My Love and Hate Relationship With Moab

i'm in moab, utah right now. if you ride a bike on trail you know, moab is the mountain bike mecca of north america. moab in the winter is like a total secret. the trail barely get snow, and it often just melts a few hours into the day. i felt like i was the only trail runner/mtn biker there. this morning i hit the 13 miles of amasa back trail. yep the same trail danelle had her accident on.

the only dangerous ice i encountered was on the dirt road between the lot and the trail head. my bike tires slid all over the place but i was able to stay upright thankfully. being that i haven't ridden trails since the 24hr solo world championship in october i rode pretty cautious. what views!! this ride has probably the best views in moab - jackson home is amazing.


after lunch i went back out the kane creek road and ran 13miles out the moab rim trail, another great view back down to the town.

i love the terrain, and the beauty of moab. i hate that i've had the worst races of my life in moab (24hrs of moab, primal quest). i'm convinced that i'm allergic to this place too, or i am allergic to the hotels in moab. when i'm at the hotel i am congested and miserable.. once i get outside i'm fine.

pritchart/hunter canyon run (12.5 miles): by far the best singletrack i found in moab was on my pritchart/hunter canyon run i did on fri 2/2/06. the way out pritchart is entertaining and nice, but it's doubletrack. karl had told me about this run and i was happy with the first half for sure. but once it got on the hunter canyon section i was blown away! so sweet, totally alone on this epic singletrack right next to this big cut out hole in the earth. other than the ice i had to descend at the end and the 2 miles of dirt road to run to finish it was an amazing 12 miles.

deets: take a right before mcdonalds on kane creek road to pritchart canyon. run out and over the saddle then pay attention at the next intersection and you will see a sign for hunter. follow that beautiful singletrack until it drops you down to the road and run a couple miles uphill back to the parking lot. sweet!