An Escape to the Desert

How often do you get the opportunity to take your bike to places where your suspension feels like shit, there never seems to be enough air in your tires and you still roach a $200 set of sticky tires? Well Karin Grubb and I felt like we deserved a little pedal-away after finishing some renovations and re-introduce Karin to a responsibility lite lifestyle that she'd long forgotten about.

We pointed the Coyote Courier to the southern border and drove and drove and drove. We stopped at some beautiful places for coffee, snacks and some riding, and here is what bounced off my camera for 12 days.

Driving through southern Idaho through what seemed like an eternity of flat earth, we decided to check the trail app. Indian Springs trail network provided the much needed leg stretch and allowed us to brush up on hardpack riding skills. Jagged volcanic rocks provided the spice on a 15km ride with a relaxed 360m(1000ft) elevation gain. The Backdoor trail was a visual feast along a tiny version of the canyon Knievel jumped decades ago. The trail head was teeming with folks who were happy to help us with a nice route. This rather insignificant looking but historic area, especially for dare devils, turned out great.

Salt Lake City, Utah was our first major stop on a massive drive through Washington, Oregon and parts of Idaho. We pulled up to the fastest growing city in the US to meet up with our friend Conor. Conor guided us through the Pirate trails of Park City which I've heard alot about and the Aspens were incredible at around 3000m (9000ft) altitude. If we had been there a week or so ago, we would have caught the peak colours but the weather was in our favour this time. It was nice and warm for a cruise in the high altitude trails of this cool little ski town.

It was easy to hit speeds the excess of 60km/h and and our suspension felt locked out with North Shore air pressures. The lack of rough on the trails suggested short travel bikes but the speeds begged for long wheelbase stability that big bikes had to offer. When in Salt Lake city, bring the biggest bike in your fleet. You will appreciate it.

A couple of days well spent in the North West Corner of Utah, we decided to bid adieu and head to our actual destination; Moab. But before packing up, we visited a gem of a brewery in the heart of SLC called the Templin Family Brewing. Dog friendly and with the best backyard any brewery has to offer, we enjoyed some award winning brews before a good night's rest for the 4 hour drive to Moab.

We have some big descents in Canada, no doubt. Even on the Shore you can do a 1000m (3000ft) plunge if you know where to look. But we have nothing like the Whole Enchilada; a 46km, 3000m (9000ft) descent with a 1000m climb scattered all over it and you get to just race your buddies. Yea there is no chill way of doing the ride and it's best is done with friends and lots of them. We met up with 5 of our friends from the Shore and had a lovely day passing through multiple ecosystems. Weather in our favour, we only had to ride some hard packed snow for a very short period of time. Bring as much water as you can carry as the further you descend, warmer it will get. 3+ liters of water was consumed by my internals and not a single pee stop. Brutal.

As we plunged deeper and deeper into the canyon below, the incentive to take the camera out faded away and we got in a fast dog fight over the last few kms of Porcupine Rim. The Colorado river was waiting with the cooler full of cold beers we left at our campsite.

You can't do Moab without a lap around Slickrock trail, just outside of town, and we attempted our lap from the campground. A 15-ish km pedal just to the trail head was all fine in the freezing pre-sunrise temperatures. As the sun rose over the horizon, the temperatures quickly climbed as we rode the sun exposed rocks of Slickrock trail. A new addition to the network called the Above Abyss was something we wanted to see and it was well worth the extra miles. The seemingly impossible climbs getting ticked off with the immense slick rock traction was exhilarating. It wasn't until we kept seeing people going the opposite direction that we realized we were doing the whole loop counter-clockwise instead of the preferred clockwise rotation. We made the loop a bit harder on ourselves with steeper climbs and a longer one at the end of the ride. It is amazing that you can do the ride either direction and get a totally different experince, which I will make sure to enjoy every time I ride in Moab.

After a few full, satisfying days in Moab, we pointed to Van back up the map for a stop in Hood River, Oregon. The Columbia Gorge; another unique landscape to test traction. We explored the delightful and easy going trail network of Post Canyon and Syncline. Two very distinctly different areas across the river from one and other.

We enjoyed the little welcoming town and again all the delicious breweries. We settled for some tasty beverages at Ferment Brewing with our dog company and had their version of Fried Brussel Sprouts for snack. We loved the vibes Hood River radiated and understood why many people come here to play and live. A gem not too far from Portland, where weird is rewarded, Hood river gets it done in a more traditional but unique way.

A one last stop before the border was in Olympia, WA to visit friends and join in on their Tuesday Night Ride. Rain came down and it came down hard! The heavy downpour was not an obstacle for the 15 of us as we pedaled around the maze of a hill trying to figure out what was going on. Our teeth were filled with dirt and there wasn't a dry spot on our bodies. We enjoyed the proper wet welcome home after a much enjoyed time on the road.

It was a tiring but refreshing 4600kms of driving through the most majestic landscapes. Every time I can roadtrip across the USA, I jump in on the action. I always wish I'd taken more photos but always happy to be there with the people I love. This trip was one of those and the riding happened to be top notch too!

Can't beat a late October in the desert. I recommend to anyone!