Enduro mountain biking is perhaps the fastest-growing segment in the sport right now, and new races are popping up everywhere. There’s already established Enduro events at Canyons Resort, Mag 7 at Moab, and on the Whole Enchilada. Now you can add the Abajo Mountains to the list. The first annual Abajo Enduro goes down on August 9th, 2014 in Monticello, just south of Moab. If you didn’t think there was any mountain biking in the Abajo Mountains, race organizers are here to enlighten you.
According to the race website, the Abajo Enduro will be an, “epic race experience starting in an alpine zone at 11,500 feet ultimately descending more than 3,500 feet with just under 1,000 feet of overall climbing over a roughly 11 mile course through dense mountain woodlands and open prairies ending at a spring fed four acre lake high above Monticello, Utah.” They go on to say that the course is part of the greater “Monticello Mountain Mayhem” mountain bike route that continues to the historic Newspaper Rock petroglyph site.
Andy Platt is organizer of this brand-new race. He’s a transplant who came to the area specifically for the mountain biking. He left a prosperous career with a Fortune 500 company to pursue life in the west, and since his wife’s family is from Monticello, he landed there. His story about how he discovered mountain biking in the Abajo Mountains is one of persistence.
“I heard about trails on our mountain that motorcyclists would tell me would be fun, and I’d go ride them on my mountain bike with terrible results. They were rocky, muddy, rutted and involved more technical climbing than anyone would enjoy. And so I traveled to Moab for riding. I rode every trail in Moab dozens of times – rode the Whole Enchilada, raced the Whole Enchilada. But when it got hot in the summer it was almost pure torture and so I retreated to the mountains of Monticello” Platt said.
“I found that with a little inquiry and some map reading I could plan courses that looked like they’d be fun. With an old map I mustered up from a local restaurant I checked trails and locations and set out to create my own ‘locals’ suggestions for riding.”
Platt eventually found some trails to be decent for riding, but then came across what he considered to be the “holy grail” of local riding – a trail called Roberstons Pasture. “I continued exploring higher up, and found a trail that dropped all the way from Abajo Peak. This trail was amazing!”
What he found was a 1.3 mile drop of 800+ feet that takes around 5-7 minutes for intermediate riders. He says it slings riders onto a connector road that they can use to link to Robertsons Pasture trail which is described like a “forest pump track roller coaster of delicious levels of speed, perfectly formed switchbacks and mountain meadows where the only thing that will slow you down is fear or lack of skill.” Pratt even claims that this trail contains the best high mountain forest riding in the area, including the La Sals. A big claim indeed, but he says one must experience this trail to understand the truth. At the end, the trail dumps riders out at a 4-acre lake called Foy Lake.
This is the Abajo Enduro course.
For an even more detailed description of the course, here it is, word for word, from Andy Platt himself:
“The course starts atop Abajo Peak and descends quickly for the first mile but is tempered by tight switchbacks and tree lined singletrack. You fly into a meadow and up a slight sprint section and begin descending fast on steep doubletrack that’s not really doubletracky – one side is lower and has collected all the rocks and the other is a bit of an off-camber thrill ride as the trail is fast and steep.
“You cross roots and fly into death cookie rock pools around a couple corners that you can generally float through but at times rocks flip up and it becomes wild. You then flow into a loamy soil section over some roots and through a two track area that slings you onto the road for a downhill link to Robertsons Pasture trailhead. Leaving the road you flow down a hill and up into a forest where clear lenses are appropriate. The soil is dark and grippy and the roots are pronounced and a task that you don’t always win on your way up.
“Coming to a junction (spring creek trail – which is a whole different article) you take a left and begin a climb that I’ve never seen anyone complete (all the way to the saddle). You head up a loose section over some roots that levels off then climbs then levels off a bit then climbs on loose rock (that I’ve seen everyone hike up.) After this section there’s a steep section that’s rideable that puts you onto some massive switchbacks that take you to the saddle overlooking Canyonlands. After this section it’s nearly all descending. You pick up steam on switchbacks that get longer and longer until the last one goes right into the forest for more switchback fun and a quick exit then re-entrance. We call this section of about 3 miles ‘The Dark Forest.’ It’s been described by a non-local rider as a ‘beautiful forest pump track’ because the soil is loam, the track is single, and there’s a stream crossing and tons of up and around trees that just flow perfectly on a bike. The segment ends at another stream crossing which has some short, steep (rideable) switchbacks to get you quickly up into a meadow before descending through a less densely forested section to the place I call ‘Cowboy Meadow.’
“After this section you rapidly descend into what we call Aspen Forest. The route is fast and the lines are wild – more switchbacks await with in trail jumps, roots, rocks and stumps. After this section you descend rapidly again catching G’s on some of the corners (banked) and then hitting a section of more densely wooded black-dirt singletrack with big rocks and big roots (these hide in the black dirt and shade of the trees so if you don’t have clear lenses you’ve been known to make bad choices and crash hard.) After this section there can be up to four small water crossings (depending on rainfall runoff) before you hit a place where the dirt disappears and the big granule sandy dirt appears (coffee grounds.) This section is marked by short steep ups with big rocks and loose big rocks strewn about. Most folks walk but I’ve seen a few riders make it up this last section. There are a couple of flat sections and a couple of rock steeps. Then there’s a luge-type rock littered section that you pick your way through and hit a section of soft singletrack and sprint to the finish out a couple gates to end in front of a 4-acre spring fed lake!”
Sounds like a wild and fun ride. If you’re convinced to check it out, head on over to the Abajo Enduro race website for more info or to register. Or you can contact Andy at (435) 459-0234 and by email at andy@unlearnyourlimits.com