I have been doing a lot of riding near logan. Its totally different out here. Just about any trail worth riding has a 2000ft climb. Its taken me half a season to adjust to the long continuous climbs. Almost all of the trails are multi use. So you have lots of variable conditions and loose pack.

Yesterday I did an epic 25 miler with 13 miles of climbing and a 9 mile single track down hill, I also got lost for 4 miles. I was going to say that I hadn't seen any really technical trails (by PA standards) but the one yesterday blew my mind. Most technical and scary downhill I have ever seen. 9 miles downhill. 7 of those amazingly fun buff fast and flowy single track. 2 Miles of steep gnarly loose pack rock gardens. Most with enough exposure to knock me out for at least a season, more'n likely permanently. The scariest section... A 2 ft drop on to 2 ft wide single track into a turn. Serious exposure to the right and in front. The landing, off camber lose pack and rocks in the landing into the turn. Oi!

I loved the ride and will do it again. I would have been all smiles yesterday, but I got injured 1 mile from the car when a bee stung me in the face and I crashed.

I have also been spending some time down in Park City Riding with Bushwacker. The trails there are much more heavily traveled and much more well maintained. Here are some photos from a few of my recent rides.

25 Mile Solo Epic

[url]http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113236&l=cd56a&id=5322394]Super Awesome Logan Canyon Single Track -- Solo[/url]

Madeline's First 10 mile Trail ride

Madeline's First Trail Ride--Green Canyon. Green Canyon is the best single track 15 minutes from my house. Its 5 miles and 1500' from the base to the top. And 3.5 of those miles can be ridden on single track. Not technical at all, but fast flowy and fun. Also a good work out.

Tim: Thanks for the wild west ride report. I've never ridden out west - hope to soon. How far are you from Mecca, er... Moab?? Fruita? Those are a couple places I'd love to ride before I'm too old or too busted up to enjoy them. Sounds like a great year-round outdoor sports place you landed in.

Tom

I'm a bit jealous. That's beautiful country out there.

Moab is one of my favorite spots in America, although my mountain biking experience there has been somewhat tame. I've crossed paths with Moab on three past road trips, in '98, 2000, and 2003, and documented each on DCSki:

Mountain Biking in Moab:

http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=243

Road Trip 2000: The Moab Mecca:

http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=638

Road Trip 2003 Notes from the Road: Moab, Utah:

http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=720

The scenery is breathtaking, and the mountain biking opportunities abound. Just be sure to bring lots of H2O.

Scott,

Thanks for the info. I feel really lucky to have been able to make the transition to get out here. This is a huge state with many MTB trails. I could be here for 10 year and still not do everything. I haven't even looked up moab trails in the guide book yet. From logan moab is about 5-6 hours away. So its not exactly close, but not really far. A MTB weekend should be very doable. All my riding so far has been in the areas near Logan / Chache Valley and Park City. Park City is an awesome MTB area with hundreds of miles of single track, most of them really well maintained. I am really new to MTBing just got into it about 12-18 months ago. I don't really know much about the hot spots to go. I haven't heard the stories. I guess I will have to go down there some time, maybe in the spring or later in the fall when it cools off a little more.

The best part is that I finally have gotten my wife into riding too. She just started riding like a month ago but already did her first 10 mile trail ride. Hopefully she will keep riding more and more and be able to come on longer rides with me on a more regular basis.

One thing I have personally noticed is that you can build sick trails anywhere. There are sick trials for MTBing all over the place in the midaltantic MD, VA, PA (especially PA). I think in many cases the DC area trails are more well built and in better conditions because of constant attention from a variety of MTB groups that are pretty serious about building quality trails and keeping the trails maintained. Also many of the trails in UT are multi use and were never designed for MTBs specifically.

Scott,
Thanks for the articles and pictures. I recall on my one and only trip to Canyonlands and Arches that I was literally sitting on the rim of the primary canyon (several thousand feet nearly straight down) when the mournful sounds of a flute filled the air with magic. Another person was also sitting on the edge a couple of hundred yards away playing music as the sun set and the moon rose. Just like Kokopeli!
Incredible.
The Colonel