Mountain Bike Bill, Get the Dirt on the Dirt

Utah - Colorado Roadtrip 2008

What and awesome trip I had this summer. There were really no set plans per se, we just sort of made up things as we went. Sure there were a few marquee trails on the to-do list but we were not sure when we were going to get to them. All my buddy Bill O'neil and I knew was that we were going to wander through Utah and Colorado for a week and get in some great riding. We certainly accomplished that and then some. We ended up doing 10 rides in 8 days and left nothing in our legs at the end. Totally spent, done, cooked, fried, toast, insert your favorite saying here, we used ALL of the trip. We saw some absolutely HUGE, gorgeous countryside. We rode awesome trails, meet really cool people and caught up with some old friends. While the trip only lasted a week the memories will surely last a lifetime. Most of the trails here are well documented so I will not add much as far as directions go other than tell you about the resources I used. So grab a cup of coffee, make sure your boss is not peaking over your shoulder, and set a spell.

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Day One - Little Creek Mesa near Hurricane, Utah
Day Two - Moab, Amasa Back
Day Three - Moab, Porcupine Rim and a rainstorm
Day Four Morning - Moab, Poison Spider Mesa and the Portal Trail
Day Four Evening - Moab, Bartlett Wash
Day Five - Moab, Fisher Mesa
Day Six Morning - Grand Junction - The Lunch Loops
Day Six Evening - Fruita - Moore Fun and a party
Day Seven - Fruita - The Zion Curtain
Day Eight - St George, Prospector and Church Rocks

A special thanks to Bill O'Neil for not only being a hell of a roadtrip riding bud, but also providing some of the pictures on these pages. His photos usually feature a heavier set fellow :)

Resources

 

Here are a few resources that I recommended you pickup before your trip. These are common to multiple rides on this trip. I'll talk about other resources for specific trails later.

For the Moab Area

  • Lee Bridgers' Guidebook "Mountain Biking Moab, 2nd Edition: A Guide to Moab, Utah's Greatest Off-Road Bicycle Rides" is one of the best guidebooks I have ever used. It does not simply present you will trail directions, it provides you history, plant life, geology and local antedoctes that really add to the experience of being in Moab. You can pick a copy up before your trip.
  • Also pickup the Latitude 40's Classic Moab Trail Map . They also make an east and west version of the map, but I found the overall "classic" map to work just fine. You can pick them up online from Poison Spider Bikes or Over the Edge Sports - Fruita.
  • You may also want to pickup a few of the Cheap is Real maps available in most of the bike shops. These maps are printed on 13" by 19" plain paper and it covers just one trail. The nice thing about them is that along with a basic map, it has good directions. Oh, they are only a buck each making the price right. (Don't bother buying these online they will cost you $4 online. Wait until you get into town.

For the Fruita/Grand Junction Area