We decided to get a taste of Moab Mountain Biking but we wanted to start "small" so we hit the MOAB Brand Trails.
For the record, their idea of "beginner" or "family trails" is jacked up. I would rank myself as an intermediate mountain biker - back home. Not here. Here, I am apparently a sissy and am absolutely amazed at how they rate their trails. Several locals, including the chic at the Moab Information Center have mentioned that everything is "extreme" here and jeep trails, dirt bike & ATV trails, mountain bike trails, and hiking trails are more difficult than you will find in almost any other place in the country. After getting a taste of it, I would tend to agree. There's a reason that Moab is considered the mountain biking mecca and is an international destination for adventure.
We started on the Bar M trail with the plan to use that as a warm up before doing some of the other routes. This would be our introduction to riding on slickrock. BTW - slickrock is some grippy stuff - unless you're a horse - which is how slickrock got its name.
Anywho...we did the Bar M and came upon the Circle O...
We both started out on it...and Bill was the only one to finish it. Since I found myself walking more than riding and was more than a little apprehensive about taking a face plant on rock and busting up my ribs again, I bailed. My cold wasn't helping me to really enjoy myself - I kept coughing and hacking and found it somewhat difficult to breathe. Breathing is generally important, especially while exercising.
Since the Circle O trail loops back on the Bar M, I hoofed back from the Circle O, jumped on the bike, and had a pretty good time on this "beginner" trail. Of course, speed alters the level of enjoyment so even easy rides can be fun if you ride them fast enough. Anywho, I waited for Bill at the trail intersection and he arrived within 15 minutes of me. I snapped some photos of the area here and there...
We picked up the pace a little and busted back to the truck. The ride was short - we were only gone an hour and a half, but we decided to call it a day since I was feeling like crap. We went into town and stopped at the MIC (see above) and picked up some information and then proceeded to stop in at the local bike shops to see what they were all about. Bike shops are bike shops are bike shops - even in a biker's mecca they're all pretty much the same. I'm not sure why I expected otherwise, but I did.
We debated what we were going to eat and decided on just heading back to the trailer and fixing something there.
The rest of the evening is a blur so it must have been routine.
I did not find that this first Moab mountain biking experience was a super positive one - but there's a lot of biking to be done around here and hopefully once the snotting-hacking-wheezing-coughing goes away, it will be more fun. :P
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