White Rim Trail

The White Rim trail is a jeep road in Canyonlands, that other National Park in Moab, UT.  About 90 miles of dirt with a bit of paved highway forms a 103 mile loop. There are no services along the route other than pit toilets at the spartan campgrounds every 10 to 15 miles or so. The campgrounds are by reservation only and due to popularity of the route you usually have to reserve them a year in advance. Because of the length and difficulty of the road and vast amount of scenery to soak in, most people will take three days to travel it. These are the smart, reasonable people. You don't need a permit to use the road, only to camp along it. So if you can knock it out in one day... 

I first heard about the White Rim trail about six or seven years ago while on a multi day rafting trip through Canyonlands. Some people in our tour group had been on the three day biking version of the White Rim and were going on and on about how scenic it was. I like scenic and I like biking so my ears perked up. At the time I considered 20 miles of mountain biking in a single day to be a huge feat. The idea of 100 miles of three days sounded intimidating, but still kind of interesting. A few years later as I got more into mountain biking I heard about the idea of people riding the White Rim in one day, it made the logistics much simpler. I'd done some longer more difficult rides and wasn't as intimidated by the sound of it anymore so it was put on my list of rides to do! A few trips have been planned in the past three years, but fell through at the last minute because of weather or illness. But this last Saturday everything aligned and I got my chance at riding the White Rim...in one day.

I drove down to Moab with two friends Friday afternoon and met up with most of the rest of our group for dinner. There would be ten riders in all with two support vehicles. Some stayed in town, others of us camped near the start of the trail. It was a beautiful night with clear skies and bright stars so I laid out my sleeping pad and bag and settled in for some star gazing. Between the earlier than normal bedtime and nervousness about the next day there wasn't much sleep. I made good use of the time though, did I mention it was a great night for star gazing?

Morning arrived soon enough and I was a bit nervous. A handful of times each month I wake up feeling like I've been run over by a truck and this was one of those mornings. I kept reminding myself while getting ready that the biking would help the pain and soreness fade, it's one of my best pain relievers after all. The nervousness was amplified a bit by my bike choice for the ride, my Fatback snow bike. I understood the trail to be mostly rolling jeep road with three climbs and several sandy sections. I don't know, the Fatback just seemed like a fun choice until the morning of.

The group met up at the designated start point and we set up off the paved road section of the loop. The morning was warm, no need for arm warmers or the like. That's normally a good thing, unless you're planning an all day ride in the desert. It was going to get a bit hot.

Soon we hit dirt and dropped down the Shafer switchbacks. We were full of excitement and heading mostly downhill. Add in some amazing scenery and life was pretty great! The first 50 or so miles went by like that for me, great riding and fantastic views. We planned to regroup and eat lunch at the top of the first big climb, Murphy's Hogback. I was starting to get hungry before then though. On long rides its really important to keep enough food and water in your system otherwise your energy level will drop and your ride could be over. The general consensus is if you're feeling hungry or thirsty you've already gotten behind and its too late to make up the difference. The afternoon was going to be hot and I was going to run out of energy, how hot and how soon were the lingering questions.

Around mile 52 I made it to the top of the Murphy's climb and enjoyed some food and cold water under what little patch of shade I could find. I was having a great time and not too worried about what lay ahead. Had I been more worried maybe I wouldn't have forgotten to reload on my margarita flavored Shot Bloks. Another component of a long ride, or hot weather ride, is keeping salt in your system. This can be done with a variety of sport drinks or salt supplements. For this trip I'd decided to go the supplement route and then proceeded to forget to resupply for the hottest part of the day.

The miles continued on. The day was getting hotter, I was getting more tired, but the scenery was still breathtaking and a great distraction from everything else. Eventually the second big climb was upon me, Hardscrabble. Steep and loose, it was questionable if I'd be able to ride up it at all even with fresh legs yet alone almost 74 miles into the ride. I walked. And walked. As I ascended the steep hill my energy quickly dropped. The fun was over and I was entering survival mode. The road became more and more sandy which the Fatback does pretty well in, but you still have to have the energy to pedal. I was peddling slow and kicking myself for underestimating how much I should have been eating earlier in the ride and for forgetting to restock on my sodium Shot Bloks at lunch. I knew I wasn't in a good position and would need help. I debated just stopping under the first scrap of shade I could find and waiting for the support truck to catch up. It felt like giving up though and I was too proud to do that. I decided to maintain forward motion no matter how slow and just hope the support truck arrived sooner than later! A group of guys in a Jeep passed me. Stopped. Reversed. Told me I didn't look so good and asked if I wanted a bottle of Gatorade. YES!!! I stopped in some shade and sat to drink my sweet gift of electrolyte goodness. I moved my legs into a cross position and they instantly seized in a cramp. I drank half the Gatorade and continued on still feeling weak and now with my left quad and right calve muscles cramping up.

I kept moving forward and looking behind in hope of the support truck moving into view. Eventually I saw a cloud of dust approaching, could it be?! Nope. It was a truck, but not from our group. Just then I noticed there was another truck behind it...my support truck! I had gone 85 miles and I was calling it done. I stuck out my thumb and gratefully accepted a ride and anything salty I could get my hands on! We drove up the Horsethief switchbacks and waited at the top for the last guy in our group to pedal up. I was feeling a bit better and no longer happy with the idea of just ridding in the truck. The last stretch was supposed to be a hard clay dirt road with only a gradual elevation gain...

I found myself stepping out of the truck, putting my helmet back on, and unloading my bike. I started up the dirt road with a new surge of energy. Yup, that lasted about 3 miles then the fatigue started back in. I caught up to another guy in the group and rode with him for a couple miles before the leg cramps started again. I couldn't keep up with his pace anymore and fell back to riding alone. The support truck passed again and asked if I wanted to get in. I thought it was only a couple more miles so I told them no. The leg cramps got worse so I got off and started walking, my legs weren't cramping up while walking. Rise after rise the road kept going. Eventually the support truck came back because they realized I had farther to go than I thought. I gratefully accepted a ride...again. I logged a total of 95 miles over some 13 hours. I finally got my chance to ride the White Rim trail and it kicked my butt! That three day option sounds really nice...