The Radavist

The high desert in the winter is unpredictable. It could be sunny one minute and stormin’ another. Because of this schizophrenia, we found ourselves seeking local reconnaissance before heading out on our next trail ride. The roads could be in horrible condition, or the trails under snow. After talking to a few locals, we were advised to swing by Over the Edge in Hurricane. The shop workers had been scouting all of the local trails to determine shredability. We had already planned on visiting the shop, so now we had another incentive to do so.

With Hurricane being a MTB destination for tourists like us, the last thing we wanted to do was piss off the locals by riding wet trails, or driving on roads with excessive mud. Luckily, we didn’t venture up to Gooseberry, as the guys at Over the Edge advised against driving on the road. Instead, they pointed us to neighboring Guacamole Mesa. While it’s not as famed as Gooseberry, Guac has a lot packed into this relatively small area.

Hurricane is not HURRUHCANE it’s HURRAH-KIN. Spend any amount of time in Utah and you’ll quickly learn that. After our exceptional romp in St. Geezy, we loaded up our Yotas with our bikes and drove an hour to Hurricane, home to arguably the best trails in Southwestern Utah. We had a few days to explore with not a lot on the agenda, other than Gooseberry Mesa and the IMBA Epic Rim Trail. IMBA Epics are just as they sound, epic rides categorized by IMBA. It’s not often you come across one of these treks, so when you do, you’d better do your best to ride it.

Where do they come up with trail names? Seriously, I want to be the guy that names new singletrack. On our last morning in St. George, we planned on meeting with Jon from Sabrosa around 1pm, giving us time to take on a few of the trails on the other side of the wash from Zen trail, namely what we found to be called the “three fingers of death.” Don’t worry, we survived. No one’s ghost-writing this. If they were, it’d probably be a bit better composed…

Anyway, we went out hoping to spend an hour or so on the trails and ended up racking up over three hours exploring the area. The Three Fingers are these mini alluvial fans that cascade down from the top of a fire road into the Green Valley. They are not deadly, but if you’re not comfortable doing a drop at the end of a downhill ridgeline, you could very well break yourself off. In the hour we spent doing laps, we saw a good number of people almost go full-on scorpion over the bars and into the red clay.

Utah’s public lands are home to some of the most amazing sections of singletrack, especially in the St. George and Santa Clara area. After we rode the Zen trail and refueled on a camp-cooked lunch, we loaded up Josh’s pickup and made the trek to the Santa Clara River Reserve. This area is home to a number of trails, all of which can be connected in a big, backcountry loop. Using the MTB Project App, we figured we had enough daylight left to take on Barrell Roll, Precipice, Sidewinder and part of Suicidal Tendencies, a black diamond trail in the Reserve. Linking all these trails together presents a 12-mile ride with around 2,000′ of climbing. The trails are clearly marked and are heavily-trafficked by knowledgeable locals.

Parking at the Cove Wash Trailhead, we pedaled out into the brisk winter air towards the sun that was already setting behind scattered cloud cover.

A few months back, the boys from Angry Catfish in Minneapolis invited Kyle from Golden Saddle Cyclery in Los Angeles to meet them in Utah for five days of riding mountain bikes in St. George – aka St. Geezy – and Hurricane – aka Herahkun. The only problem is, Kyle doesn’t have a car and he didn’t quite feel like pedaling all the way to Utah from Los Angeles on his singlespeed mountain bike. That’s where I came into the picture. I’ve got a car, with a bike rack and enough room to carry all our shit for a week. Now Kyle had a ride, I got to ride in Utah and everyone would get some sweet-ish photos out of the whole shindig.

We’re here in Southern Utah, soaking in all the red dirt we can and riding some of the area’s finest trails. While Kyle and I had a short drive to St. George, Parker and Josh from Minneapolis’ Angry Catfish had a staggering 24 hours of driving on icy, winter roads to reach our meet-up point. The boys finally showed up and Josh unpacked his Oddity Cycles 27.5+ hardtail.

Josh commissioned Sean from Oddity to build it up last year, where it was displayed at NAHBS and he’s had it on display at Angry Catfish ever since. He’s ridden it throughout Minneapolis’ trails but this is the first road trip this bike has seen and man, what a trip it’s been so far.

