It seems there’s always a early to mid November Moab trip for us. It’s a good time to be out there - between busy season and holiday season, but still warm enough to do most of the big rides. The last few years have been after the 25 Hours of Frog Hollow, so the focus has been riding bikes and having fun. This year, the trip was a little different. Having fun was still the focus, but with a higher emphasis on foot vs wheels. We also had a third party along, which meant no camping and 100% in the condo. More accurately, Nick joined Mom and I on a running trip with bikes. After his surgery at the beginning of the year messed with all our great plans, this Moab trip was the only chance he would get for a fun riding vacation. So when Mom said she didn’t mind him coming, he decided to join us.
Join us being a relative term of course. It was more just being along for the ride, but having to do some of the driving to get there! As such, he got to ride a lot of his favorite trails at his pace - no waiting on Tracy. (Not that he usually minds...)
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| Mom at Lunch Loops - we stuck to the eaiser trails, but the exposure was a bit much at times. |
Stop one was the Lunch Loops on the drive out. Mom and I headed out for a short ride on the easiest trail I could find. (Hard given that I’ve only ridden at LL twice - and never from that parking lot!) There was a bit of remembering how to ride a bike, as well as some skills work. That always happens the first time on new trails. We tend to forget how important the basics are when on home terrain that we don’t need to think about! Regardless, it was a good short ride for Mom and I. Just enough to stretch out the legs. Meanwhile, Nick got to rip a lap of Gunny Loop and Holy Cross...
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| Jump! Demoing some skills for Mom |
We’d originally planned on riding Thursday, but when in Moab, I always want to run up to my favorite whale. Running nine miles the day before the race seemed silly, so we swapped things around. I ran my standard Hymasa-upper Ahab-Hymasa Loop while Nick rode all of Ahab. Mom said she would hike along Kane Creek while we ran/rode. There’s something about the Amasa Back trails - I love running there but not such a fan of riding - my mini melt down after Rockstacker a bunch of years ago colored the riding for me. I think I’ve actually run out there more then pedaled! This was the best run I’ve had out there. I was a little stiff from the drive, but felt fluid and smooth on the slick rock and strong in the climbs. Being in the middle of the week, the trail was empty when we started. One other car in the lot. As I was running back down Hymasa, the bikers were starting to wake up. Five different groups pedaling up, all giving me the “is your bike broken? look.” Nope. Not this time! But nobody asked at least. I probably had a lot more fun then some of them did - looking shell shocked and in over your head right after the cow gate isn't a good way to start a ride. I should know!
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| Don't ever underestimate the freedom movement provides! |
Since we’d flipped Thursday/Friday that meant Friday was for pedaling. We dropped Nick off at the top of Getaway so he could ride the Mag 7 trails and then headed down to the main Navajo Rocks parking area. Time for some new to both of us trails! Since I had no prior experience with the Navajo Rocks trails, I took a guess as to which loop to ride. I had seen some videos of the Rambling Loop so, opted to try the other section. It was about 10 miles, so should be a solid two hours at Moms pace. Perfect. Hopefully the trails wouldn’t be to much over Mom’s ability level, but challenging enough to get her riding some new things. Overall, it was a great ride. There were some tricky spots for her and some of the steep slickrock sections were definitely too hard. But until we got onto Coney Island, on the last mile of trail, within sight of the van it was a perfect ride. Then things started getting really big. More traditional Moab riding then the first two trails. It definitely got a little challenging there! The ride took us a little longer then anticipated, so when we finally got down to the bottom of Portal Trail Nick was waiting, having finished his Mag 7 ride in less then three hours.
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| Nick making a techy climb look easy |
Sunday after the race was the question mark. How tired would my legs be for a fun ride with Nick? Given that I wasn't sure about having the power for hard moves, we decided to go to Bar M area. Nick had ridden there while Mom and I were running, so he was familiar with the trails. I'd only run out there a few years ago, but on the easy trails. I was surprised when I started pedaling. While my legs were tired, there wasn't the deep fatigue as after both Pikes Peak Ultra and Sangre de Cristo. I wasn't fast riding, but I was able to dig and ride everything. The trails Nick took me on were a lot of fun. A nice mix of rocky, techy and easier sandy trails. I missed not doing some of the big epic Moab rides, but given the goals of the trip, I'd say it was a success!
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