Westworld: My 2016 CO/UT trip

[Thin Diesel]

so this will capture some of my experience travelling out to the mtb Paradise of CO/UT this year.

I have to start with a word of gratitude to Mrs. Diesel for green-lighting the trip. I still don't know how I got lucky enough to find such a great spouse. Anyway...

This trip has been in the works for awhile, prolly since spring. I honestly had lots of mixed feelings about going, for many reasons, though I'll leave that out for now.

Alarm goes off 4am Monday morning. It's funny that I never set alarms for work or the like. The only time I set alarms is for early AM mtb meet-ups. Getting up is easy enough and my sh#t is all ready to go. It's tough leaving the wife & kids but I know in some ways it'll go fast for all of us.

Flight is to grand junction GJT with ~2hr layover in DEN. 1st leg goes fine and by 9am MT I'm chilling In The United Club waiting for my connection. These clubs are a very comfortable and refreshing way to kill time. 2nd flight is good too. Only about 30 minutes in the air. (Note both fights were 100% full.)

I love how you deplane in GJT - stairs down to the Tarmac (stay away from those running jet engines!). Then it happens - I turn away from the airport and there they are - REAL MOUNTAINS. I immediately forget my misgivings and guilt over leaving. This is what I came for.

 

[Thin Diesel]

Next getting a car. I use National because I get good rates through work and you can skip the counter to go straight to your car. In GJT however, it still works the old way. Fortunately no one is at the counter when I get there. I had ordered a compact car to keep costs down, but was offered 4 choices of available cars "...we have a Malibu, (something else), a Santa Fe, or a Cherokee)". I take the Santa Fe and am pretty happy to get much more car capacity than I expected (for the compact rental rate). I need to fit a bike in the car, after all.

Now to the bike shop: Ruby Canyon in GJT (15 min from airport). I've rented from there before - it's a solid shop. Prices crept up a bit since my last trip in '11 - now $70/day 1, $60/day after. I reserved a Stumpjumper 29. As my pedals are being installed I asked the guy about the popularity of plus bikes there. He tells me plus bikes are blowing up and fatties are done. The best part is next: "I think we have a 6Fattie in your size".

After a short while I'm wheeling a beautiful black 2017 6Fattie out to the car. I'm really stoked as I've never ridden a plus bike before. It a FS bike with 3" wide tires. This area's terrain will be a great test bed. At the car I pop the hatch and the entire bike fits in (back seats folded)! No removing front tire. This day is going great!

 

[Thin Diesel]

At ~1pm I hit the road to Moab. I'm so jacked to do some riding that I skip lunch. GPS says ~2hrs to get there. I have a few snacks for the ride to get me by.

Highways are pretty empty. Speed limit is 80. Some of the big mountains are snow covered - I hope this doesn't impact my Enchilada ride.

FM dial has lots of country and a bunch of religious talk. I find a hard rock station and it's really good, yet I don't know any of these artists or songs. The morning show for this station is called "Wake and Bake". I'm surprised to hear the ads for the Cannabis stores. I knew it was legal in CO but didn't know if it would be kept at a low profile. One ad clearly catered to the UT market ..."the closest shop on the western CO border..." I wonder if interstate trafficking is a problem out here.

You pass Fruita pretty soon on the ride west from GJT. I remember an elevated water tower with a huge mural of a mountain biker. Always thought that was awesome. The water tower is still there but sadly not the MTBer. Now it has a T-Rex. Fruita is famous for dinosaur bones I believe.

My destination is the famous slickrock trail. I've never ridden it and had to take this opportunity. My friends who have ridden there have lukewarm reviews. I'll see for myself.

The trailhead is fairly close to downtown Moab with signs to guide you. I grab 2 gallons of water and a bag of teriyaki beef jerky at a gas station. There's a $5 entry fee to the sand flats area. At the trailhead I find a large parking lot with ~6 cars. Oddly, one has an NJ plate.

I get changed, fill my camelbak and get ready to ride. It's 3pm.

 

[JoeLee]

Lovin' it.

 

[Thin Diesel]

Obligatory sign photo

 

[Thin Diesel]

Slickrock trail is well marked with dashed white lines to follow. The terrain is pretty unique.

Otherworldly.

Desolate.

They call it petrified sand dunes. The surface is similar to sand paper. The grip is incredible. It's in the mid70s when I start but it feels much hotter. There's no clouds and little shade, plus the rocks radiate heat.

