If you are a serious mountain biker, you know about Moab… This small village lost in the mountain of Utah is considered the mecca of mountain biking. Well known for it’s “slick rock” and it’s world-famous “Porcupine rim” trail.
2019 being a year of some dreams made true… Last Saturday, we started our pilgrimage, leaving Gatineau at 10h45 and arriving at 2h00 AM in Moab, after 2 flights and a long 4h drive.
Sunday morning, we woke up very excited to be here. We had a good breakfast, coffee and headed to the nearest bike shop, to meet and talk with the locals. We figure that local knowledge is much better than internet…
At the store and we ask for advice on where to start. We always say we are good intermediates looking for a challenge. We get a good suggestion: let’s start with a nice 15 km of intermediate trails in Navajo Rocks.
We do get a good ride as predicted but we want more challenges. We are here in Moab. We traveled 15 hours and we want to do the Porcupine Rim. So we go back to the store and ask : How about the Whole Enchilada shuttle?
The Whole Enchilada trail is a 54 km mountain bike classic journey that includes Porcupine Rim.
The answer we get: Are you sure? Really sure? It’s a very long ride for experts only… Just so you know, people are regularly rescued by helicopter from this trail. It’s dangerous!
Martin, my partner in crime, gives his credit card: sign us up! This is the part of Martin that I love, he never hesitates. Me, being the rational kind of risk averse or let’s say more careful person of our group of 2, I start asking questions: how long? How high? How far?
To be honest, this ride scares me. It’s the longest, highest, toughest most dangerous trail I have ever done… So I talk with the guy at the store and he gives me the most valuable advice: bring lots of water, 4 liters. I also buy a map of the trail.
So our happy-go-lucky team of two crazy forty-something middle-age men go back to rest and prepare for this journey.
We wake up early. We eat a large breakfast with 3 eggs, ham, potatoes, toast and lots of coffee. We pack our equipment for the day: bikes, helmet, protective gear, lots of water 4L as suggested, food, maps, phones, repair kit, etc. I even have an extra battery pack for my phone because we rely on the Trailfork app most of the time to make sure we don’t get lost. I do have a map and compass and I know how to use them but since there is an app for this, why not?
We take the bus. It brings us up the mountain. We do small talk with the guide and a team of German riders. As we go up, I understand that we will be dropped at 3500 m of altitude and we start with a 400m climb. “Shiit!!”, this is the highest I have ever been. We have not even started to pedal and I worry about altitude sickness. This disease is recognized to occur at over 2000m. I try to reason my inner rational mind: just shut up, hundreds if not thousands of people come here every year and you might be the only one to worry about altitude sickness… just relax.
So after convincing Martin to start very slowly, we make the first steps of this journey… It will turn out to be the longest, highest, most grueling and most epic mountain bike journey ever.
For over 7 hours, we bike through so many different landscape that I find it difficult to describe with words.
We first climb for at least an hour in a beautiful kind of alpine countryside filled with cows who are quietly eating grass. There are so many cows that even our trail is filled with cow dung. It’s unavoidable, we do ride through cow’s shit and Martin gets a dose on his shirt. We laugh it off and decide this will be a nice story to remember and tell our kids.
We start our downhill in a conifer forest with a very technical single track filled with big rocks and tree roots. It’s difficult to the point of not being so much fun, we are at the limit of our ability to stay safe. I would not say it’s survival, but it’s hard.
Suddenly, we notice it’s warmer, we might have gone down a 300m and we find ourselves in a birch forest. Here, the trails are easy and flowy. It’s a lot of fun and very beautiful. We are so happy to be here. We kind of forget about the pain of climbing 400m at 3500 m of altitude and the pain of the previous segment.
After about 2,5 hours of riding, we need a break so we stop in a sunny spot and we take half an hour to eat our peanut butter sandwich and talk about the meaning of our modern lives, the privilege we have to be here and many other things.
We go back on our ride, we have still many miles to go. Down and down we go. Through the alpine and subalpine zones. I understand the concept of altitudinal zonation, the natural layering of ecosystems that occurs at distinct elevations due to varying environmental conditions.
We eventually arrive at the entrance of Porcupine Rim. We are tired. We already rode about 4 hours. We drank half of our water and we still have 25 km to go. It’s now 35 degrees, arid and sunny. We are at the last drop out point on the map, a place where it’s OK to call it quits and be safe.
We calculate that we can make it down safely if we ration our water. I tell Martin: let’s drink 250 ml every 5K and keep the rest as a safety reserve so if something happens, we are not empty. We agree. We can do this. The Porcupine Rim is probably the most beautiful, scenic mountain bike I have ever seen. I understand why Moab became the mecca of mountain bike. Even the photos I will post won’t describe well enough how beautiful Utah landscape is. But I am also worried. This is also the most dangerous trail I have ever ridden. We are often a few feet from a 300’ cliff. Here, there is as much beauty as there are risks. Here, no mistakes are allowed. We go down carefully. We meet our German friends and we ride with them for an hour. The last hour of Porcupine is the most technically difficult, the most dangerous and we are tired. We rode for 6 hours. It’s been 2h that we have been rationing water. It’s still 35 degrees and sunny. I get cramps in my quadriceps. I know I am tired. I decide to play it safe and walk my bike. I told my son I would not take any chance and I would come back in one piece. This is much more important than anything else. Martin patiently waits for me. That’s what friends are for. We take a break to cool down in the shades. There is about 2 km to go. We made it. Just don’t make any mistake and all will be fine.
We finally arrive at the end of the trail! We made it! We survived the Whole Enchilada trail, Moab, Utah! We are so proud and so tired… There is still 5 km to ride before we are home, but it’s on a cycling path mostly downhill. We drink the rest of the water we have. We make it to Moab. We stop for a drink in a restaurant. We stop by the shop to say thanks and to tell them we made it. We savour a well-deserved ice cream and head home.
We burned out. We are tired. We are not even hungry. We crash on the couch for at least an hour.
The story does not end… with two middle-aged men burned out on their couch after a crazy long day on the Moab trails… We need to celebrate this. We shower and head out to an authentic Mexican restaurant and we order two plates of enchiladas and two margaritas.
Martin Pham Dinh 