Phils World Is Open

Stinking Springs

Phil's World is opened up for the season. I rode it on Thursday with Paul Adams on the fatties. Only a few small sections of mud on the race loop with the back side of Ledges needing some more time to dry out.

Sedona out...Moab In.

With the weather looking adverse for the Sedona Big Friggin Loop (which was cancelled) I decided to head over to Moab. TR was supposed to go but bailed on his birthday weekend and opted to stay home. Oh well, he missed out. I rode the fat bike from town on Friday and rode some of the Brand Trails and over to Klonzo Trails via Sovereign ATV track and back the same way. The new Klonzo trails were finished in December and are a fun singletrack combo of trails past the Sovereign TH on Willow Springs Road. I encountered a few rain drizzles but nothing major to ruin the days ride.

I rode the Mag 7 loop on Saturday with a guy from Anchorage Alaska that I had met at the Moab Brewery on Friday night. He was a pretty darn good rider, riding an Ibis Mojo full squish and full carbon. With the weather looking iffy we headed out on the trails with the day bringing only a few snow flurries. We racked up 35.5 miles riding all of 7UP, Bull Run, Great Escape, Little Canyon, Arths, Getaway and back 7UP to the cars. 4 hours moving time. 

On Sunday I rode the Brand trails running into Dave Brudette from Chama. We had a good ride and we parted ways hoping to meet up next week in Moab where he is staying for a few weeks.

Down by the river.

Canyonlands Campground. 

The Salsa Selma. She had a great day.

Sovereign ATV track. 

North 40 Trail in the Brand Trail system.

Mag 7.

Klonzo Trails.

Campground was a ghost town.

Ryan pumping up his tire. Slow leak that held the duration of the ride on Saturday.

The mighty Colorado River.

Gemini Arch in the background.

March Moab Mag 7 Ride

With the weather looking prime Paul and I shot over to Moab on Sunday to ride the Mag 7 trails.On the drive over the weather was looking cloudy and rain like. That changed once we put rubber on 7UP trail. The clouds burned off and it was feeling like 70 degrees within a few miles.The trail conditions on 7UP weren't perfect.....loamy, loamy and more loamy. It took some real effort to climb the ten miles to Bull Run trail. There was snow and ice in spots up high but once we were a couple miles down Bull Run the trails were perfect....slick rock and sweet dirt single track. We ran into a shuttle group with a guide from Magpie Adventures that used to live in Ophir. We chatted and talked bikes for a bit. These guys could ride and Paul and I put the hammer down to show them some love and how we do it on hardtail singles. I think they got it. LOL.

We split form the full squish riders and made a left turn onto Arth's from Great Escape to start the climb back to Getaway. The legs were feeling the hard effort from the previous days ride in Mesa Verde Nat Park on the Mean Dean road bike. Once we on onto Getaway the trail was pretTy good until we climbed higher up and hit more snow and mud. The trial was soft and made the grunt work on the singles even harder. After Getaway there is a mile plus on a connector 4x4 road that was in horrible shape. Snow, mud, rocks and more climbing. This brought us back to 7UP where we would back track to the TH on HWY 313. More loamy soft trail conditions and my legs woke up and I felt super........I put down the hammer to see if Paul was going to answer my pace. Nope....not at all. He was feeling the pain and I was smiling ear to ear. He just wanted to be done with it. 

The ride stats were 36 miles with 3k plus of climbing in 4 hours 15 minutes of moving time. It was my first ride on my 29er Salsa single speed and it felt good. Going to Sedona for a 50 miler this next weekend. It should be a great time.

Mag 7 trail head.

Paul posing.

Me trying to figure out my new phone to take a picture.

My Salsa Selma. La Sals in the background.

Did you ever notice the slower riders get their pictures taken. LOL.

I WILL BEAT MY ASS TODAY TO KICK YOURS TOMORROW.