Utah MTB riding for beginners

I used to wonder why anyone would ride a bike with shock absorbers while wearing shin guards, full-fingered gloves and elbow armor. No more.

Five years after quitting mountain bikes (as off-season fun), I climbed atop a loaner MTB rig in southern Utah with six guys at a place that reminds the locals a bit of Moab. It’s where insider terminology such as “slick rock” confuses the uninitiated roadie’s mind, tests the eyes and tries the soul. “Mountain biking” in Southern California (San Diego proper) that I had done in years past was confined mainly to dirt, loose rocks, and a few shrubs here and there. It’s where you could hammer on fire roads and cover a lot of ground. You know, go places. Eat dust. Party on. It did not remotely even prepare me for Utah. After spending 4 hours along a 10-mile loop behind very skilled riders in Gooseberry Mesa, west of Zion National Park, I have a new definition of mountain biking: Difficult. As difficult as you want to make it.

Gooseberry Mesa offers world-class views, vertigo opportunities and flu-like nausea if you edge close to sheer drops that would lead to death. It’s a drive before you can start pedaling (or walking) on the “trail.” And this word trail is an operative term for newbies that conjures up orderliness, controlled boundaries and accessible beauty. Well, the the trail here not one in a traditional sense. Instead, it’s a series of white dots you must navigate over hill and dale of all manner of petrified sand and rock formations, crevices and endless chunks of earth waiting to trip you up. If you’ve never tried to tell yourself everything will be OK, despite what appears to be impossible, here is the place to do it. Over and over and over. Until you’re exhausted, satiated or unconscious with MTB delirium.

What I enjoyed most about the 10-mile MTB “ride”? Trying something foreign, terrifying and fun (brief moments in a sick sort of way). I would never ride a bike over a car, but that is what it felt like many moments while riding a MTB along the trail atop Gooseberry Mesa. Slick rock? It’s actually “sticky rock” that your MTB tires grip with ease, allowing un-roadie-like maneuvers. Bring your imagination, anaerobic capacity and an deep abiding faith in your balance. And don’t forget your camera. I’m off for a more predictable spin on my road bike on this Sunday. MTB? Maybe deeper into winter when temperatures here plummet below 70.

The MTB loaner. Yes, that's a highway below where roadies ride. Cars look like small bugs.

Down in in that crevice is part of the "trail"

Looking toward Zion National Park

Look north for nausea. The floor below is straight down

Confused roadie wonders what happened.

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Tagged as: cycling, cycling training, gooseberry mesa, mtb, utah