Carnage in Moab

This if my first real crack at a ride report. I messed around a little bit before, but am still new at this. So, please have a little patience. Hopefully, you are not bored to tears, and realize this is a work in progress.

Recently a few of us guys from our meetup group, Front Range Dual Sport Riders, based out of Colorado, went to Moab, Ut for a week of fun in the sun.

I am the organizer of the group and go by flatironrider on that site, but am obviously racingthesun on here.

I plan on having a lot of gopro video on this thread in the near future. The video has to be edited somewhat to clean up the potty mouthed language of voices on the video (mainly mine) a little. Of course there will be lots of pics also.

It was hard for me to decide to have this report in the regular RR area or Day Trippin. The trip lasted over a week, but we went back to the same basecamp every night, so I decided it would be best to go in the day trippin section.

Expect to have much pics and video in a day or so, and hope you enjoy it. Stay tuned.....

I am really looking forward to your report. 4 of us from Boise Id. are going to be down there the first week in May. None of us have been there yet so this will be great info. Looking forward to the REST of the Story.

Les in Boise

Drove over to my buddy Manco's (AKA Paul) house around 8am on the 4th of April and loaded up his 1986 model Yamaha XT and all his camping gear and tools.
Manco's Mug


West bound and down loaded up and trucking, eh well SUVing? Anyway here is Manco's XT and my WR250R loaded up and ready to roll to Moab.


Ever know somebody who seems to know quite a bit about, well, everything? That is how Manco seems to me. He is an incredible mechanic, knows his way around computers, and is very advanced in technological know how so to speak. He is also a super nice guy. That is why I asked him to be the Co-Organizer of Front Range Dual Sport Riders. He accepted the challenge and has been a great help and has also became a great friend in the process.

There are a lot of great people in FRDSR on meetup. If you live near the front range and ride Dual Sports, feel free to join. We would love to have you as a member. It is free for everybody but me, who has to pay the site fees... Just google or bing us. That sounds funny, "bing us"

We did have a couple mandatory stops on the way to Moab...This was one of them...

The other was one of the two Wal-Marts in Grand Junction. Who would have thought that Grand Junction was such a metropolis that they have two Wal-Marts? Every body knows it is a federal law that if you have a population of over 5000 people you have to have a Wal-Mart within 15 miles. Well, Moab somehow didn't get the memo, and you are stuck paying tourist prices from hell at all the businesses and restaurants. Paul and I bitched about it non-stop while we were there because we hate greedy merchants. Anyway, there is a fight to build a Wally World in Moab, and I hope they do. The competition would make merchants be more honest and less greedy, and would help out the locals who live there year round. I feel sorry for them having to pay soo much for everything. Gotta pay to play I guess.

Manco and I stayed at the Arches View Resort and arrived late in the afternoon. I got a 15% military discount which I was happy to get. Got the last tent site with electric and water available. The total price for the week was $177. Way cheaper than a hotel. The resort is about 9 miles north of town. It has cabins, restrooms, private showers, laundry facilities, RV hookups, and of course tent sites. It also has a gas station and a little store that will turn you upside down and shake out all your pocket change. It was very pricey. Told you I bitch a lot about merchants. I can't stand greedy people. I mean a 16oz coffee was $2.16! That is like California or Alaska prices, but with Mayor Bloomburg sizes.

A pic of our site...


Jim and his wife Lisa, stayed in town in a lodge. They said it was surprisingly well priced for Moab at $79 a night, and allowed pets. They have two awesome dogs. Forget the breed name...
Jett and Rocky, and of course Lisa holding them Very nice folks Jim and Lisa!
It was comfortable looking. Twice as much as my campsite, but would definitely be worth it after how poorly I slept on the hard ground. My sleeping pad decided to give out after 5 years.

