After having a great time meeting and talking (bikes) with a bunch of Heather and Chris's friends at Heather's birthday party Friday night, we got up Saturday morning, loaded the bikes into the truck, and Heather, Chris, Cailan, Bobby, and I drove to Moab Cyclery in Moab where Quinn's new bike was awaiting us. Quinn had pretty much outgrown his little 20-inch wheel bike you've seen him on so often, and we've been watching for a replacement for the last year or so. This Santa Cruz Juliana, has 26" wheels and extra small 13.5-inch frame. The XS Juliana had been one of our preferred options for Quinn, but it took us a while to find the right one. Anyway, here it is, photographed back at Heather and Chris's house. With white paint and the same decal design, it looks very much like my Nickel, which is off to the right. The Juliana had a good first year of life in Moab, so it's a bit scuffed up, perhaps mostly from transport to and from the trail head, but it appears to be in excellent mechanical condition. And it sure looks nice here. Poor Quinn has a new bike and won't even get to touch it until he comes out to Colorado to visit me in a month. Even then, after the visit, he won't get to take it home! Maybe it will provide some incentive to make him want to move out here to Colorado with me.
While we were at Moab Cyclery buying the bike, we had a PBJ lunch at a table in front of the shop while we waited for friends Heidi and Marie who were joining us for the ride.
The Amasa Back trail climbs about 1000 ft mostly on sandstone in the middle of big meander of the Colorado River. It's supposed to be a jeep trail, but I'm betting that most of the year it seems more bicycles than jeeps. Of those bicycles, what portion are tandems?
Most of the trail is easy enough to ride. It is only moderately steep, climbing 1000 ft in about five miles, and much of the tread is smooth sandstone. Despite the name "slickrock," the sandstone is anything but slick. It's actually quite grippy. It feels somewhat like medium grit sandpaper and provides plenty of traction for pedaling up very steep inclines. Of course, that means you have to have strong enough legs and lungs to maintain power to the tires for those climbs.
The biggest challenge presented on the trail are the boulders and rock ledges. Some of them are just too big to climb, others are somewhere in between and present a fun challenge. Often the ledges and boulders come in rapid sequence making for some really tricky, technical riding. Going up those ledges was sort of like rock climbing; picking the best path with careful tire placement and balance, and then powering up at just the right moment. Going down required a different strategy; it was less like solving a puzzle than it was like flying - or even falling. Okay, on to the pics...
Heather and Chris pedaling hard on sandstone:
Heather and Chris climbing on sandstone:
Heidi and Marie grinding up a long flat on sandstone:
In some places the trail was too close to the edge. We survived, but I was not comfortable pedaling close to a cliff!.
Heather and Chris on sandstone, pulling off an especially impressive climb:
Heather and Chris at the top with my Nickel:
It was definitely one of the most scenic rides -- if not the most scenic ride -- I have ever done. If only the rest of scaq could have come along (although then those sheer cliffs really would have scared me). It was challenging, too, but we moved at a reasonably gentle pace so it was not difficult or particularly dangerous. Even with five people and four bikes in our group, in the end we all were somewhat surprised that there had not been a single crash on the entire ride.
Click here to see the Garmin log for the ride. You'll notice it took us two hours to get up and only one to come down.
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