The Adventure Continues… On to Moab

Yesterday was my last day in San Diego. Before I headed home I went out for a good hard 11 ½ mile run and felt great! Last run at sea level, so it’ll be the last time I’ll be able to run that hard for a while. Time to go back to the mountains and high altitude running & riding.

Yesterday, my boss in Colorado Springs said “Why don’t you stop in Moab on your way back and take a day to ride some of the awesome trails there”, or something like that. Man what a great idea! What a great boss! So I called the real boss and she thought it was a great idea, so Moab here I be!

Got to Moab just before midnight after a 13 ½ drive. The last two hours of the drive was “Mandatory Metallica” on Sirius Radio. Very Cool!

So got started around 10 AM riding one of my favorite trails in the world. Porcupine Rim is about a 30 mile loop that starts with a long 12 mile climb from town to the trailhead then a 2 – 3 mile technical climb to the top. Then a rough and technical 15 or so mile rolling descent to the bottom. The last 3 miles or so is a single track that is very technical in sections and very exposed to a long drop off.

Riding Sand Flats Road to the Trail Head

Riding up Sand Flats road I was passed by several shuttle buses full of mountain bikers that didn’t want to bother with the work of riding up. I think one should earn their down hill, but that's just me. I took my time climbing Sand Flats and stopped quite a bit to take pictures. My legs were still a little tired from the run yesterday, and once I hit the technical stuff there would be plenty of grunting to get up over the rocks.

2 - 3 Miles of Technical Climbing

At the Top!

At the top were a ton of people that had been shuttled up (there is another trail that they come in where they don’t have to climb), so I took a few pictures and headed down so I wouldn’t get held up. About 10 minutes into it I broke my chain. Even in the 10 min or so it took me to fix my chain, only two people came by.

Coming down Porcupine Rim is more fun than is legal in a lot of places. My Yeti 575 was made for trails like this. I felt like I was ripping it. At the single track I rode a little bit more careful cause I was alone and mistakes here can be deadly. Once at the bottom, thanked the Lord that both me and my bike made it in one piece, then rode back to town, finishing (counting the broke chain) in just over 4 hours.

Don't want to make mistakes here!

After the ride I attempted to go running. The plan was to run Cane Creek Road to the top of Hurrah Pass and back. I guess that would be 12 miles or so. After 5 minutes I bagged it. The legs just weren’t cooperating. I decided to listen to my body and go eat. It’s better to save it and have something for the CRUD run Saturday. Tomorrow back to Colorado Springs!

Friday: Run: 1.6 hrs, 11.6 miles
Saturday: Bike: 4.2 hrs, 32 miles