Planning on driving some long hours, stopping to ride along the way.
Ideally we hit Whole Enchilada twice, spending 2 or 3 days in Utah.
Any suggestions as to riding spots to stop at along the way would be appreciated, along with any tips, tricks, or wisdom from those who have gone before.
I plan to do the same trip at the end of September. Looking forward to hear what people have to say.
Sounds like fun. Some of the higher elevation trails like the Whole Enchilada will likely still have snow. You should get Lower Porq, Amasaback, Jackson …
Hopefully it works out but the Whole Enchilada is not clear until June or sometimes even July as the elevation is something like 11000 ft. That said heaps of great trails to ride out that way.
Yeah - Hopefully we can get the local shuttle to take us as high as possible.
We'll be looking into alternate loops and shuttles around Moab…Thanks for the trail names.
Trying to scope out riding areas along the way to break up the drive. Ideally well-marked trail systems or rides with good maps available.
I've done the April Utah trip a bunch of times.
The sweet spot for weather is the last week of April, it's hot but not too hot. By this time Hazard County down is usually just opening but I've never seen Whole Enchilada open, even in mid May. This is one of my fav rides in Moab.
Amasaback is a must do, and there is a newer trail off Amasaback called Captin Ahab. It's awesome, think North Shore in the desert.
The Mag 7 trails are awesome and well worth the drive, they are shuttle-able too if you don't like to pedal.
Soverign Trails suck if it's really hot and Slickrock is well kind a boring in comparison to the trails listed above.
If you happen to be heading through Grand Junction and Fruita, there is a ton of quality riding. Fruita has awesome XC stuff, stop into a bike shop they will point you in the right direction. If you hit 18 Road make sure to do Kessels Run and PBR.
Grand Junction has some amazing shuttles. Go into town and talk to the guys at Grass Roots cycles, they sometimes have a shuttle running to the Ribbon and Free Lunch.
Thats my 2 cents.
Have fun!
The most up to date maps for Mountain Biking Moab are on http://www.discovermoab.com/biking.htm. Those maps are printed and for sale at each bicycle shop in Moab for $2. The money for those maps go back into the treasury of the Moab Trail Mix. Moab Trail Mix is a volunteer organization that builds Moab's trails.
Take a Look at
Need a rest day?
Dead Horse Point State Park has added new loops to the Intrepid Trail System. Those were finished at Thanksgiving (2013) time. Yikes, I see those are not yet on DiscoverMoab. Shall get to work on that representation.
Today the Moab Mountain Bike Association announced the website is up.
http://moabmba.com/site/
Just thought you all would appreciate the news.
By the way in October, Moab has Outerbike. It is an event that will have 2015 bike demos available to be ridden on Moab's trails over a three day event period.
How has your winter pedaling been?
We go year round in Moab.
Check out facebook/Visit.Moab.Utah, be our friend.:dizzy:
Awesome info. Thanks for the help guys! Keep it coming…Will post pics when the time comes…
Is worth spending a day at just for the novelty of riding up and down impossibly steep terrain.
Thunder Mountain at Bryce Canyon is also a worthy destination. My trips have been in the spring so I havent been able to ride Thunder Mtn yet but it looks amazing. A couple of places to consider while driving to and from Utah are Hood River and Bend. Hood River has some nice trails and Bend has a huge network of XC trails.
The most up to date maps for Mountain Biking Moab are on http://www.discovermoab.com/biking.htm. Those maps are printed and for sale at each bicycle shop in Moab for $2. The money for those maps go back into the treasury of the Moab Trail Mix. Moab Trail Mix is a volunteer organization that builds Moab's trails.
Take a Look at
- Pipe Dream
- Captain Ahab
- Klodike Bluff Area network
Need a rest day?
Dead Horse Point State Park has added new loops to the Intrepid Trail System. Those were finished at Thanksgiving (2013) time. Yikes, I see those are not yet on DiscoverMoab. Shall get to work on that representation.Today the Moab Mountain Bike Association announced the website is up.
http://moabmba.com/site/Just thought you all would appreciate the news.
By the way in October, Moab has Outerbike. It is an event that will have 2015 bike demos available to be ridden on Moab's trails over a three day event period.How has your winter pedaling been?
We go year round in Moab.
Check out facebook/Visit.Moab.Utah, be our friend.:dizzy:
Thanks for posting here, really great info.
Ya, this info is fantastic. I've been reading a lot of sites and watching a lot of youtube on all those trails. A buddy and I are both turning 40 this fall, so I have started planning a trip for the beginning of September. There's 4 of us that are going to drive down, allocate 5 days for riding in Moab. Then on the last night, drive the 6hrs to Vegas for Interbike on the 10th/11th. We might also look at braking up the drive back with a day in Oregon to rip down the McKenzie River trail. Its definitely going to be a trip to remember.
^^^ you really should consider flying to Vegas and either renting a car/SUV or a motorhome. Saves a TON of driving and you're going through Vegas anyway. Very cheap flights from Bellingham.
^^^ you really should consider flying to Vegas and either renting a car/SUV or a motorhome. Saves a TON of driving and you're going through Vegas anyway. Very cheap flights from Bellingham.
The route we have planned is 4900kms return. We're going to be driving down in my buddies Merc Sprinter van, towing my 16ft travel trailer. He says it will be 12L/100km (will see how that works out towing), budgeting for 600-700L of fuel. Based on a .90 exchange rate and current Moab gas price conversions, gas will be .97/L = $600 to $700 in fuel.
Accommodations are taken care of seeing we're towing the trailer. Depending on the RV park we stay at, $35 to $50 a night (for the resorts with hot tube, pool and laundry), for 5 nights = $250. Staying side-of-the-road or in the desert is free.
Gas and accommodations for 4 guys will be around $250 each. Food is what ever we make it be. Eat well or eat thrifty, we'll see what happens when we hit the road.
I did Interbike last year and the flight to Vegas return from Bellingham was $230 CDN. But there will be oversize luggage fees for the bikes. We'll need to pay for accommodations everywhere we go. Add on car or motor home rental and milage, things could start adding up quickly.
Yes, you have a point about flying. We would save a considerable amount of time. But isn't driving the pilgrimage to Moab part of the Moab experience? I think we would be cheating it and ourselves by flying down.
But isn't driving the pilgrimage to Moab part of the Moab experience?
I sure hope so. I'd fly if it was a solo trip. But you gotta factor in the time to drive to the airport, go through customs, pay for parking, car rental, bike box hassles…Driving is more straightforward.
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