February 17th I – Utah, Day 3

Posted on February 26, 2015

Woke up before sunrise from an absolutely frigid night (9F low), grabbed my hydration pack and bike, and headed out onto Slickrock while David was still sleeping.

Technically a shot from the day before, but I still did the same trail and it looks cool here, so here it is. Photo credit to David for this one. 

Early morning at the top of Slickrock. The trail is unique, but weird. I enjoy mountain biking because it takes me cool places and feels like an adventure. Slickrock is a nearly 11 mile long trail, but it just meanders over and around petrified sand dunes in a less than 3 square mile area. It never really goes anywhere. You follow a painted line up and down the rock (and it should be noted that the grip is unreal; you can pedal up a 45 degree slope if you trust your bike enough), but you can’t deviate from that painted line or take shortcuts, because you’ll never find it again and everything looks exactly the same. Suffice to say, not my cup of tea. Still, the views on the canyon rim are breathtaking. (Also, I stayed in that granny-gear for a good portion of this trail).

As are demonstrated here, where the pinnacle of Slickrock looks down off the cliff edge roughly 1000 feet down into the Colorado River gorge that carves it’s way through Moab.