Upon waking, we were pleasantly surprised when we looked around. We were surrounded by hundred foot bluffs of nothing but red rocks. It was nothing short of amazing.
The first day of riding we rode the famous slickrock trail. I heard rumors about how if you had the legs, you could climb anything. It was true. We encountered many steep rocks to climb and I was able to power up all but one. That one was about 40 yards long and probably about a 30 degree angle, maybe more. I made it about 10 feet from the top when I actually lost a little traction and my front wheel popped up. I landed on my elbow and needed assistance getting up. The rock was too steep for myself to gather enough traction on my hard soled biking shoes to get any traction.
The rest of the day consisted of climbing lots of hills similar to the one previously mentioned. It was a tough day of only 12.5 miles. The weather ranged in the 80s and with the rock warming up kept us heated up.
The next day we got some information from a local bike shop, Chili Pepper Bike Shop. They told us a great ride was Sovereign. They were right. It had some moderate climbs and some extremely technical riding. It was the best ride I've ever been on at that point. It was tight, windy single track with lots of rock climbs and little ledges. It was an up and back route in which the back was definately worth the climb. Riding back to the truck was very fast and flowy. The trail fit so well with the natural elements the desert had to offer. We had a couple drops and ledges to ride off as well as some super fun roller coaster type rocks. I didn't take any pictures this day since I forgot my camera. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone who is willing to put in a little time climbing for an awesome downhill adventure.
The last day we went to Porcupine Rim. This trail had a shuttle that took us to the top. We started off with a small jeep trail climb that led us to the Rim. There was a couple hundred foot cliff that we rode along for the first couple miles. The view was absolutely amazing. Lots of stunning scenery with some death opportunities. Most of this first part winded through some trees to evenutally turn just short of the edge. We then met up with about 5 or 6 miles of double track that was very rocky and had lots of little 2-3 foot drops that flowed very well with the landscape. It was so fast that I was in my middle ring and the smallest in the rear and I couldn't peddle fast enough to gain more speed.
All this led to the greatest single track around. We finished off the ride with 5 or 6 more miles of winding single track with moderate drops and some opportunities to take a few jumps. We hit most of them and they flowed so well, it didn't even make me nervous or anything. The trail was a 12 out of 10. We rode along the Colorado River and it had so much fast, flowy technical riding that fit so well with the landscape, it would be hard to rate anything lower. I would definitely recommend this ride to anyone who wants an adrenaline rush with an addiction for beautiful scenery.
I can't wait to go back!
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