Ah Moab, you've roont me.

[KRobWR250]

Just got back from five days riding in Mecca, er I mean Moab. Now I see what all the fuss is about. If you haven't been yet, go. They talk about it as a great mountain bike destination and it is, but imo, it's even better suited to motorcycles. Somehow the spectacular scenery and awesome trails just add up to more then the sum of the parts.

Two words: Whoooo Hoooo!!

Couldn't get a hold of R1Superstar on his cell so my son and I did Cane Creek up to the highway and then back Friday evening while the town was on fire, crossing the creek a gazillion times. Descended on a sweet alternate route down a narrow canyon over a rickety wooden bridge. Way cool.

Saturday still getting Danny's phone message service (I was starting to think he was ditching us) so we did Gemini Bridges and veered off onto Gold Bar/Gold Spike on the return and followed its fun, technical, convoluted joy ride almost to Poison Spider mesa then retraced our steps. We had to get creative to get back across the Golden Crack (about four feet wide and four feet deep) but made it OK. Best ride of the trip. Waaaaay fun.

We finally hooked up with Blackie and R1Superstar by chance as we saw them just as we were coming out of the Pizza Hut. Did a great ride with them and R1's wife (she did awesome) over Flat pass. I see why they call it Steelbender, I don't see why they call it flat. Great ride. Thanks you guys.

Monday-Wednesday we met up with some other friends and did the mtb thing (my other passion) hitting Porcipine Rim, Klondike Bluffs, Sovereign (newish singletrack north of town), Slick Rock Trail (of course), and Amasa Back. I wanted to squeeze in a quick jaunt around Slick Rock on the WR aslo but never did.

The only problem with Moab is it makes my local trails seem dull and the local scenery mundane. Damn you Moab, I ruined.

Thanks again Blackie and R1Superstar for a great trip. Sorry we weren't able to hook up for more rides.

I still want to do the San Rafael Swell area sometime, especially the Five Miles of Hell trail. Any hardcore trail hounds out there want to join me? ?

[PWalk100]

I missed the trip, but I'm in Japan right now so I can't easily plan the next one! I'll be back in a week, and then I'll be ready for a trip if anyone is interested.

By the way, Japan is the land for cool motorcycles. I've been taking lots of pictures and I'll try to post them in the future.

Kent, thanks for the summary. Sounds like you had a grand time.

[PumpkinHumper]

Hey Krob,

I am going out there this october. The trails you described sounds about what we are hitting. How was the cell reception out there. Did you have service out in the trails or just in Moab. My cell is thru Verizon.

Were most of the trails you rode fairly managable or were some of them wicked nasty.

[rockieman]

KRob,

How were the crowds.....I had plans to be there this weekend...due to my inability to get a campsite and the feedback I've gotten from others....we postponed for a couple of weeks.

Sounds like you had a blast and I'm itchin to get there!! ?

[Carlisle1972]

Glad you had fun. How did you hear about the sovern trail I dont know how it spelled. Did five miles of hell a wile back take all the trails you just did and then multiply them by five or six times for difficulty and then you get five miles of hell. Have fun man Ill sit and watch ?

[KRobWR250]

Hey YZman, I have Cellular One and got great reception in town and some reception out on the trails depending on where you were. For instance, out at our camp on Sand Flats I had no service, but 20 feet away out in the dirt road in front of my camp I pretty good service. I wouldn't count on it out on the trail. I think R1Superstar had Nextel which had no service in Moab at all, hence the difficulty contacting him.

There is really a wide range in trail difficulty. Gemini Bridges and Kondike Bluffs are easy dirt roads with some fun slick rock thrown in. Great views though, and definitely worth doing.

Cane Creek is pretty manageable with only one fairly difficult section. I had to ride/push my son's bike up that part, but he's a relative novice. Otherwise he did fine. I wanted to come back down Pritchett Canyon which I hear is a bit more challenging but I wasn't sure of the connector and we were running out of daylight so backtracked the way we came.

Gold Bar/Gold Spike more technical but all pretty rideable except the Golden Crack which you can work around, lift/carry through, or , if you're brave, jump (it's a little higher on on side than the other so it's doable, just a little spooky.) If you leave a vehicle at the Poison Spider trailhead or your bikes are street legal you can go clear on over to Poison Spider mesa and down without having to backtrack.

Steelbender/Flat Pass has rocky drops and steps in a few places but not bad at all. Like I said, Danny's wife, who has only been riding a short while, did just fine.

Great place. You'll enjoy it. ? October huh? I'll be ready to go back by then.

[KRobWR250]

Rockieman, the crowds weren't bad at all. Jeep Safari didn't really get going until this weekend and I hear it gets totally insane. There were quite a few there already last weekend but mostly you cruise right by them without any problems. They go soooo slow. Sometimes they are a little rude and slow to move out of the way, but mostly very accommodating.

Have fun on your trip. You're going to love it. It WILL ruin you though. ?

[KRobWR250]

Hey Carlisle, Actually I heard about Sovereign on MTBReview. I met up with a guy who showed me around. It was originally developed by motorcyclists and is still open to them, but mostly is a mtb route now.