Forgot why, but Manco and I decided to run into town. On the way back I decided to go off onto the side road going into our camp and was going way too fast and nearly wiped out. Manco had helped me install a 4.7 gallon IMS tank on the WR (ok, he really installed it) a week earlier and I was not used to the extra weight. He told me good recovery, thought you were going down. Ate some ribeyes and home fries. Yours truly did the cooking and neither of us died from it. Turned out pretty good. We also quite a bit.

Next morning Jim and Lisa came up to the camp and unloaded Jim and his WR250F which has been made street legal. Since I had a severe case of "dumbass" I had forgot my knee pads at home, duh! So while they went riding on Sovereign trail behind the camp, I went to town to buy some knee protection. I tried to find Jim and Manco, but couldn't. I ended up doing my own thing riding some of Sovereign trail, Willow Springs back to Arches NP, and also up Gemini bridges area. Came back to camp and found out I had just missed Jim and Manco by minutes on Gemini Bridges
Some pics of the first full day, some are a little overcast...







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My pic

Now you know why I am not in a bunch of pics....

Back at camp...


It was a great day despite having a horrible case of the bottle flu most of the day. Manco and I escaped to the highlands of Scotland and finished a whole bottle of Glennfiddich aged 12 years the night before. Really not sure where it is made, but sure is pretty tasty. Sorry no videos from 5 April 14.

6 April 14
Manco and I rode down to Jim and Lisa's Lodge and ate some yummy breakfast burritos made by Lisa. Then we went to the slick rock trail head and almost killed ourselves. Ok, just me. My poor WR struggled badly with my weight and the extra weight from the big fuel tank.
I take steroids from time to time for health reasons, and they have made me extremely heavy. Those and the fact I am terminally lazy have resulted in me being really, really overweight. It was a wake up call that I need to concentrate on diet and exercise more, and less on fattening foods and lethargic behaviour. Other words life is going to suck with me eating food that tastes like crap and less and more stuff I don't want to do like going to the gym. You know it is not just enough having a gym membership, you have to actually go and work out.....Next time I will be way lighter! The little blue moto will appreciate it.

Ok, bare with me, like I said new at this posting stuff.
A video of slick rock via GOPRO
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more slick rock video

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pics from slick rock


Jim enjoying himself







End of the slick rock trail.....one portion of it anyway......


After all that I had been doing pretty good. Had to walk my moto down one obstacle. Hey, so did Manco and Jim. After these pictures it got really, really bad. I mean super steep stuff. I remember at one point I said we are not going up that are we? Jim assured me, no we won't go up that. Keep in mind we were still trying to get our barings of exactly where we were. Then right away, he went up the super steep incline he said we would not go up! I completely chickened out and tried to find a go around. It didn't work, and had to go up it anyway. My front wheel kept trying to come off the ground, no matter how much I leaned forward.
I also had two sliding backward get offs and one on the side of an obstacle. Those were all real fun, not. Scary as hell more like it. Then the highlight of the whole slick rock experience...While on the way back on the really steep obstacle with 90deg turns (the one we walked down) Jim saved my life. He says he didn't, but I was a goner as sure as I am typing this. The moto was sliding backwards and it was quite a fall. He held my back brake until I could get balanced and recover. Scared out of my mind, but still fun...kind of anyway...

Be careful on all the roads and trails in Moab. None we did were completely easy. Always ride on hard trails with a buddy unless you are an expert rider or just plain stupid. You will most likely need help. The slick rock although hard was a big confidence builder. The more I rode it the more I felt confident. I did kiss the pavement because I was so happy when it was all over, lol. I am not a beginner rider, but nowhere near an expert. More of an intermediate I guess.

Hopefully my silly RR can benefit you in some way. It will be pretty toasty in Moab in May! I was glad to be back home when my week was over.

I will try to get that up tonight. The only problem with going away for a while the wife always has a long honey do list when I get back!

Its kinda crazy reading about oneself in a ride report. It always someone else till one day, BAM its your friend writing about the both of you!

