The drive from Salt Lake City to Moab is increble scenery and wildlife - we must have seen thousands of deer (and some Llama's too) Kent had planned a nice training day for us on Thursday, and I had rented a bike from a local bike shop (rentals are from about $30-$75 per day in Moab and there are plenty of places to rent) for our ride. Our plan was to ride from town up to the entrance of the Porcupine Rim trail and then take the rim loop back to Moab. We expected a 5-6 hour ride at a moderate pace with plenty of time to catch the scenery. Of course from Moab – it is pretty much up to get to Porcupine Rim. Julie and I both being flatlanders and used to sea level oxygen had a tough going keeping up with Kent and Dom who hammered out the uphill road miles to Porcupine Rim trail, though that is where the real fun starts. The first part of this trail is essentially uphill with some short downhills. It was not terribly treacherous, though we did have to contend with snow covering the trails on the northern non-exposed trail sections, but when we reached the top we were rewarded with incredible views from Porcupine Rim. It overlooks an incredible valley where the Priest and Nuns (famous from PQ Utah were clearly visible). This is also were we started some incredible downhill riding. The double track trail was rocky with lots of 1-2 foot drops that you would take at very high speed (as you were going downhill). This was an absolute blast; accurately described as better than sex by the local tour guide. After hoofing it up nearly 3000 feet it was a long adrenaline filled downhill rush. To make it more fun I had one endo (though it was benign as I luckily landed in sand). We reached an infamous single track section that I decided to walk, not because of how technical it was, but because the penalty for a mistake was a 100-200 foot drop off the right side of the cliff. As we moved further from the edge, I was bolder and truly enjoyed the ride.
Entrance to the Porcupine Rim Trail and some incredible Class 4 Moutain Biking. To really see this take a look at http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/porcup.htm
Porcupine Rim offers some of the most incredible views as long as you don't mind incredible drop-offs that give you that queasy feeling.
I turned in my bike (after 6 hours of riding), we hit a quick dinner and after a short debate we decided to explore Negro Bill Canyon (on a well established trail) and some of the side canyons. The plan was to stay in the canyons until well after dark. The far end of Negro Bill Canyon is well worth it as you are rewarded by a small beautiful aquifer filled pool with a stunning arch overhead. As it got dark we decided to give the other side canyons a look. Most of them had well established trails, that we had a hard time following in the dark, though we only canyoned out once. It was a great adventure climbing over some challenging rocks in the canyons until we reached the end – viewing from below some spots we would get to see from above the next day when we biked Slick Rock.
The camp officially started on Friday, so we registered and got ready for the mountain biking day – which would entail a trip to Slick Rock with some expert mountain bikers. For those people who like tough single track I have only one thing here to say – don’t die before riding Slick Rock Trail. Slick rock is really a misnomer – the rock has more the consistency of sand paper, it grips the tires of your bikes making it possible to do incredibly steep up and downhill rides on your bike. I walked most of the steeper uphills, usually passing folks who decided to chug it up on the bike, though Dom and Kent rode nearly every uphill. You simply had to lean forward and push as hard as you could to make it up. Each time I would do this I would end up looking like a fish that was gasping for air at the top as my lung burned from the new elevation. The downhills though were a different story. At first I tentatively explored the limits of my rental bike (A Santa Cruz Superlite – I WANT ONE). As I gained confidence in the traction and abilities of my bike and suspension I took the downhills more and more aggressively. These downhill sections on rocks at typically 30-40% slope were absolutely incredible. The bike hugged the rock tightly and the suspension on my bike made what could have been a major jolting into fun, screaming downhill wild-ass rides. I was having a great time. Our small group stopped for lunch about half-way on slick rock, there were some awesome riders in the group, they were all heading to PQ as this was the certification for them too.
Julie took one nasty spill on a section of heavily sloped rock, and Dom went down hard on an uphill and actually broke his bike frame. Another group member broke their ankle, though I missed that one. Dome decided he would run his bike back the 6 miles to the trailhead (which you could see). The rest of the team walked the uphills with him, but as soon as he got far enough ahead we would go after the downhill sections. Elbows low to the ground and butts hanging far over the back of the seat – we were having a great time and all too soon it was over. I got a newfound respect for downhill as I saw riders taking lines that would have been well beyond my abilities, with plenty of jumps, air, and speed – but I was happy with the ride and had a fantastic time. Do Slick Rock!