Is FMOH that bad??!!! Am I going to have to take a winch along or what? ? I'm still wanting to try it. You sure you don't want to join me?

[jwriott]

If you are going to ride FMOH, gear way down. I don't think I'd even take my WR in there as I'm too damned short and will tip over left and right. I've heard of too many people ripping radiators off. I'm going to get an XR250 or something similar to run that. Try the red and blue trails, there is some nasty stuff in there if you want a warmup.

The crack on Golden Spike is really cool. We jumped it both ways last year. Going South is easy, going back is tougher but manageable. I just came up to it in wound up and cracked the throttle right at the edge. Once the front was over most of the crack, I pushed down on the front and the bike levels out. Beats winding back and forth trying to get across it. I've also dropped bikes in there parallel to the crack and gassed it and pulled the front up and out while off the bike. Not nearly as much fun.

My buddy on an XR650R, rode up the huge rock that is leaning against the crack. Took him 3 tries but he made it. I may have pictures, if I find them, I'll post it.

Glad you had fun, it's a blast out there and I'm going this coming weekend. There is a classic hot rod car show in Moab this weekend. After we ride, we have dinner, drink some beers and watch all these guys do burnouts and get tickets. ?

[r1superstar]

Kent,

We had a blast as well. John and I are planning another trip in June sometime. May does not work for either of us. We'll keep in touch............db

P.S. John and I rode Slickrock and Poison Spider Sunday morning, (did them both well within two hours). We were leaving PSM and saw you and Tyler heading out that way just past the uranium dump site.

[ColoradoXR]

Is jeep week over? I'm going this weekend because I thought that it would be over. I'm taking my fiance out there for the first time and don't want her to have to screw around with all the jeeps. I went last year during jeep week and it was cool until I realized that I was beat in the evenings and all the partying that I used to join in was starting to piss me off. Felt good cranking the bike up at 7AM. Needless to say, I got my revenge.

Too old to party like I used to, but not too old to ride.

[r1superstar]

Yep, it's over. Have fun..............db ?

[KRobWR250]

Yeah, we rode down that boulder on the way south. It wasn't until we were coming back heading north that I realized we could've jumped the crack. I was tempted to try jumping it coming back, but visions of me casing the far side then dropping back down into the crack plagued me. Or worse yet, stuffing my front wheel into the far (higher) side and endoing across the rock breaking me or the bike or both (I know, I know, I need to work on positive visualization more). That's awesome that you made it both ways. ? Now that I know it can be done, I'll definitely give it a go next time.

Have a great trip! Let me know when you're doing FMOH.

[jwriott]

I'm so excited to get out there right now that I'm not very productive here at work. I can't take credit for jumping the crack backwards without seeing someone else do it.

Some guy on an XR400 hit the thing in 4th gear tapped out and made it pretty easy. He did almost hit the large rock on the left he was going so fast. That was on our way out. On the way back, I just launched at the same point he did but much slower and easily cleared it without casing the other side.

ColoradoXR, where are you going to be this weekend? We are heading out early Thursday morning, meeting at 6:30 at the Morrison/I-70 park and ride. We are staying in Green River at the Super 8 since Moab will be a complete zoo this weekend in town. The annual Hot Rod Car show is in town so hotels are completely booked. The trails usually aren't bad since there aren't that many of those guys that ride or jeep. We did encounter a large group of 25 rigs last year and another group of about 10 Hummers that were stuck on Poison Spider. Too wide and low for that type of terrain.

[LarryCO]

I can officially take credit for jumping "the crack" (affectionately referred to as "the crevice of death") both ways. Of course, when jumping it heading towards Gemini Bridges, I ended up sitting on my bike IN the crack (sort of crashed and slid down into it). No problem heading back towards the Poison Spider parking lot...it seemed easier for some reason...

Glad you had fun out there...it's a pretty awesome place...and one that we're lucky to have so close to Denver (not that it matters to me anymore...) ?

Anyway, thought I'd chime in my $0.02...

[ColoradoXR]

Vmax-

First off, let me let you know I'm going with my fiance who like snowboarding picked biking up faster than any of the guys I have taught, but still isn't close to hanging at either. She's game, but can only go so fast on her TTR125. If you're riding with some beginners or ladies we should hook up. If not, you'll just be bored and I'll be pissed that I'm going so slow.

I have a buddy in Silt and we're going to stay at his place Thursday night to break up the drive. We're getting up early and I'm going to take her on Gemini Bridges. Planning on being there by about 9-10. We're going to camp somewhere out by Kane Creek on Friday night and then run that. I'll let her make the decision on whether we stay Saturday night or head back to my bud's on the way home. I'll be driving a smurf blue (don't know what else to call it) F150 with a couple Yamaha's in the back.

My cell is 3030-667-6459, but it probably won't work (T-Mobile). I know it doesn't work from Glenwood to Grand Junction, but I've never had it in Moab.

Let me know what you're driving, so I can be looking out for ya.

-Adam ?