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Give The Spider A Beer!
Poison Spider Bicycles, Niner Bikes And Dirt Rag Magazine Throw Outerbike Party
Outerbike is back in Moab October 5-9, 2011.If you’re returning because Outerbike was such a great event last year, or heard about the fun and want to join in this year, Poison Spider Bicycles welcomes you!
All of our major bike lines will be represented for demo: Niner, Yeti, Kona, Rocky Mountain, Pivot. The bikes are all 2012 models, just introduced to dealers at summer dealer camps and Interbike, and you get to ride them now.
Poison Spider Bicycles is hosting a parking lot party and schwag-fest on Saturday evening before the official Outerbike gig. Niner Bikes and Dirt Rag Mag are bringing Miguel’s Famous Tacos and Salt Lake City’s Epic Brewing beers to Outerbike invitees. To become one, stop by the Niner booth at Outerbike or show your Outerbike wristband at Poison Spider Bicycles. Ride demo bikes all Saturday, then bring your invitation and your appetite to Poison Spider Bicycles in Moab, where Billy, Karla and Maurice will be doling out ridiculous amounts of schwag from 6 to 8pm. We’re walking distance to the next party, so no worries if you quaff a couple Epics.
Outerbike is about the bike, but it’s also about the riding. The Moab Brands trail system at the Outerbike venue is bigger and better this year with the additional challenging Deadman’s Ridge and Longbranch singletracks, and Rusty Spur Trail for the mellow ride. If you’re coming to demo the max number of bikes, you can choose a ride right from the booth, connecting everything on the superfun Lazy EZ Loop. Friday’s shuttle drops you off high above the Outerbike venue on another of Moab’s amazing new mountain bike trails called Magnificent 7. You descend on singletrack, slickrock and jeep road right back to Outerbike. With an early start, you could throw a couple laps. Saturday and Sunday shuttles take you to the always cool Moab classics, Amasa Back and Slickrock Trail.
Come ride! Come party! See you there!
Moab Mountain Bike Trail Builders In Action
Moab’s singletrack trail builders must never sleep!
More new trails are open to mountain bikers in Moab, hot on the heels of the official opening of the Pipe Dream Trail in late June. Moab Trail Mix trail builders have been working hard, adding to the Moab Brands Trail System, which is the venue for the Outerbike event in October. The Rusty Spur Trail is open to all riders, but is designed specifically for beginners. It’s a wide, non-technical mile long singletrack looping from the paved bike path to the Bar M road, giving novice mountain bikers an easy introduction to trail riding. The views from Rusty Spur are spectacular. Also now open in the Moab Brands area is the Long Branch Trail, which provides an additional challenging option for more skilled riders. It connects the Bar B Trail to the Deadman’s Ridge Trail, snaking through the steep boulder studded terrain pictured here. With so many loop options and combinations, for most skill levels, this area is becoming a Moab favorite riding destination. Come in to Poison Spider Bicycles for directions and suggestions.
Moab Trail Mix is also working on lots of new singletrack in the BLM’s Klondike Bluffs Mountain Bike Focus Area north of Moab. The first of these trails to open is the EKG Trail. Ninety percent slickrock, it’s called EKG because that’s what it looks like on a map, and because your heart will be pegged while riding its many ups and downs. It gives mountain bikers riding the Baby Steps Trail the option to return from the north end on singletrack rather than road. It’s challenges match the nature of the Baby Steps Trail, which is fun for fit and skilled cross country riders. Future plans by the Moab Trail Mix designers and builders, who never sleep, include more tough trails and lots of moderate mileage as well. So stay tuned and plan a week long trip to Moab, because there are more than a weekend’s worth of new mountain bike trails to ride!
Pipe Dream Comes True- Moab’s New Singletrack
Imagine riding your mountain bike around a blind singletrack corner high on the boulder-strewn bajada above Moab.
You might be nervous about what lies on the trail ahead, except for your experience on the last corner and the one before that. You have learned to trust the trail builder, so you make the turn with confidence, straighten out for a smooth drop down a rock ramp, then roll across a beautifully built stone bridge. Looking ahead, you see a banked switchback, leading to another, then the trail disappears between a boulder and a tree. No fear, just focus!
This is the Pipe Dream Trail in Moab. Long a dream of Moab locals to have an awesome mountain bike singletrack ridable from town, the years of planning and working through the land access issues have culminated in a year-long push to get it built. Moab Community Development Director and avid mountain biker, David Olsen hired a merry band of like-minded cyclists and other trail enthusiasts, who became stone masons under the guidance of Scott Escott. Together with volunteers from the community, including lots of Poison Spider Bicycles employees, these “cobblers” have turned their shared vision into an incredible trail in impossible terrain right in Moab. Boulder bridges cross dips and drainages. Rock causeways connect corners. Switchbacks climb to bench cuts which curve high above the Moab Valley.
The Pipe Dream Trail has become the favorite lunch ride for the Poison Spider Bicycles’ cross country riders. It’s not an easy trail! It was designed to reward technically skilled bikers with a great challenging ride, and some say it’s the best ever! With an elevation difference of only 500 feet between Moab and the south end of Pipe Dream Trail at Hidden Valley Trailhead, it may sound flat. However, the terrain is always changing, up to down, left to right, never straight, never flat. The climbs are steepest from either of the two Moab trailheads, Aspen Street or Jackson Street, but once some elevation is gained, the steepness mellows to easier grades for the rest of the trail. For a more “downhill” feel, riders can start at the Hidden Valley Trailhead and ride to Moab, either shuttling or riding paved and dirt roads back to the start. The singletrack is open both directions, so mountain bikers can choose any length and section for out-and-back rides. Plan on riding for an hour plus each way, end to end. Come in to Poison Spider Bicycles for directions and suggestions for your best choice.
The Pipe Dream Trail is a non-motorized multi-use singletrack. It has become a cool challenge for local runners and hikers who love this amazingly beautiful trail with its views of slickrock fins and the La Sal Mountains. All users share the responsibility to yield to each other as appropriate, due to the narrowness and technical nature of the trail. When a rider is “gettin’ it”, the runner steps aside. When the runner is flowing, the hiker steps aside. The biker who is hike-a-biking steps out of the way of others. Downhill cyclists yield to uphill traffic, but uphill traffic should always keep a heads up. This sharing attitude keeps it fun for everyone, and keeps it single!
The Pipe Dream Trail will be completed and signed by the June 17, 2011 Grand Opening Celebration and Ribbon Cutting, with cake and speeches and all manner of fun, sponsored by the City of Moab. After the party there will be group rides and hikes on this awesome new singletrack in Moab. Come join the celebration!