The above pictured Moab is one of my favorite view points of the city. Here is another pic from the same spot.

Its true. He did get down on the pavement at the end. I felt about the same. Slick Rock Trail is not only technically difficult & physically demanding its mentally demanding too. The sheer exposure is just down right mind numbing. A little too much throttle on a long steep ascent and a rider will find themselves pulling a wheelie with a risk of tumbling a damn long ways to the bottom of the hill or worse off an edge. Turns can be insane too. I am talking off camber 180 degree hillside switchbacks with steep exposure awaiting any who may falter.

Below are a few pics of the Slick Rock Ride. They and a few hundred other pics from the ride can be found in this album on the Front Range Dual Sport Riders site. http://www.meetup.com/Front-Range-Dual-Sport-Riders/photos/21258902/









Very thankful to be on normal ground!

Got up bright and early after experiencing a terrible wind storm all night. Also had frost on everything and man was it cold! The weather greatly improved after that though.

After Jim showed up, the three of us drove over to the WRT via Gemini Bridges Road. Like many of the roads in Utah, Gemini Bridges does not disappoint in the scenery category. You just keep going up, up, and up it seems until the cars and trucks on hwy 191 are tiny specks.

It wasn't too long until we were at the end of the road and it came to a T intersection. We waited a little while there so Jim could look at the map and make sure we were at the right place. Manco took the opportunity to go drool over some ladies Husaberg. Hey, it is my dream moto also. Maybe some day when I can rob a bank and get away with it.

A few pics of the day...

The little chapel at our campsite..


Other riders at the T intersection we stopped at..


Now just where the heck are we Jim?


Paul was having a rough day. He was sitting here putting his GOPRO back together after it fell off and part of the mount broke off. That was just part of the carnage of the day. It gets much worse. For Manco anyway.


I believe this pic was taken at the top just before going down the Shafer switchbacks? I forget their name, spectacular views. Here are a few pics from there.



You can see the road we would be traveling shortly here on the canyon floor

Stopped here for lunch after going down the switchbacks

Looking back where we came from...










I was gonna jump, but Jim and Manco talked me out of it. They told me too many people would miss me it I did. It was a little hard for me to believe also. Those big chickens wouldn't even come near the edge and had the nerve to laugh at me when I crawled back.




This is a pic of more carnage for Manco on the WRT. His rack on the back of his XT broke. Paul said he had too much weight on it and it broke when the shock bottomed out. He also practically destroyed his license plate. Rubbed off the decal on it and bent the hell out of it anyway.


So Manco decided it would be best for him to go back to camp and work on his XT while Jim and I continued on the WRT. We later figured out that he would not have made the whole trip with the gas mileage he was getting anyhow. Jim and I were bummed for Manco, but the trip must go on.

Thought these cactus looked cool..


The road ahead





Jim on the WRT



We drove on pretty flat terrain for what seemed like 30 miles or so and finally came to a rise and there in the middle of nowhere was this front end loader (?)


We stopped here for a little while and had a snack before going up this ridiculously steep grade. As always, doesn't look as steep in the picture


Didn't seem like it was all that far and we were in the lush green valley of the green river.


Some video of the WRT ride
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Thats it for tonight, will continue with more of the WRT video tomorrow and tales of carnage, unless Manco wants to tell what happened on his ride back to camp from the WRT.

Great pics. Looks like everyone had fun as well.

This is a pretty long one.
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I have no idea why, but it did not upload in 1080, wth!

Sometimes it takes time to process? Your 1080 vid is working fine on my PC from youtube. I am just out the door right now. Gonna have to come back & check this vid out. Looks good so far.

You are right, it just took a while.

Your video came out great. I wish all of my vids had the camera angle yours does. Some of mine are all right but for several I pretty much filmed the sun.

