On the second day of riding and the third ride in Moab it was Spencer’s turn to decide where to go. We ended up going to Porcupine Rim which borders Castle Valley and has the La Sal mountains as a backdrop.
We had first parked at a trailhead to a short section that would bypass a bunch of the climbing on the bikes. But after getting our bikes off the cars a Van toting a bunch of bike riders and their bikes drove past us. We decided to load the bikes back up and find where they were starting. It turns out they knew a better route that tacks on an additional 6 miles to the already 14 mile trail. The first section of trail was north facing and thus had snow and mud still. It was a mess trying to get our bikes down the steep hillside. But we all managed to do it without getting too dirty. Then we had to hike up the other side to the portion of the trail we were going to ride. At the top we got the first real glimpse of the amazing view and trail we were going to be experiencing. The trail was nice wet sand and broken slick rock that Moab is famous for. The backdrop was the La Sal mountains on one side and Arches National Park with the tall red sandstone cliffs bordering the Colorado River on the other. And off to the side was Castle Creek with its spires. And on top of all that, we were riding along the edge of a 100+ foot cliff face.
Within the first 5 minutes of riding the downhill portion I didn’t get off to the best start. I decided to do this drop and though I made it fine off the drop my feet fell off the pedals after I had landed. My chest went into the handlebars, the pedal tore up my leg, and the rear wheel ate my ass! My sister tried asking if I was okay and every time I would try to talk all I would let out is weird sounds. After 5-10 minutes I was able to regain my breathing and make sure I was okay. I got back on my bike and just went gung ho on the trail. Though a little more cautious about the pedals from there on out.
The first 15 or so miles were all double track with a lot of places to drop off and some places for my brother to jump off of. The remaining five miles were extremely technical single track that you teetered onto the edges of the cliff face.
I found out the next day (Today) that 11 people have died on that trail from wrecking and falling off the edges of those cliffs. Pretty Crazy huh!
Here’s the map of the usual route. This isn’t with the additional 6 miles tacked on.
Here’s a video of Spencer Jumping off a ledge.
Code_Joe 