mtbing is hard (part 2)

 We got a couple more MTB rides in during our vacation week, but we neglected to take any photos.  No huge deal as we've ridden both of these rides before.

On Wednesday we went up to the main Navajo Rocks parking lot.  These trails tend to be more challenging for me so we stuck with the loop I've had reasonable success with before: Middle Earth to Coney Island to Big Lonely to Big Mesa and back to the trailhead.  This is the recommended way to do this loop although someone has added a suggestion that going downhill on Coney Island is the way to go.  It's probably fun but it isn't a particularly onerous climb (except for the steep, sandy switchback sections) plus going clockwise on Big Lonely is definitely the better way to go.

H had his second crash of the week on Coney Island (again, ending up battered but not too bruised), this time in front of a witness.  Other than that guy and a couple people right at the start, we didn't really see anyone for the first half of the ride; we leapfrogged a few folks on Big Lonely and started seeing lots more riders when we got to Big Mesa, however, since it's closer to the trailhead.  One dude commented on my pristine Giant: "Have you ever ridden that bike before today?  It looks brand new!"  I laughed - it's like nine years old, this bike - and said that I preferred to crash in the soft stuff so I don't ding the paint.

These trails alternate sandy and rocky, with some very nice slickrock on top of Big Lonely.  My legs were getting fatigued as we finished the Big Mesa portion.  H thought he'd ride a ways out on Ramblin' (where we've hiked with Milton a couple times) but the further he went, the further down he went, and he soon turned around rather than face more climbing than he really wanted to do.  After the ride, our parking lot time included a really nice conversation with Richard, a kid from La Crosse, Wisconsin, recently relocated to SLC and out exploring southern Utah with dog Opie.

Ride stats: 10.85 miles; 1:46 riding time; 6.1 m.p.h. avg. speed / 15.7 max. speed

Our final MTB of the week was Friday, when we went back to Dead Horse Point State Park.  The skies were much clearer and we could see the LaSals, the Abajos and the Henrys - the southern Utah mountain range trifecta.  Without the smoke screen, the sun felt hotter but temperatures were still very pleasant after the scorching summer.  We saw a few of the same people multiple times as we did our loop, including four e-MTB riders who did the same route we did: we started after them, passed them, stayed ahead of them the whole time and finished about an hour before they did - even doing all our own pedaling!  Also impressive: neither of us crashed this time AND H rode a section of Twisted Tree that he's never ridden before.

Afterwards we chatted with a Seattle family, touring around in their Sprinter van and camping at the Up the Creek Campground in Moab, as well as those e-MTBers from Idaho.  Traffic was wicked heavy as we made our way back to town - which didn't seem to bode well for anyone arriving in Moab later that evening.  It's so strange to have to deal with traffic congestion after so many months without it.  

Ride stats: 17.03 miles; 1:59 riding time; 8.6 avg. speed / 16.5 max. speed