Moab is
mountain Bike Paradise.
Technical
trails and astonishing sightseeing all in a friendly town with lots of
possibilities to lodge and eat. There are plenty of bike shops where you can
rent great bikes. And if you don’t feel like pedaling a lot, there are shuttles
available everywhere.
We rented
ours from Poison Spider. We
wanted to shuttle but we wanted to pedal too, so we rented Allmountain bikes:
Pivot Switchblade, Yeti SB5.5, Yeti SB4.5 and a Niner RIP 9.
Poison
spider can offer you pedals and helmets if you did not bring yours. They set up
the bikes and explain you everything about them. IMHO if you’re going to Moab,
you may already know how to set up the bike.
As per
Fruita, finding trails in Moab is pretty straightforward, you find all the
trails and how tricky or tiring they might be in www.mtbproject.com.
Trailheads are really well signed and there’s
always a parking lot to leave your car. By the way, when you rent your bike
they ask for the license plate of your car. They say it is in case you get lost
and they see an empty car at the trailhead.
We got our
bikes and headed to Slickrock. It’s a must!
It is fun
and you have to do it. It is also absolutely physical, all the uphills are
very, very steep and explosive. Miles and miles of petrified dunes of
slickrock. You won’t believe the grip till you ride this. You can pedal standing
uphill grades that must be over 30% and the tires will traction. You can cross
water puddles right before climbing some silly wall and you can feel how the
tires hold on.
So it is
something to be done but to us it was the least fun trail in Moab. We knew
there was much better to ride!
Coming from
Europe, where sometimes it is hard to share the trails with people running,
horse riding or just walking, it’s amazing how in Moab you share them with
Jeeps or motorcycles going through the very same trails. We know they were
there first and they were all really polite and cheerful. Nice!