One of the most popular mountain venues in the USA is Moab – every serious mountain biker needs to try this trail at least once. However , once you have been to Moab you will certainly want to come back. The most famous trail at Moab is Slick Rock which is a 15.5km loop of sandstone. Sandstone provides awesome traction for mountain bikers – the trail at Slick Rock is marked out with white chalk.

Moab Utah

The lunar landscape at Moab is steep and hard and provides a serious challenge to enthusiastic mountain bikers. Shorter than most trails , the technical demanding nature of the course make this a serious trail. The trail can take several hours to complete. What makes this such a great trail is that t incorporates natural bowls many with steep sides and some opportunities for extreme mountain biking. One of the highlights for me at Slick Rock is that it encourage improvisation and you are able to go off course and do some exploring. This is not really possible at most singletrack courses.

Another trail at Moab that is worth checking out is the Porcupine Rim Trail – not as well known as Slick Rock , this trail is very popular in serious mountain biking circles. It is 33 km long and features long stretches of broken singletrack. You can enjoy the 915m – 18km descent from the first climb as it winds down to the Colorado River. There are also dozens of shorter trails for the less adventurous mountain biker.

Close to Moab is the White Rim trail and this is a lengthy 160 km ride that takes two or three days to finish , so you need to take some camping equipment along. What makes the Moab area so appealing to many mountain bikers is the wide open desert and stunning scenery. There are many opportunities for skilled mountain bikers and some nice beginner trails for novices. Moab certainly deserves its reputation as one of the top mountain biking destinations in the world. If you are planning a trip to Moab , Utah there is loads of suitable accommodation catering to mount bikers. A search online will reveal plenty of venues catering to almost any budget.

MTB ride Brac Croatia

September 5, was a promising day when I left the Split ferry harbor with decision to take a mtb ride at Island of Brac Croatia. When we arrived to Supetar (see picture), it was already cloudy. Few moments of doubting the idea, and decision was brought – PROCEED ON!

What a mistake. 20 minutes later I got soaked as never before. Hard rain with the wind washed me from head to toes. Nevertheless I planned a short tour (Supetar – Sutivan – Lozisca – Nerezisca – Supetar), I brought a spare T-shirt, so I changed it when I finally reached Lozisca.

Whoever stumbled to Lozisca, found him or herself amazed by sight to everything but not usual bell tower of St. John and Paul Church.

It is a mix of several styles: neo-romanesque, neo-gothic and neo-baroque. Pretty amazing isn’t it: to see such a mix at such a place. The sculptor was Rendić, guy very keen of escapades of every kind, even though in architecture.

When rain finally stopped, I headed to Nerezisca. It is the worst part of this tour, as from Lozisca one have to pedal uphill for more than a two mile in a row, conquering elevation from 260 ft a.s. (Ložišća) to 900 ft a.s. (Dracevica).

I managed it somehow and here I am, in front of Nerezisca municipality border table.

From here to the center of Nerezisca was a piece of cake: 3 miles and elevation difference approx. 200 fts.

Here is the picture of another Brac Island miracles: the pine tree at the roof slope of St Peter’s Chapel.

The last part, from Nerezisca to Supetar I was driven by car, as rain started to fall again. Never mind, this part of tour is a constant downhill, and there is no joy for me

Till next post

Zeljko

Komiza Bay Croatia

Stunning view over the bay and you can see my KONA which I used throughout my biking trip to Croatia.

Picture was taken from the place marked with blue rectangle (elev.approx 900 ft).

The place is the summit between Mali Hum and Veli Hum, and I reached there half dead after five miles of constant uphill pedaling from the Bay of Vis (marked #1).

But I got this view as a reward.

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After this photo taken, I stumbled town to the Komiza Bay. Downhill was a pleasure, but up hill… it was something. Pedaling for a 5 miles climbing 200 ft to almost 900 ft elevation, and outside was 37 Celsius degrees…

But no problem, white baseball cap was on the head, a plenty of cooled water, and earphones on…

Delightfull!

Canada boasts some awesome mountain biking trails especially in British Columbia. The North Shore is a major center for mountain biking based around the Mount Seymour , Mount Fromme and Cypress Mountain region. Whistler has 100s of trails and is a very popular mountain biking destination.

North Shore

This region is recognized as the home of freeriding and features some of the more intersting mountain biking in the world. There are large forrest areas with big trees and stunning scenery. Fallen timber makes for exciting ramps and jumps while the trails found at Mount Fromme are fairly easy you are still required to observe a few rules and to respect other cyclists and the pristene environment.

Whistler

This is certainly one of the bigger trail riding locations in the world – with literally 100s of kms of trails for mountain bikers to explore and enjoy. One of the mre popular competitive events taking place here is the British Columbia Bike Race from Victoria to Whistler.It is run over seven days and has seven stages with some demanding clibs. You need to be cycling fit to complete this race.

British Columbia features some of the best trails around and the scenery is always impressive. Some of the trails can be fairly demanding , but there are plenty of trails suited to novices and those interested in a casual ride. You can slso do some exploring in these beautiful regions and don’t have to stick to the trails.

The region in mountain bike friendly and there are many accomodation options to choose from -  a search on the internet will produce many great places to stay at while enjoying some of the best mountain biking around.