Regardless of whether you're a first timer to Moab, or making your 10th trip still trying to ride all of the trails in the area, this is a great resource. With excellent easy to read and entertaining trail descriptions of 39 mountain bike trails...and one roadie ride...Rider Mel's Mountain Bike Guide to Moab provides all the necessary information for planning a trip.

Trail descriptions are written in a very easy to follow manner with several different ride ratings, a hand drawn (to scale) map with all the landmarks that you need to know, and an elevation profile.

One of the best things about this book is that Mel's descriptions of the trails are fun to read...even if you have no intention of riding the trail! With endless references to beer and the inevitable carnage of a serious crash, you'll always find something to smile about when reading a trail description.

Ride Ratings

Mel categorizes the rides as either Easy, Moderate, or Tough based on the "Grunt Factor", "Techno Factor", and "Fear Factor". In addition to easy, moderate, and tough, Mel has four categories for specific rides:

• Classic Rides
• Giggle Rides
• Moses Rides
• Dude Rides

Difficulty Based On:

Grunt Factor

A 1-10 rating (with some 11's), this is the physical difficulty of the ride that is derived from the mileage, difficulty of climbs, and severity of the trail surface.

Techno Factor

A 1-10 rating (with some 11's), this rating is determined by the number and degree of obstacles and bike handling skills that are required to clear them.

Fear Factor

Again a 1-10 rating (with some 11's), the fear factor is soley based on the amount of "scary stuff" such as cliff exposure, rough rock drops, and the severity of the slope or grade.

Specific Categories

Classic Rides

Some rides are classified as Moab Classics. These are the author's favorite Moab rides and the most well known of the area. On the sample trail below, you'll see the SlickRock Bike Trail (notice the "Classic" stamp on the left). Examples of these trails include the Soveriegn Trail and Porcupine Rim Trial.

Giggle Rides

Family rides! Not too tough, but still lots of fun. These would also be great trails to consider for a second ride of the day after smoking yourself on a Classic. Examples: Bar-M Loop and Klondike Bluffs.

Moses Rides

Moses...wasn't he that guy who wandered around the desert for 40 years? Trails with this classification will make you feel like that. Examples: Back of Behind and Gold Bar Rim.

Dude Rides

These are the crazy downhill rides with a lot of speed and air. If you have body armor, these would be the trails to break it out for. Examples: Kokopelli Down, Portal Trail.

• Simple Maps
  • made for bikers
• Easy to follow directions
• Rides of all types & levels:
  • Family, moderate, heinus
  • XC, Freeride/DH trails
• Yellow Pages:
  • Handy dandy reference section