Words cannot do justice to the ride at slick rock, even the pictures are simply not enough, for more on this trail check out http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/trails/slickrck.htm
The rest of the day was filled with a classroom session on first aid and our swimming certification (what was supposed to be a mile swim). It was pretty uneventful, though the cold (50ish degrees) air made a lot of folks apprehensive about hitting the swimming pool. The water was warm and I enjoyed the swim enough I stayed in a little extra before joining the team in the hot tub to warm up. We were starting to get a nice team dynamic. Dom and Kent are both incredible bikers – especially on single track and uphill terrain and also would make great team-mates. We were nice and tired by the time we finished dinner and the classroom sessions and we had a nice full day of whitewater kayaking for Saturday.
A frontal system had moved through Maob cooling things down considerably – so our biggest worry on the whitewater would be cold. The kayaking would be in rubber tandems on the Colorado River just past the site of PQ 2006. With Kent and I in one boat and Julie and Dom in the other we hit the water with about 6 other (4 person) teams. WE did have the obligatory what to do in whitewater and safety speech where we stood around and shivered, but once we hit the water we warmed up quickly (we were wearing wetsuits). Julie took an unintentional swim as they crossed into an eddy through a particularly strong eddy line, but even then she said she was not that cold. The 43 degree water was actually refreshing. Kent and I had a great time in the whitewater looking for the most aggressive lines through each rapid and being disappointed when we would eddy out and see a tougher line we missed. None of the rapids were too challenging, topping out at an easy class 3 and you could see all the boats were having a good time. The sun was out and strong by the time we finished and we enjoyed a nice lunch in the sun as we dried out and got ready for the bus trip back. We would finish up the day with classroom sessions in navigation and general adventure racing topics from the Team Solomon/Crested Butte. As it turns out the instructors from Boulder Performance Network and Team SCB were excellent – though I had different techniques of doing some of the navigation. They had excellent racing tips and gear recommendations – and I am also sure all the PQ teams there appreciated the insight they were able to give into the dynamics of such a long race. Tired once again we slept well and got our gear ready for Sunday and our final certification – climbing.
All of our team-mates had plenty of climbing, ascending, and rapelling experience – but we also don’t get that much easy access to experienced climbing instructors and we were all eager to get as many tips to perfect our technique. The PQ requires a specific type of single rope prussic on the rappel’s – so I learned a new technique (that was a pretty good one). This turned out to be important as both Dom and I have Figure 8 devices that simply do not provide enough stopping power without aggressive braking. My figure 8 will actually let me slip through at full speed without a strong braking hand, which is why I use an ATC – which at the time was not allowed by the PQ staff, though I believe it has been added.
Dom demonstrates his awesome ascending. The entire team did great on the ropes and enjoyed both ascents and rappels.
Ascending is a completely different animal. I had never done froggy style ascent, typically preferring a Croll and single hand ascender technique. I was determined to learn all the techniques and had ample opportunity to try multiple techniques on multiple types of rock faces – from free hanging to sloped hard rock. We also got to do a really cool zip line on a double pulley system, one of my favorites for sheer fun. The day was quite cold and as we were doing our last lesson; self rescues on a knotted rope, it started to snow. It was almost surreal ascending back up the rock after the lesson in the snow. We climbed into the van and headed back. It was hard to believe it was all over. A few racers were hanging out talking with team SCB and the folks from Gravity Play. They had coordinated a wonderful and enjoyable camp experience. Our team had completed the obligatory certifications for Primal Quest, but more important had gelled as a team. I don’t know what will face us at PQ – but I do know we will have an awesome team facing it together!
Team Blue (Left to Right, Kent, Dom, Julie, and Ron)
For more on Team Blue check out our Primal Quest Blog at http://pqteamblue.blogspot.com/
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