I’d been to Zion National Park several times for various reasons, never for any reason that gave me cause to bring a bike along. But every time I was there, I’d heard whispers of a place a bit farther West, a slab of mountain bike history buried out in the desert. I never had the … More Gooseberry Mesa’s Nuanced Trove of Slickrock and Singletrack
Everybody knows that Utah is the wild west of mountain biking. Rugged, untamed trails cut through the landscape of sandy, rocky wilderness, moving freely over an open landscape. Ridgelines flow in a thousand directions from every hill and mesa, slickrock oceans become moonscapes to traverse at will, and ledgy staircases of sandstone create natural descent … More Dixie National Forest’s Red Canyon and Thunder Mountain
Rolling down 191 toward the Colorado River, Samantha and I pondered where we would point the van after our week of riding with friends in Moab. We had to be back in Bellingham mid June for an obligation, but we had more than a month to find our way there. As we brainstormed spots in … More Durango, Colorado – Land of Plenty (of Food and Bikes)
We slowed down and turned the van off of the main road onto the gravel. The road is easy to miss from the highway, a dirt road hidden behind a guardrail on a 60mph curve. But we’d been here before – Phil’s World is an unexpected trail system in an unexpected town. Below the looming … More Phil’s World and Mountain Biking in Cortez, CO
I woke up with my alarm, slid out of bed to the cold wood floor three and a half feet below, and fumbled for the door latch. We’d parked the van so that the side doors would face the sunrise, and as I opened the double doors I was greeted by the halo of predawn … More Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah – Part II, Amasa Back and Mag 7
It seemed strange to launch our roadtrip in the PNW and make a beeline for a location 1300mi away, but the desert held some draw for us after a dark and stormy PNW winter. For weeks, images had been rolling through our minds of red stone towers and cascading mesas fading into the distance, vibrant … More Mountain Biking in Moab, Utah – Part I, Slickrock and The Whole Enchilada
The Fat Tire Van 