Typically, when you go to Moab, you want to stay at least a full weekend, but sometimes, schedules don't allow for that, so what do you do?  You get up at the BC of D and drive yourself down there.  leaving draper at 6 AM we got to the trail around 10 all the while braving UHP (sorry about the ticket Wade) and 13 degree temps...yes. 13...F.    By the time we rolled into the parking lot it had warmed up considerably and it was almost 40!


we were one of about a dozen cars in the parking lot that was full by the time we were off the trail at around 130.

Yup, plenty of walking around space.

This was Petro's first time on slickrock, though not his first time to Moab.  This has been a year of firsts for Petro on his new bike and he has learned rapidly.  Though Slickrock, it turns out, was going to be a big step forward in earning his technical chops.






I always forget how technical and physically demanding this trail is until we take someone new.  Last time it was mike, and he broke his wrist about 1.5 miles in.  Petro did much better than that by wisely taking it slow and walking a lot of the hills until he eventually got the hang of the undulating petro-fied dunes (see what i did there).


It wasn't just Petro walking the hills either, We all had to do some walking.  At least Wade is happy about it.


Finally on top, and it feels so right.


I never realized how much vertical Gain the entire Slickrock trail is until we measured it with our phones.  nearly 2000 vertical feet!  But the upside to uphill, is the downhill.


About 3/4 the way through, we stopped for a break on the edge of this cliff overlooking the Colorado river.


After this point we were all pretty well toasted, but at least the weather was nice, it was up to 60 and perfect for hard riding.  Let me be clear about something, Slickrock isn't the hardest trail I've done, butits always harder, and longer than i think it is.  So after about 3/4 the way through it, i am always kind of looking forward foe it to be nearing completion. 

After a good hearty ride we enjoyed a good hearty Wendy's lunch and drove home.  We got back to draper around 515 and from there i went right to an excellent Halloween party at Siddoways.  If you would like to see more, check out the video above. or watch in in HD on youtube

Im writing this in the backseat of a car, on my way back from slickrock.  My back hurts and im tired, but it was good times.  Since i only have so much battery and i am getting my wifi from my phone i will be brief.  Enjoy the video above, an edit will be coming soon.

1005 AM. Covert packpack with avalung on steep and cheap, this is a
great bag.
http://www.steepandcheap.com/

its up, its not very good, but its up.  youtube HD version here.  And Android/iPhone downloadable version on the mobile video page.

Coby, Petro, Mitch and I decided to go riding this morning in Corner Canyon on the Ann's trail loop after our successful first ride on it last time revealed it was much shorter a ride than we thought.  We got started around 730, it was a half hour later than we had planned (because i was late and Petro left his front wheel at home) but it was 30 minutes earlier than we needed.  it was 53 degrees when we started this morning but once we started up clarks trail it warmed up enough for use not to notice.   Very little sweating this morning.  It was a great ride with nothing special to report:  About 50 minutes to complete, 4.75 miles and about 850 feet of total elevation gain.  For the full report and the trail map, click here.

We had three GoPro Cameras and there will eventually be a video...so that's something to look forward to right?  Right. 

Location.  Location.  Location.  Actually, more like views.  This Saturday, Mike Tom, Petro and I decided to try out a section of the newly opened Ann's Trail in Draper, Ut in the corner canyon area.  If you need a trailmap, click here.  I've found that finding them online is pretty tricky, mainly because they change so fast. 

I didn't take very many pictures because we didn't stop on the trail at all (mike) but I'm glad we didn't at the time.  The new section of trail is a fun up and down ride like mid mountain or the crest.  In fact, this ride is kind of a mini-crest in the sense that you climb strait up (in this case Clarks Trail) and then stay high, cutting out early to bring to the same place you left or continuing on to go onto a dedicated downhill into another outlet.  We went up Clarks, took a right onto anns near the top and rode that to traverse ridge road, on your right are three trails, uphill, downhill center and downhill right.  I'm not sure what the other two are but down right (the well established singletrack) is Potato hill which leade back the the BST which leads back to Coyote Hollow and the car. 

Here is mike surveying the valley.


So, Mytracks got a little wonky at the end when we broke mach 4, but if you follow along you can see basically how we did the trail.  you will notice there are two tracks, one goings south and one north, you are not seeing things.  When we finished with the Anns loop we were fresh and the conditions were right.  Tom, Mike and I decided to go up clarks one more time and show Mike the good times that can be had on the rush trail.  All in all i would guess we rode about 8 miles or more.  It was a really good ride and I would recommend this shorter anns loop to anyone.  It only took us like 45minutes total for each trail for an hour and a half total ride time.  Check out the video above, and in high def on youtube.  Or download it from the mobile section.