Peectures from Utah (Virgin area & Moab)

**Greydon Clark** · 10-18-2006, 12:12 PM

Rad. Looks like fun.

CS · 10-18-2006, 12:22 PM

Now that's what I'm talking about. Sweet redemption. Hell yeah!!

**Squirrel99** · 10-18-2006, 06:33 PM

Len-
Great stuff! Arty, way to charge & redeem yourself. Those oh shit carnage pics...look painful.

like this one -

it just screams "uh oh!"

**bagtagley** · 10-18-2006, 07:57 PM

Fuck yeah! Wish I could have joined you guys, looks like a blast.

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 02:37 AM

When Shoe got his Bullet, we all told him with a big bike comes big expectations. He’s been riding like a champ on that thing, but we knew we had to get him out to Utah to help him fulfill this lofty goal.

Naturally, he was a bit skeptical at first. So lph and I had to show him the way.

At one point I spotted this perfect little air. Big run in and wide open landing. “Dude, you gotta hit this.”

You should have seen the smile on the Ty’s face. There’s nothing like the realization that your bike can take this and so much more.

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 02:39 AM

So after a great ride and rad dinner, we drifted off to sleep…just before it began to rain outside. We awoke to a wet day 2, but thankfully the sun came out and dried things up enough for us to hit up Hurricane ridge. The site of my carnage and this nice little ravine where lph got to play around.

After a climb to a beautiful vista we made our way back down. There were a couple of airs on the way…

…but it was mostly this horrid buff singletrack…

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 02:41 AM

So with another ride under our belts we went to bed dreaming of another adventure. We awoke in the morning to have the locals point us towards another flat ride.

"The pond would be good for you."

lph in on the action

Shoe again

At this point I was sick of taking picture of these guys and just wanted some scenic shots.

Hey, get out of the shot! Oh no, we’ve created a monster.

Exorcising the previous day’s demons

Mr. Smooove gets in on the fun

I really can’t say enough about Little creek. You’d ride along some really nice singletrack and then come to these awesome slickrock playgrounds every so often. It’s not a big surprise though once you learn that the ride was created by a couple of brothers who went out riding big bikes one day. Also, it’s terrible because it’s tempting to spend a lot of time checking out each playgorund. But eventually you realize the day is getting long and you need to get moving. Also there’s some great rim riding thrown in too.

Ty tossing out the jinx as repayment for lph’s heckling

A nice place to sit and have lunch

The other cool thing about Little Creek is the varying landscape. One playground is reddish slickrock, another is varying levels of color, and some look like the moon…

And of course you have Zion in the background

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 02:43 AM

Well, 3 days down and one to go. Wherever should we ride? Trails X & Y you say? Lph and I would take the first run down.

“Air it you pussy!”

lph getting rad in a techy section

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!”

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 02:45 AM

The really scary thing is that we just touched the surface down there. There is a lot more riding to be done in the area, and it’s really in a nascent state. We never saw more than a couple of people at the trailheads and with the exception of Gooseberry never saw another rider on the trails.

At this point I really need to give a shout out to Freddy, the owner of Zion Cycles in Springdale. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better human being. He took awesome care of us. From giving us excellent beta to fixing all the little things we managed to break along the way. He’s one of the best techs you can hand your bike over to. His employee Bill is an awesome guy too. Our trip wouldn’t have been the same without them.

So with the rest of the crew on the way to Moab, we headed in the same direction to catch one of the longest, sweetest downhills in the world.

WSD and lph take off down Hazard County

Our run down Hazard/Kokapelli/LPS/Porcy was the fastest of my life since we were racing darkness. As a result, it was probably the greatest ride of my life too. Lph and I teamed up and let loose. Flying down the trail and airing off everything we could find at mach speed. We were in a zone and it was unreal. No time for my camera. The same can be said of the next day, when the AGs had us chase them down Amasa. Luckily, lph got some shots of that day…

**tomimcmillar** · 10-19-2006, 06:07 AM

very nice work.

**lph** · 10-19-2006, 09:39 AM

What the.....

Didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?

Sure, I may have had a couple 'senior moments' while driving, but didn't I get you a senior discount at A & W?

**Arty50** · 10-19-2006, 09:44 AM

[cereal all over keyboard] BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

**intheways** · 10-19-2006, 09:51 AM

Sweet shots and drops! The venerable Bullit has pushed me to levels I didn't think were possible in one summer. Keep giv'n'er

**BushwackerinPA** · 10-19-2006, 10:08 AM

Arty nice job on the pics, so who actually bike during the winter in utah? seeing stuff like this I love to ski, but this looks awesome.

**lph** · 10-19-2006, 10:21 AM

no shit, huh?

This is MORE fun than the pics look. You can only stop to take pics so often, sometimes you are just bombing beautiful technical or fast singletrack and NO pics are taken.

unfortunately, we got a couple pics from moab, but our first ride there required a quick descent due to the setting sun. Day 2 required a quick descent due to trying to keep up with Mr. AG and day three was the mudfest, a day I spent on the couch and not sure if the peeps riding got any good pics.

**Squirrel99** · 10-19-2006, 10:33 AM

arty- hay mucho dope picturas!

awesome tr! i'm a sucker though for the singletrack

**Telenater** · 10-19-2006, 10:35 AM

One of the best expressions of the vibe around this community ever seen.

Next summer, may I join you? I promise I'll have a real bike by then.

**lph** · 10-19-2006, 10:39 AM

Wish we had a "OH SHIIIT" sequence from this fall. Second time I rode this I didn't quite clean it as nicely as the first time. Fell off to the left, bouncing off rocks on the way. It hurt.

**flowtron** · 10-19-2006, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoelaces

Lph -- It's called "Grafton Mesa Trail", not "Grand View". That trail kicked my ass royally and made me realize how much I suck on a bike. I need to get back there someday.

I was confused there for a second..."theres another techy mesa trail that drops you at an old cemetary in Virgin?"
That trail kicks ass.
Next time...you must ride the monkey.

**Particle** · 10-19-2006, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by BushwackerinPA

Arty nice job on the pics, so who actually bike during the winter in utah? seeing stuff like this I love to ski, but this looks awesome.

That's one of those things anyone here will tell you - it sounds like a great idea this time of year. "Hey let's go down to Zion/Virgin area and ride in like, December this year! Yeah, we're gonna do it this year!" Then it snows. And snows. And you just can't tear yourself away. And that's OK, cuz you're skiing 3 feet of blower pow at the Bird.

**lph** · 10-19-2006, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by flowtron

I was confused there for a second..."theres another techy mesa trail that drops you at an old cemetary in Virgin?"
That trail kicks ass.
Next time...you must ride the monkey.

my bad.

we really wanted to ride the monkey, however, we were advised against it. apparently the trail needed alot of love after the rain and erosion leading to a rutted trail that locals were avoiding.

**Hicks** · 10-19-2006, 11:06 AM

Great outing!

**flowtron** · 10-19-2006, 11:35 AM

Flying Monkey makes the gnarliest parts of Grafton look pretty mellow. It must be scary as hell now.

**Particle** · 10-19-2006, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by flowtron

Flying Monkey makes the gnarliest parts of Grafton look pretty mellow. It must be scary as hell now.

Monkey is one of those things I'm glad I can say I've done, but I'm not sure I'd do it again. The trail is difficult, but rideable for the most part - it's the exposure that really got to me. I was completely mentally exhausted about 1/2 way down.