Mountain bike in Moab, Utah

“We continued mountain biking the following morning closer to town at the Brand Trails. There are a bunch of circles (Bar M, Circle O, Rockin A, and Bar B) and we chose to do the easiest, because even the easiest trails for someone in Moab were going to be hard for me. [...] The cool morning weather was just amazing and things were going great until…. Duh, duh, duh – the dreaded cactus fall of 2010! I crossed a ditch, then didn’t have the momentum to continue upwards, so I had a slow fall sideways into Mr. Cactus. I gave the cactus a high-five when I fell, but I got really lucky because my Camelback saved me from a really big spike in my back! And I guess no broken bones is pretty good too.”

“There’s mountain biking. And then there’s mountain biking in Moab. I haven’t been anywhere that comes close. A sense of infinite openness comes with being in this part of Utah, and mountain biking on slickrock, sandy trails is an experience in itself. [...] The trail goes from being cruisy to being outright gnarly, with a few power climbs that require more than a bit of balance to keep rubber-sides down. [...] I kept looking over my shoulder on this trip—the gray clouds finally caught up with us, and we got drizzled on a bit. No lightening, though. It was dark by the time we got back to town (without headlamps). Perfect time to recover—and hydrate—at the Moab Brewery.”