Mountain Biking Telluride to Moab: The Drive Up

It's a long way to get to Moab - It's along trans-pacific flight, followed by a long drive from California to Utah.  We've found that by following the bodies natural sleep cycle, and by getting a lot of sunshine during the day, the drive up can be a good way to acclimatise as well as take in a lot of the sights.

Horseshoe Bend, Arizona, enroute to Moab, Utah.

Arriving into the USA after a big transpacific flight has always been a pain, but arriving into Los Angeles this trip has been my most pain free so far, thanks to the new ESTA immigration clearance, available for selected countries.  As usual, our plan was to get out of the airport as quickly as possible, then drive for as long as we could, usually a couple of hours before needing to stop for sleep.  Our destination this trip, was Moab, in Utah, where we were heading up to do some mountain biking.  We've found that due to time zone changes, we are usually up very early, by 3 or 4am, and so we make use of that time taking the bikes out of their boxes and assembling them.  We hit the road about 5am, or just before daybreak, and stop for breakfast along the way.  By breaking up the drive, can taking in a lot of sunshine, we adapt faster to the new time zone.  We took in as many sights as possible on the drive up by heading out onto Historic Highway Route 66... 

Route 66 Enroute to Moab, Utah

A photo posted by Ken Koh (@adventurenomad) on Jul 6, 2015 at 5:45am PDT

The next day, we made it to Panguitch, Arizona, where we got to ride Thunder Mountain Bike Trail, which was an unexpected treat!  Great riding, really awesome scenery!  After the ride, we took a drive through Bryce Canyon National Park, and took in a short hike.

Thunder Mountain Bike Trail, Arizona. #bike #mtb #adventure #outdoors

A photo posted by Ken Koh (@adventurenomad) on Aug 21, 2015 at 5:05am PDT

The highlight of the drive up to Moab was Page, Arizona, which we reached the evening after leaving Bryce Canyon NP.  We stayed for 2 nights and visited Antelope Canyon, Waterholes Canyon and Horseshoe Bend.

#antelopecanyon with about 350 other visitors. Crazy crowded in the canyon, but wow! The photo opportunities are awesome! #nationalpark #canyon

A photo posted by Ken Koh (@adventurenomad) on Jul 9, 2015 at 2:39pm PDT

The evening after we visited Antelope Canyon, we reached Moab.  By this time, we were fully acclimatised and ready to ride!

To be continued...

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