I love seeing show bikes being shredded, especially against such a wonderful backdrop.

As you might imagine, my life can sometimes reach a tipping point when it comes to cycling. When I’m not on the road for events, I’m at my home, which happens to be above a bike shop. This means most of my spare time, when it exists, is spent fully immersed in bicycles. Come the end of the year, I’m usually ready for a break. Unfortunately, the last bit of wick has yet to burn. September brings about Interbike and suddenly, the cycling industry awakens. Suddenly my days are filled with phone calls, planning advertising and talking about press launches. While the rest of the world slows down towards the holiday season, my life intensifies. This year, I had plans to attend Eurobike, but then my girlfriend mentioned that her friends had won the lottery to hike the Subway in Zion National Park, Utah. For many outdoorsy people, the Subway is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sure, you can always enter the lottery over and over again, but very few actually get to embark on this memorable hike. For instance, Cari’s friend had entered the lottery for four years before getting a permit.

CommUtah – 421 Miles of Dirt from Salt Lake City to Moab
Photos by John Shafer and James Adamson with words by Kurt Gensheimer.

Two weeks ago, James Adamson, Justin Schwartz and Kurt Gensheimer – known as The Commute Crew – completed a historic eight-day, 421-mile trek with 45,000 feet of climbing on dirt from Salt Lake City to Moab in an adventure called CommUtah. According to several local backcountry guides, nobody has ever attempted such an adventure consisting of 95 percent dirt, nearly half of it on single track.

The Desert Ramble
Photos and words by Erik Mathy

It all started some months back when Jason, aka Gnat, set off a discussion amongst a small group of us. The topic? A fatbike only bike-packing trip along the Kokopelli Trail to celebrate his birthday with Glenn, Eric, Lelan, Jim, Bobby, Brady, Cass, Tim and myself. The Kokopelli is a gorgeous, 142-mile, multi-use trail connecting two of the great meccas of mountain biking in the United States: Fruita, CO and Moab, UT. It features a ton of technical single track, rocks, places where we’d carry our bikes up embankments, and long stretches of desert. Once we got to Moab, we’d spend a day riding the Porcupine Rim Trail before doing one last incredible overnight camp on Kane Creek Road.

Get pitted, so pitted on the White Rim!
Photos by Kyle Kelley and Liz Browne, words by Kyle Kelley

Before I begin to tell you about my trip along the White Rim Trail, I’d like talk about the rising popularity of bike packing and other two-wheeled exploration. With the current events surrounding “The Death of The Oregon Outback” I feel the responsibility to say a little something about wilderness etiquette. It might seem like common sense, but we have an ever-growing responsibility to this earth and the wild places we’d like to keep wild. Be it car camping, back packing, or bike packing – please always clean up after yourself and even the visitors who came before you. Do not leave campsites as you found them, leave them cleaner! I’d also suggest taking the same approach on rides as well. Take care of your own trash, but go a step farther and pick up everything you see. And always stay on designated roads and trails. Fragile ecosystems don’t need you making things any harder.

When Golden Saddle Cyclery first opened one of our customers told me about a 100 mile bike ride in the Island In The Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. I had just been in the park a week before, but without a bike so I was especially interested in hearing about the ride. As a big fan of the area, and the desert in general, I returned for a handful of visits before finally bringing along a bike this past March. And let me tell you, it wasn’t until riding the White Rim Trail that I felt like I had really experienced this magnificent place.

Road tripping in Southern Utah
Words and photos by Ryan Wilson

Utah has always been on a list with Colorado, the Alps, Pyrenees, and few other places that I’ve wanted to go to, but knew I’d never have enough time to do and see everything I wanted to do there. It always made me hesitant to commit to a shorter trip. However, a few weeks ago I saw a small window of opportunity, and finally decided I’d rather see a fraction of it than none, so I took the 6 hour haul from Los Angeles to the southwestern corner of Utah to hit a few big climbs and national parks. The plan was to try to squeeze a couple rides and hikes in through Zion, Bryce, and some of the surrounding mountains in 4 days.