The bike network is partially shared with motorized vehicles (motos, 4x4s, OHVs). At one point I saw a bunch of hummers. One was being towed because it broke down on the trails.

The bike trail is basically a lollipop. There is also a practice loop along the lollipop stick. All told they say it's about 13 miles. I logged about 11.5 in about 2.5 hrs. (2hrs moving time) over 1100 ft gained in that time.

This course has a lot of ups and downs. Some steep, some almost ridiculously steep. Odd thing is that all the steep climbs are make able. The grip is that good. The 6Fattie really handled everything this trail offered. If you ride with friends you can take incredible photos to look superhuman climbing impossibly pitched ascents.

Though it was all make able stuff here, I started getting gassed on those climbs after only a few miles. I suspect it was mostly due to the thinner air but the heat, lack of nutrition, and the travelling probably contributed. The recovery was a lot slower than I'm used to. It reminded me of the time I donated blood the Friday before an H2H race (bad idea). The stamina and endurance just isn't the same.

Overall it was a fun ride. No regrets at all. Some incredible views out there. However it did get repetitious after awhile. Hence the mental stimulation tailed off. I probably would not come back alone as there are other better choices.

Pictures to follow...

 

[knobbyhead]

Nice write up. I've read to do the practice loop and skip the trail. keep writing, moab is on my bucket list

 

[mattybfat]

After coming back home from utah SLC area and going on mtbprojects I had a ton of riding around. There is more then Moab keep adventuring off the Beatin path.

 

[Thin Diesel]

I'll upload some pix when I have some reasonable bandwidth. It's been very spotty out here.

After the slickrock ride, I head to the cabin my buddy rented. It turns out my friends are still en route, so I'll be the first one to the digs.

The GPS takes me up a mountain road. The scenery is awesome. At one point I pass a sign welcoming to the Manti Lasal National Forest. The cabin is actually on state forest grounds. I finally arrive and happy to see a fairly new construction log cabin. Best part is the location. I'm about halfway up the road that leads to the start of the Whole Enchilada. Very convenient. Also I can see the Enchilada mountain top is fairly free of snow. This means I'll be able to get the whole Whole Enchilada. That the Wednesday plan. Tuesday is the Amasa Back trail, particularly the Captain Ahab trail which I've never done.

 

[huffster]

Extremely jealous and looking for to more stories and pix. Nice job and enjoy.

 

[Thin Diesel]

Slickrock is close to Arches; I found a little arch during my ride.

Here's the broken down hummer being towed:

One of those steep ascents:

Photo of the 6Fattie. This picture really came out nice:

Slickrock terrain:

 

[Thin Diesel]

Here's the sweet cabin. A true log cabin with the log beams exposed on the interior. The cabin faces the mountains. The view from my bedroom is the Moab valley. I see treetops from that window.

These are the mountains facing the cabin. I was really happy to see the Aspens are starting to turn.

 

[Thin Diesel]

Day 2 (Tues) in Moab the plan is to ride Captain Ahab trail. I'm really stoked as I've never ridden it and the reviews are top notch. Last time I was in Utah, the trail did not exist. At this point there are four of us but two more are en route and planning to meet us at the trailhead.

The drive to the trailhead is really scenic. We snake through steep canyons and find the parking area. At the parking area, we are surrounded by canyons for about 300 degrees of view. While getting ready, I hear a rumble - like thunder or fireworks. I look up and see a guy has just BASE jumped from the top! That sound was his parachute opening. Mid way down the dude yells "WOO HOO" which proceeds to echo through the canyon. So cool.

I was able to get a picture of him before he landed. Zoom in on the white spec in the middle of the photo - that's the parachutist.

 

[Thin Diesel]

We start out towards the Hymasa Back trail to get to Capt. Ahab. Right at the start one of my friends has bike issues. Total brake seizure. He has another bike at the car so he gets it. Turns out it's a SS with platforms. He ends up crushing most of the ride on the SS, though not the downhill.

The Hymasa trail is about 3 miles of climbing with some moderately technical sections. It feels like a bit of a grind - the heat, thin air, and a very large pre-ride tuna wrap are conspiring against me. Despite this we all make it just fine. The views on this trail are totally spectacular.

We get to Capt. Ahab which is a mtb purpose built trail, generally downhill. The ride was a blast, exceeding my expectations even with all the hype I heard. There were many drops and hucks along the way. A couple of sketchy technical roll/drops. Several segments right along the cliff side - don't screw up there!

