november long weekend in moab - pt. 4

It ended, our long weekend in Moab - they always seem to end and we have to drive north back to lawns that need raking, and jobs, and mountains of laundry. But first: one more MTB ride at the MOAB Brand Trails.  (After breakfast at the Moab Diner, of course.)  The loop we put together there (Rusty Spur and Bar M) is much less technical than the other stuff we'd been riding.  We did take a look at the map and decide to add another trail (Sidewinder) to the mix on our next trip but this time we were sticking to what we knew.

Chilly enough for arm warmers

There were only a few cars in the parking lot when we got there and we only saw two other riders when we were out for our two hour, 19+ mile ride.  The weather was perfect - clear, sunny and cool - and the trails were in good shape.  I only hopped off my bike twice, on a tricky uphill cattle guard and on a tricky rocky uphill corner, and H of course didn't have to walk at all.  We really like that loop, feeling that if Rusty Spur was 5x as long we would love to ride it, plus enjoying the climbing and cruising for the Bar M.  I know it's easy for H but sometimes it's fun to just ride without worrying that you're going to fall off a cliff.  Much more relaxing.

Love the desert

After our ride, we had our beers and chatted with a friendly MTB guide who had just finished a short ride with a tour group of private school kids from Arizona.  None of the kids had been on a MTB before and she also had one girl who had never ridden a bike at all, but who really wanted to learn at age 18.  The guide's joy at helping that girl ride was fun to witness.  After that, it was cheeseburgers at Ray's Tavern in Green River and then the drive home.  And that's all she wrote for our most recent Moab excursion.  We've already started planning for the next one.