT adventure.....

[dirt dame 561]

Where are the bunny slopes?

[sandiegoland 0]

Dang... great shots!!

[Strega 0]

That looks incredible. Damn I can't wait to go.

[DigDug 0]

Well, I've got work to get done, the toyhauler to unload, and work to do on the bikes; but I figured I'd post a little bit of a writeup on our Moab this weekend. We took LOTS of pictures and videos, so I'm sure we'll add to this - but here are a few shots to get you started.

Our trip was very short notice. I found out that my sister and her husband were going to be camping in Moab with their Toyota Landcruiser club, so that would be a good excuse to head up there with the bikes. Crawdaddy was the only taker. We got kind of a late start Wednesday afternoon, but decided to drive straight through to San Rafael Swell (home to the infamous Five Miles of Hell trail) before unloading to go to sleep. We got in and to bed at about 4am. The sun woke us up between 8 and 9 and we were itching to hit the trails.

We were told to try out the Red Route (rated difficult) before we hit 5MOH. There were a few challenges, but nothing major.

Having ridden it with no major issues, we figured it was time we tried the legendary 5MOH trail. We jetted back to camp for a camelbak topoff and quick lunch. Then off to the trail.

We were hoping not to add to this "tribute" of broken bike parts...

Stuff like this all afternoon long:

Unfortunately, there was a little bit of this.

Really fun trail winding through some really rugged terrain. Break down or hurt yourself out here, and it's a LOOOONNNNGGG way to help. The nearest town is about 50 miles away...

Despite a few "get-off's" and bulldogging sessions, we were doing pretty well. That all changed when we reached "The Crux" (we're not sure if that's what it's officially, but that's what they called it in the video - and rightly so!!! It was a relatively steep, quite loose, uphill climb to a 1 ft ledge, followed by about 4 feet of sloping slickrock to a 3 foot ledge.

We tried a few different approaches, but finally resorted to the tow strap to get the three bikes up the final ledge. After spending 3 or so hours to go just 2 miles, it was getting late, we were getting tired (after only getting 4 hours of sleep), the camelbaks were empty, and the escape route was a welcome sight.

Besides, we still had the 1.5 hour drive to Moab and camp to set up there.

In all, I'd have to say that 5MOH is the most difficult trail I've ridden (well as much as we rode), but we were able to get across everything it threw at us albeit with the some towstrap assistance and bulldogging. There's no doubt the three of us could have made the rest of it, but if you're going to run it - make sure you start EARLY in the morning and keep the pace going.

We had to leave a little token from our visit:

We took the escape route back to camp, loaded up the toyhauler and headed off to Moab to set up camp and get ready for day 2.

To be continued....

[Joliet 0]

looks great. What do you suggest for gearing. Looks like a trials bike is the way to go. Doug, I hope you had armor on under that jersey. Thanks for the pics. Ken

[Strega 0]

looks great. What do you suggest for gearing. Looks like a trials bike is the way to go. Doug, I hope you had armor on under that jersey. Thanks for the pics. Ken

Was thinking the same thing, hehe.

[DigDug 0]

looks great. What do you suggest for gearing. Looks like a trials bike is the way to go. Doug, I hope you had armor on under that jersey. Thanks for the pics. Ken

Gear as low as you can!!! I was running 13/52. The only problem is that bigger back sprocket is vulnerable to rock damage. On day 3 we ran across a rider on the Poison Spider trail that had busted a chain when he hit a rock. Fortunately, they had enough spare links and master links to fix it.

It's best to be prepared with tools, etc on 5MOH. There is ABSOLUTELY no way you could push or tow your bike out of 5MOH. And NO WAY to get a 4 wheeled vehicle anywhere close. If you break, it's either part-by-part in your hand or call bikeslut's buddy with the helicopter.

Armor? That's only if you fall!!!

[Crawdaddy 96]

Armor? That's only if you fall!!!

Good thing Doug WAS wearing armor for scenarios like the one below (unfortunately, Doug/Mickey probably have many more SPLAT photos of me than I have of them .....two against one just isn't fair! )

I rode with 14/52 gearing on my 520 and had no problems.....well.....ok.....I did fall a few (dozen) times

[DigDug 0]

Good thing Doug WAS wearing armor for scenarios like the one below (unfortunately, Doug/Mickey probably have many more SPLAT photos of me than I have of them .....two against one just isn't fair! )

I rode with 14/52 gearing on my 520 and had no problems.....well.....ok.....I did fall a few (dozen) times

Alrighty Mr. Crawdaddy!!!! I guess you're going to make me bust out the videos now, aren't you???

My armor got a few workouts this weekend - but I attribute that to improving my skills by pushing the limits...