This is my kind of riding. I dial in the suspension a bit and really find my groove. I'm leading the way on most of this with my five buddies following and admiring the lines I'm taking. It's pretty flattering getting "kudos" during the ride. The 6Fattie is up to task and actually saved my butt a few times. I feel like I've owned the bike for years I'm so comfortable on it, yet this is only my 2nd ride.

After Ahab, we head back up Hymasa again to get more Trails in. I can tell that now I've totally acclimated to the air.

We don't go all the way up though, instead we peel off after about 2.5 miles and take Cliffhanger. This was a good trail but I don't have much to say about it. I think I was reliving Ahab in my mind and just didn't pay much attention to cliffhanger.

At the end of cliffhanger we get on Jackson. This trail will get us to the bottom. For some reason, I imagined this would be an easy DH with a mellow pace. I was totally mistaken. Jackson was fast, tight, cliff-edge ST with some drops along the way. This trail really got my adrenaline pumping. There were a couple of sections that were otherwise rideable, but too close to the edge for me. I got skittish and walked these. At the bottom we hit the road for a short ride back to the car and a cold beverage. Ahab was the most fun but Jackson put a good scare in me. I'd say they're both must-do trails here.

16.5 miles total. 3hrs moving. 2700' gained.

This following pic was on Jackson:

 

[Magic]

Memories. Good stuff. Hymasa climbing was top notch.

 

[jmanic]

Thanks for sharing.
Looks/sounds awesome.
Kudos to your buddy for bringing a pit bike.
And it's funny how you can find yourself at home on a rental bike.
Makes the trip.


I have never been, but I can see now why I must go to there.

 

[Thin Diesel]

Day 3 (Wed) is Enchilada day. We head to town in the AM to pickup my buddy's bike at the shop and leave a car for the end of the ride. We find a spot for breakfast and wi-fi: the Wake and Bake Cafe.

The Whole Enchilada is a point to point ride of about 26 miles. Most of it is downhill (negative 7000') except for the first mile. That mile is a brutal 1000' climb from 10k to 11k feet. My friends opt to ride to the trailhead from the cabin instead of driving. I'm not too keen on this but not surprised either. This turns out to add 12 additional miles of climbing and 3000' elevation gained. It also took 2 hours. Even worse, I experienced total crotch numbness after about the first 40 minutes in the saddle. Had to adjust the seat position/angle a couple of times to make that stop. The only positives were the scenery and the fact that it gets cooler the higher you get. It was noticeably cooler once we got to the Aspen tree line and beyond. Seeing the Aspens in the fall is one of my favorite parts of the trip. The leaves turn bright yellow and seem to glow when the sun hits them.

I get to the trailhead about 1:30. This is actually pretty late to be here. With about five hours of riding ahead (barring injury or mechanical) we may be racing against daylight. Even worse, we're still waiting for one other guy; he was struggling with the ride up. At about 2:20 we actually start riding the While Enchilada.

 

[Thin Diesel]

We start our ascent to Burro Pass. I'm depleted from the ride up and also out of my rhythm after the 45 minute break to regroup. With absolutely no shame I'll admit to walking some of this. It gets pretty steep and tough in spots, though it's very scenic.

At the top of this trail we are over 11,000 feet. The wind is stiff and very cold. We don't stay here for long.

 

[Thin Diesel]

As we continue on, it immediately gets awesome. We are pointed down and moving fast (very fast) through a high alpine forest. The trail is tight, rooty, rocky, and slick. There are tough switchbacks that you must either complete or not even attempt. (The penalty for failing is a steep drop off.). We pass through patches of snow and about five stream crossings - some surprisingly deep (and the water feels so cold!). The intensity level is high. The body is reacting to the fury of this terrain, trying to keep the bike in position. I feel my triceps working. My fingers are getting stiff from all the braking. I consider using 2 fingers on the levers to give my pointer fingers some relief. After a couple of miles of this, I peel off to give my hands a rest, then continue on. It's noteworthy that riding this segment reminds me of home a bit due to the trees. It's one of the few trails out here where you are riding in a forest. So much of the riding here is exposed. This section is definitely not!

Picture Taken about midway thru the alpine terrain and approaching the Aspens.

 

[UtahJoe]

I look up and see a guy has just BASE jumped from the top!

Funny, the exact same thing happened when @gtluke and I pulled into the parking lot there...I guess people just jump off it all day.

Great pics and write up...waiting for my favorite part....hazzard county