Oct 4th - Moab, Moab Rim & Sovereign

Amber had a few days of from work so I opted to take Thursday and Friday off as well. With the temperatures in Moab looking perfect for riding we headed out there Wed Night for a long weekend and our first trip there since early Spring.

Day 1 started with it still being a little warm coming in at mid 70's and sunny so we decided to start out with a ride we have never done in all our time visiting Moab - the jeep trail up to Moab Rim. We had been trying to motivate for a while to do it, but the initial brutal climb had always lent it itself to us finding excuses not to ride it.

With it being in the shade most of the day and with us having ridden most of the summer and feeling like we might actually be in decent shape our excuses were gone and ride it is what we did!


Make no mistake, the first mile is absolutely brutal. They say the average grade is 22% and there is plenty of technical sections as well. We rested, we rode and we pushed - but at least it was in the shade!


The views were also awesome as you stopped to recover breath.


At times it felt like it was never going to end.


And it seemed like it just got steeper the closer the summit was.

The climb up was actually pretty enjoyable and the ledges down in the lower sections were great to try and find a path of least resistance through. It was brutal, but in a good sense of accomplishment sort of way.


The ride itself was much more than the climb with us doing it as a 5 mile out and then back ride. Across the rim you followed a jeep trail with some slick rock domes and assorted technical sections. All in all, not bad riding at all.


It was also pretty fun to think how much easier things seemed after our summer of riding and downhilling. The theme for both Amber and I across the weekend is that Moab just seemed a lot more doable than it ever had before. We were riding sections much faster and more confidently than we had in past trips. Good times indeed!


And, as usual, the terrain was just good to be on and around.


Heading back after the turn around point.


Amber rolling down one of the slick rock domes.

In the afternoon we went out and did Sovereign but neglected to take the camera with both Amber and I thinking the other had grabbed it. As always it was a great ride, although it is disappointing to see the number of ride-arounds and cheater lines to some of the more technical sections.