[KTMrad 513]

Fan-friggin'-tastic !! Awesome !! Great pix !!

Can't wait to go in May and try the 5 MOH .....hopefully your pix entice some more people into going.

[ozzy 0]

Fan-friggin'-tastic !! Awesome !! Great pix !!

Can't wait to go in May and try the 5 MOH .....hopefully your pix entice some more people into going.

DITTO! I just don't know if my collar will be able to handle much bulldogging by mid may?

[Spaugh 1]

awesome pics!

[DigDug 0]

DigDug cleaning "the crack" (~6 foot deep fisure in the rock).......or did he?? :) .....see aftermath photo pasted in lower in this thread ......I wasn't going to put that one in but since he put in a SPLAT shot of me in his post.....well.....fair is fair

OK Mr. Crawdad Racing, I see how it's going to be....

Crawdad short video

I'm just glad you didn't get any of me going over the handlebars....

[Crawdaddy 96]

DigDug cleaning "the crack" (~6 foot deep fisure in the rock).......or did he?? :) .....see aftermath photo pasted in lower in this thread ......I wasn't going to put that one in but since he put in a SPLAT shot of me in his post.....well.....fair is fair

OK Mr. Crawdad Racing, I see how it's going to be....

Crawdad short video

I'm just glad you didn't get any of me going over the handlebars....

Ouch.....my left elbow/hip just started hurting again ......glad my profanity laced backslide was muffled on the video......rule number one on slickrock - grab the clutch BEFORE you stall.....when in doubt - MORE THROTTLE.......all my worst biffs were backwards slides from chunking it/stalling on a climb when I should've been fully committed.....

[darylhunter 1]

Awesome!

Do you know if it's OK to take the trials bike out there?

Seems like that would be a lot more fun / easier to ride over a lot of that stuff.

Daryl

[roostingu 0]

Awesome pics what was the weather like (temps) and from the pictures the route is not very obvious is it fairly easy to pic out follow the black rubber road? After seeing the video I know the rekluse is going back in the 250!

[DigDug 0]

More crash footage:

Mickey looping it

[Crawdaddy 96]

Awesome!

Do you know if it's OK to take the trials bike out there?

Seems like that would be a lot more fun / easier to ride over a lot of that stuff.

Daryl

Moab is a trials bike paradise.....it IS to ride a trials bike on ANY/ALL of the trails we rode....

[Crawdaddy 96]

Awesome pics what was the weather like (temps) and from the pictures the route is not very obvious is it fairly easy to pic out follow the black rubber road? After seeing the video I know the rekluse is going back in the 250!

I think the temps were high 60's/low 70's during the day and high 30's/low 40's overnight.

The Trails are pretty easy to follow (white dash marks) but it certainly helps to have a map and/or GPS unit/tracks.......that being said, we had Mickey out front most of the time and "Da Boy" was operating off nothing but eyesight.....we had to reel him back in a few times but he generally found his way without any map/GPS assistance.....

[DigDug 0]

Awesome!

Do you know if it's OK to take the trials bike out there?

Seems like that would be a lot more fun / easier to ride over a lot of that stuff.

Daryl

We saw a couple trials bikes out there - as long as it's registered in California, Utah will honor the registration (green, red stickers, or plate).

Now these guys were pretty impressive to watch:

MUnis

More about them here

[DigDug 0]

OK... A few more photos. Crawdaddy already posted some of his from day 2, but here's some that I took.

This time from Day 2 -

We started off with Hell's Revenge (actually I made the comment that after the 5 Miles of Hell, we got our revenge on hell with this trail )

Mickey working up one of the hills:

Again, Mickey following the white dots:

The dotted line, leading to the switchback on slickrock bike trail:

Crawdaddy negotiating the switchback. Man that was a tight turn:

Mickey leading the way on "Fins-N-Things":

More steep step-up's:

Mickey hoping his brakes work as he heads for the edge of the world on the Porcupine Rim Trail:

Incredible views!!!!

Crawdaddy snapping a picture of the view

Mickey's bike on the Porcupine Rim Singletrack - that's a HUGE dropoff on the right:

Don't look to your right Crawdaddy:

Sweet singletrack:

Mickey, followed by Crawdaddy, dropping into the final ravine - and the most difficult obstacle on the Porcupine Rim Singletrack:

Crawdaddy giving the climb out of the ravine a shot. None of us made it without falling and bulldogging.

[husky4me 0]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing...

[dirt dame 561]

Yes, thanks for sharing. Right here in front of the computer is the only way I'm ever gonna ride it.

[Joliet 0]

I think the temps were high 60's/low 70's during the day and high 30's/low 40's overnight.

How do you think the ride would be if the temps were in the high 80's low 90's? I know, I know, HOTTER