In your video watching you spin through the switchbacks had me on the edge of my seat reliving my own decent. This section of road was easily one of the hairiest roads I have ever ridden. The exposure alone is enough to bring nausea into the stomach of a hardened rider. I actually unintentionally drifted one of the upper corners and came close to puking in my helmet for a moment. It wasn't even a fast drift. The rear wheel just came loose for 1/2 a turn and my bike started to slide towards one of the 1000 foot drop offs. I had no issue correcting the drift but still it was probably the most serious reality check I have ever had while riding.

Thinking back on this road I think I would prefer to climb it next time rather then descend it. Having torque pushing the rear wheel would be more fun then using torque to brake the rear wheel. Things can get sketchy quick if a rear wheel is over braked during descent on this kind of a road. I would imagine this would be more true the heavier the curb weight of the bike. Going up however torque should hold the rear wheel firmer to the ground especially in the more nauseating corners.

I lived in central Wyoming for many years and was only 8 hours away from the Moab area, so got down there many times on bicycles and motorcycles. There is no other place like it, to my knowledge, just an amazing place to ride. There is NOTHING remotely like it in the area I live now, sad to say. I enjoyed the photos but I live out in the boonies at the very limit of DSL internet service, so I'll have to watch your videos from work . Maybe this is old stuff for you, but next time you're filming, try pointing your GoPro backwards and film your buddies as they follow you. I've done this while skiing and it's a great viewpoint, but it does take some fiddling to get it set up right so you don't just film the sky most of the time.

We did a trip around the White Rim Trail once with about a dozen bicyclists supported by two 4X4 vehicles, camped two nights and rode three days, in late November near Thanksgiving. One night we roasted a turkey in a fire pit under the most amazing stars I've ever seen (and I was from Wyoming where the night sky is outstanding!). On our last night out we camped at the base of the dugway leading from the Green River up to the rim and highway back to the Island In The Sky visitor center where our cars were parked. A friend and I had gotten a ways ahead of the group and were sitting on some rocks at the Labyrinth Campground about dusk waiting for them to show up when a solo bicyclist came pedaling up. He stopped and yakked for a while and it turns out he was riding the entire WRT alone, in one day, to celebrate his 54th birthday. He had a couple of water bottles and a few Power Bars with him and that was about it. We offered him extra food and water and he said no, he was fine, thanks. I said Holy Shite, Superman, where's your cape? He said the damned thing kept getting caught up in his spokes so he left it at home most of the time . We rode ~110 miles in three long hard days of cycling and that guy ran it alone in one day, la la. That climb out of the Green River on Horse Thief Trail/Mineral Canyon Road and back to the visitors center the next morning was brutal, but I kept thinking if that fooker could do it at the end of his solo ride, in the dark, then WTF did I have to complain about? What an animal.

I've ridden a lot of the Moab area on motorcycles and bicycles and I liked bicycles better, but I think that's just because you get a better feel for how remote and rugged it really is when it's one Dougpower versus many horsepower. It's just an outstanding place to ride no matter what you're mounted on and it should be on everyone's "must do" list. Thanks for the excellent report and spin down memory lane!

Doug

I just came upon your ride report .We were at the same time and same campground than you guys .I had a 690 with a rally kit and my buddy was riding my old 450 exc .It looks like you had as good of a time as we did .For me it was the third time around and I am always ready to go back .
for info I did a short photo report in the Regional forum (PNW)

Nice. One of these days I need to get down there.

The problem with me filming backwards is, all you will see is dust because all the riders are so far ahead of me that you can't eve see their dust trails.
Once upon a time I was a bicycle cop. We had speedometers on our Raleigh
mountain bikes and would average about 117 miles in a 12 hour shift. Keep in mind it was large part on pavement, and no hills whatsoever, but I could see somebody doing the the WRT in a single day. I couldn't see me doing it, but I could see somebody who is into cycling serious doing it. At age 54, that is quite an accomplishment though. From one Doug to another Doug, I totally agree with you on being an outstanding place to ride!