Probably the best day I've ever had on a bike and that's with three punctures that I plugged, but they kept leaking and I kept pumping. Breaking my own tubeless rules, not very professional at all.
Heading up the road at 7am and getting very excited. Moab lights in the distance.
For the first time on the trip we finally got to do a dawn start and we shuttled to the top of the last section of the Whole Enchilada to ride Porcupine rim. Holy Crap, what a trail. No wonder it rates as one of the best in the world. Rock slabs with edges rounded by millions of years of wind and sand. Views to die for...literally. There are huge drops to sail off if you get a corner wrong. Our rims took a beating on the middle section as the rock edges got sharper and I managed to explode my front tyre but no damage to my Flite carbon rim at all while Tim had no flatties but dinged his rear rim massively.
I made the boys pull over to so I could take this amazing photo of the rising sun on yonder rim. I had no idea what was in store for us 30 minutes later.
Yes, I think I may have wet my pants again. Every third corner brought us within a yard of a cliff drop to that valley floor.
I'm quite proud of myself to not succumb to peer pressure and I walked down the Notch. stefan said he had nothing much to live for and was prepared to risk it all...on a 26" wheeled bike! LEGEND.
It's a bit like heading into Mordor. Especially with Simon whose beard would put any dwarf to shame.
I can't really call Tim a bastard anymore after he took this rad pic of me.
Rocks, rocks and more rocks.
Bloody firefighters always showing us how fearless they are.
Tubeless version of a snake bite. Thankfully I'm a dab hand at tyre plugging. It kept going soft but damned if i was going to put a tube in. Turns out there was a third hole I hadn't seen. Flite rims still good as gold.
Tim's going to need a new rim soon.
Tim dropping in on Jeff. So many different lines to take with some good sized drops if you have the nerve and a beefy set of tyres.
Jeff cruising the lower slabs
Tim popping one of the smaller slab drops.
After a quick stop at the house for lunch and coffee we headed up to the first section of Whole Enchilada to ride some crazy fast flowing trails through stumming rock falls, creeks, Aspens and alpine meadows.
If you're American and you ride, then this is the truck you buy. Ford F150.
What a change of pace. Alpine meadow climbing. Just lovely.
We met a couple of locals at the top.
Tim and Jeff racing the high speed descent. there were many sharp rocks so we had to stay focused.
Stefan and Tim in the middle of serenity.
Jeff and Tim climbing through the Aspens.
Nearly at the end of the ride looking down on our mornings vista. What an incredible day.
The morning ride took us about 3 hours as did the afternoon ride. It was starting to drizzle as we left the mountain and tonight it is raining which means snow up top and we were possibly the last riders on the top trails for the season. I'm a little bit in love with Moab. Shame I can't handle the heat.
Tomorrow we rise early again and ride Slickrock and then maybe Captain ahab, Jacksons or something else. See ya.