Cyclists left the B&B, crossed the Colorado River bridge into a hellacious head wind, with dirt and grit hitting your face like tiny bullets.

Arriving at Arches park a few miles west on the highway, you were more sheltered from the wind, but the climb … OMG.

Leaving the highway (left-center above) you had to peddle skyward into the park. Growing old is NOT for WIMPS.

After a couple of miles, things began to level out a little. Here you got the payoff for the climb. I was not prepared for the magnificence of the scenery.

This is one of those things that you just cannot represent with a mere photograph. The size of these monoliths is staggering and the expanse of this particular view just took our breath away.

We continued a few more miles, until we came to a place where the grade started steeply downward … VERY steeply downward for as far as the eye could see. Realizing we would have to pull ourselves out of this if we went down it, we devised a plan. My wife and I would go back to get the car and our friends would continue on down the seemingly endless, steep hill.

I don’t remember quite how long it took us to climb up to this turn-around point, but it was at least a couple of hours. It took my wife and I only 27 minutes (I timed it) to get back. We had to hang on to the breaks to keep from becoming airborne.

We loaded our bikes onto the car and headed back up to meet our friends at a designated rendezvous point, thus saving them the climb back out of the deep valley into which they had decended after our retreat.

We met at the trailhead for “Delicate Arch,” the icon arch that appears in all the Utah travel books. The arch doesn’t look all that big above, does it?

Wrong! Here’s a little better perspective, with my friend at the base of the arch.

Rock — Mountains — Snow … from our vantage point at Delicate Arch

See Day 1 of our Trip: Road Biking around Moab, Utah

In early April, 2007, 60 some-odd members of our bicycle club from Tucson, Arizona loaded up and headed for Moab. We stayed in the Gazebo Inn, a comfortable bed and breakfast located conveniently in downtown Moab.

Day 1 was the easiest ride. We rode south along the Colorado River. Total trip length was about 50 miles.

I was expecting lots of good scenery, but I wasn’t really prepared for how beautiful it actually was.

Right along the side of the road up high on the wall are petroglyphs dating back to the time of the Hohokam around 700-1450 A.D. They were known to have ball courts. It looks like this might have been a depiction of a ball game.

What are these? Snakes, maybe? Click image for larger view…

The Hohokam peoples occupied a wide area of south-central Arizona from roughly Flagstaff south to the Mexican border. They are thought to have originally migrated north out of Mexico around 300 BC to become the most skillful irrigation farmers the Southwest ever knew.

At the turn-around point, we met up with our club support wagon … LUNCH!

On our return trip we were hit by what was to be the trademark of this entire trip … WIND! And of course, it was always a headwind.

A paceline helped us plow through the wind.

See Day 2 of our Trip: Road Biking in Arches National Park

Mountain Biking has the Slickrock Bike Trail in Moab, Utah.

The Slickrock Bike Trail is a 9.6 mile trail which most experts consider to be “the ultimate mountain biking experience.” Theres plenty of “easy and scenic” bike trails as well, but for the ultimate ride, Slickrock is it.

Moab is located in eastern Utah, about 230 miles east of Salt Lake City, or 350 miles west of Denver, Colorado. The origin of the name of Moab for this once small town (incorporated in 1902) are unclear, but now the name is iconic for great mountain biking.

Moab isnt a big city – only about 5,000 people live there, but they get plenty of tourist traffic – so much so that youll find over thirty hotels and motels, ten bed and breakfasts, two resorts, 26 guest houses, and fifteen privately owned campgrounds. There are also over a dozen public campgrounds in the national parks nearby.

Tourists dont just come for the mountain biking, of course. Theres off-road jeep trails, hiking, camping, and motorcycling…theres even the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Trail, on which you can walk and see traces of dinosaur bones of a variety of species.

The first thing any visitor to Moab should do is visit their Visitors Center, which will have brochures for every activity under the sun, trail maps and more. If youre new to Moab you do not want to go anywhere without a selection of trailmaps, and you should never go anywhere without letting someone know where youre going and when you plan to be back. Better still, always hike or bike with a buddy who can help you out in case of trouble.

If youre a beginner, there are plenty of tour operators – mountain biking, white river rafting, skydiving – who can take you to the right places and ensure you have a good time.

As you ride along on your bike you may see others littering or misbehaving, and wonder why you are supposed to have the “least possible impact” on their environment…but thats just the way things are. Be responsible for your own personal “footprint”, even if you cant control what other people do.

Moab biking trails consist of whats called “Slick Rock.” Ill get to that in a little bit. For now, heres the list of good practices.

1) Ride only on open roads and trails 2) Learn to recognize and preserve cryptobiotic soil crusts. Okay – thats going to be tough. Wait until you get to Moab and then have someone point them out to you. 3) Avoid skidding your tires 4) When its wet, avoid clay- like surfaces. Stay on the rocky, slickrock or sandy areas 5) Dont ride along the sides of streams 6) Dont pollute the water resources

Mountain Bike Trails 1) Over 100,000 people a year ride on the Slick Rock Trail – so named because its a trail of “naked” sandstone – stone that can hold onto your bikes tires at “gravity defying angles.” The trail is rated a “Class 4″ – 4 being the hardest class.

The trail is twelve miles long, and if you werent concentrating on the ground in front of you youd see that it crosses an elevated platform of sandstone surrounded by cliffs – cut by the Colorado River over millions of years. Youll be able to view canyons, see Arches National Park across the river, and the La Sal Mountains on the eastern skyline.

The trail is a 12-mile long loop (if you dont take any side trips) and will take at least four hours. Make sure you bring a lot of extra water with you. You can bike on the trail from mid-February through November, but of course is most popular through spring and fall.

The trail is in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, and there is a small fee enter. The fee pays for the maintenance of the entire area.

2) The Porcupine Rim Trail, also located in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, is also rated a Category 4. This is a one way trail and takes about half-a-day to ride.

However, if your family is full of both skilled mountain bikers and beginners, dont despair. Theres plenty of other easy mountain biking trails in this beautiful area.- such as the Bar M Loop.