sorry it took so long for my final recap of the trip. after our last day out we headed straight back to jersey so it took me a while to find some time to sit down at my computer and type out a story.
our second day in seemed to be the day most of us where most excited for. I managed to drunk dial a shuttle and book us a spot for a ride up to the trail head of LPS. it wasnt the whole enchilada, but we would take what we could get at this point. Lucas was a bit burned out the day prior from the climbing on Amasa/ahab loop so he decided to sit this one out. we only booked three spots.
The morning of we woke up early to catch some grub, load up on waffles and make it in time for our 0820 shuttle to LPS. lucas was feeling better so he decided to try his luck . Showed up, loaded bikes on top of the sketchiest Volkswagen bus and then asked if they had room for one more. no luck. lucas would have to go on his own journey for the day.
For some reason our shuttle bro decided not to take us to the top of the trail head. but he told us that the trail head was about a 15/20 minute climb, and to try not to burn ourselves out. I personally expected not to have to climb first thing in the morning based of the amount of waffles i had that morning. instant regret. but the climb to the trail head and the views where more than worth it. a trending theme with most of utah for the crew.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0q6Z3i_qWr6cVRYVS1QUUJ5UU0/view?usp=sharing
we where greeted with a cattle gate and instructions to turn left as soon as it had approached. bingo, first trail sign to LPS. let the journey to the Colorado river begin.
The trail started of easy, windy turns through trees and rocks, almost felt like home. Muddy and slippery from recent snow melt. We made a few friends along the way as we took turns waiting and passing another group of riders, all first timers on this trail network, giving each other heads up on what would come up ahead. within the first few miles of riding I had a hiccup that would dictate the rest of my ability to ride the decents at a pace i looked forward to. Im not to sure exactly what had happened, but i slipped up on a small drop, thinking i had already dropped my seat post, i got hung up on my saddle and had a nice OTB moment. Bars where turned crooked but fixable. A quick look over on the ride led me to believe it was a minor fall. we rode farther after i wiped myself off..views for days.
![20160402_105621[1].jpg](https://www.mtbnj.com/forum/attachments/20160402_105621-1-jpg.33865/ "20160402_105621[1].jpg")
During a short climb i was stopped abruptly. Looked down to see my derailleur was now wrapped around around my cassette and broken in half. Most likely caused a hairline crack during my otb and stressed to failure during shifting and in my climb. Everyone riding stopped and offered tools and a solution but zip ties and tape weren't enough to fix this fuck up. I contemplated pulling and aron gwin and just riding chain less for the rest of the ride but other seasoned riders told me that there was still some climbing to be had, and i would need the chain to ratchet my way over terrain. it was now a matter of finding the right chain length to not fall off in rough descents and to proved enough growth for travel in the suspension. we opted for a spot fairly central in the casette that allowed for around 1/4 of travel before snapping the chain tight. I would ride the rest of this trail with my rear suspension locked out and single speed. My chain sounded like it was crying for the rest of the day. I wanted to bring the honzo on the trip, i guess this will be close enough.
A few minutes down the trail it seemed another pair of riders had some bad luck as well, snapping a shifter cable. they managed to acquire a spare from another rider but not knowing how to insert it into his sram shifter, took the entire thing apart bouncing springs all over the place. we opted to help them run the bike single speed with the added benefit of at least having an operational derailleur as a tension device. they seemed very grateful and said we changed how they would look at kids from jersey from now on. haha.
(pics back in the hotel)
the ride continued to a long fast and rocky fire road that seemed to last forever eventually leading us to a long ride on the ridge line then down into the valley that would eventually lead us to the Colorado river. It was better late than nothing but i figured i should prob put on sunscreen at this point. The helmet tan on my forhead says it was to late. The blue sky and the birds flying in and out of the valley felt like it gave me a pair of fresh legs. But the sharp drop offs and rocks still told me that i was to far from home to risk getting hurt so i sucked up my pride and walked anything that i felt to dangerous to risk.
we managed to make our way to the base of the mountain. greeted by the river. My adrenaline was high, checking off a dream ride for alot of mountain bikers. I fall asleep at night with views of this trail in my head.
it was another 20 minute ride into town. I tried to call lucas for a rescue ride since my bike was running like a POS. No answer, i would later find out he was "soaking his nuts in the Jacuzzi" . so i enjoyed the rest of my ride into town tracing the mountain side on my left and the Colorado river on my right on a fresh bike path back into the town of moab. It felt good to just sit down and relax and reflect on the adventure we had all just had. we would share stories and laughs of our adventure that night at the outerbike "party" at the local bar.
I was sore from the fall the day before, but i knew iw anted to ride more of the moab brand trails before we left that evening. we all got up, slow, had breakfast and made our way to the last day of the outerbike event.
We decided to start our day off with doing a group demo of some Ebikes. Not for me, but being able to climb up steep slick rock with one leg is a game changer. unfortunately stephen had a really bad fall and sprained his ankle. we helepd him over to first aid. he would be out for the rest of the days riding. i stayed on the ebike for the rest of the day, seeing as how i probably wouldn't have another opportunity to rip around on one. we had lunch after everyone was content with riding all the bikes and made our way back to jersey.
nothing like driving for 30 hours, after riding, bruised, hurt, sunburned, sprained, but with stories to share made with good friends.
