MOOTS MOOTO-X | LYNSKEY PRO-29 | MOOTS MOOTO-XZ | MOOTS CYCLOCROSS
Dreamride RFT Builds & Moab Trips
Dreamride offers From-Moab Guided Ride Packages are for strong riders who want to reduce use of fossil fuels during their vacation and ride the best trails near town. You are guaranteed a solid warm up and a sweet downhill payback on the way back to the shop. Combine your RFT bike purchase with a vacation in Moab and I will personally guide your trip while you are here. This is the way to put a great bicycle to good use! Cars suck!
~ Lee Bridgers, Dreamride owner
The Ride-From-Town (RFT) is a new parts selection designation, basically a MAX component group specifically modified for long distance riding over a variety of road and off-road surfaces. In parallel we are promoting RFT trips in Moab and offering deals for people who buy an RFT bike and come to Moab to ride it FROM TOWN. The Mooto-Xz RFT is my choice for guiding these rides. The new Moab Colorado River "Pedestrian" Bridge completed in May of 2008 now gives us much safer access to singletracks, classic dirt spurs and rock rides north of town. The Moots Mooto-Xz RFT shares duty with three other RFT builds in my private quiver. I have built numerous RFT rigs over the years for clients and myself, but none as effective at bridging the gap between smooth road and extremely rough trail as the Mooto-Xz. This new enthusiasm for guiding rides that depart directly from our shop in the heart of town is assisted by our shop's location. A singletrack leaves the property to 500 West, connecting us to Highway 191 then on to Lion Park and over the Colorado on the pedestrial bridge to a paved bike path that parallels highway 191 to and past the Arches National Park entrance. The Old Moab Highway, which is now strictly for bicycles, then gives access to a range of trails North of town. Our singletrack also connects to Kane Creek Road for trips west, and Sand Flats Road for trips east. Trips south are accomplished via the Moab Rim or Spanish Valley Road.
Riding from town is not for the faint of heart, especially if you are going to tack a 15 mile off-road ride onto a 20 mile road ride. The solution is to strengthen the heart, pace yourself, prepare to be on the bike for a bit longer, and use the advantages of 29 inch wheels to gain an edge. I have been using the Old Moab Highway route as a training ride since the "ped" bridge went up. The newly formulated RFT group gets rid of weight the old fashioned way--smaller rubber and lighter parts. A full XTR drivetrain with ceramic bottom bracket bearings, narrower and slicker Stan's Crow tires, superlight tubes, Eggbeater pedals, custom Dreamride-spec'd Moots handlebar, SRAM X.O twist shifters and rear derailleur--all combine to whittle away two pounds of weight from the full off-road build.
The mating of the Mooto-Xz and Fox F29 fork has advantages when riding the road. The steep angles of the Moots frame in combination with the Fox, which locks out at the top of the stroke, are a welcome combo when you are in a tuck trying to keep a low wind profile, dodging potholes and cars. You can take your hands off the bar and pedal straight. On the trail, with suspension parts free to operate, the extra quickness of the Mooto-Xz translates into twitchiness and a tendency for the front wheel to tuck under in tight turns on descents. It is not a truly serious problem anywhere but in the most technical situations (Moab has them in spades), but those steep angles are something to be aware of and compensate for. Still, the bike is very fast on the trail. Because of the light tires and very strong wheelset, this bike is much faster going uphill under power and over rolling terrain than when in its more stout off-road configuration. Maintain a steady cadence and the miles just roll under you. Yes, the RFT Mooto-Xz requires a bit more energy and attention on technical descents and large front impacts, but exaggerating weight shifts to the rear down big ledges and in v-outs is a simple fix for a full suspension bike that goes so fast on the road. When I encounter a situation where I think the bike may be too light to do the deed, get off, all the time remembering how much more time this bike has given me to be on the trail by virtue of its amazing speed on rough pavement and dirt roads.
Road solitude is only possible when the road has been blocked off, allowed to turn into a series of potholes and deep ridges, lined by signs that forbid motorized use, unknown to the tourists who flock here without much preparation or awareness of the possibilities, and almost totally ignored by the locals. The Old Moab Highway is THAT road. I rarely encounter a single person on the Old Moab Highway section of this ride.
There are other frames that suit an RFT build. Pictured above is a Moots Psychlo-X with a La Sal Mountain Road build tweaked to be a from-town trail and city commuter capable of tackling the Potomac River Trail outside of Washington, DC. Most people requesting a bike for this purpose are not located in Moab, where the off-road challenges demand suspension and/or big wheels and tires. The MOOTS MOOTO-X 29ER has been a popular frame for this build and now its brother the Mooto-Xz is tops in this category. The LYNSKEY PRO-29 is a perfect platform for an RFT bike, as is their PRO-CROSS frame. Ventana makes two frames that are especially suitable, the well-crafted EL REY & EL PADRINO, both 29ers. Of course, any cyclocross frame we offer from Moots, Ventana, Lynskey, MERCKX or PEGORETTI will work just fine if your nearby trails are rails to trails, dirt roads, smooth to rooted and rough singletrack and fire roads.
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While it was being build, the Colorado River Pedestrian Bridge looked to be a Godsend for road riders not wanting to risk their lives on the incredibly dangerous Highway 191 bridge. It is. But, its real purpose is quite obvious once you ride over it a few times. It appears that the river rafting companies were the dominant lobby for this bridge, which not only spans the Colorado, but gives the boat ramp a huge new parking lot at Lion Park. But, this bridge is for us! Let's use it!
Seems like the paved bike path to Arches National Park from the Colorado River Pedestrial Bridge, as well as the Old Moab Highway, are almost always deserted. Once you get into the trail systems on top there is more company. Most people drive their cars and SUVs over the Colorado and up to the parking lots near Highway 313. They have missed what might be the best part of the ride, the warm-up and the payback downhill run back home.
Once on top of the ridge there is an abundance of wildlife. Large collared and leopard lizards dart everywhere. In spring this is the place to see flowers and even wider vistas.
There are areas north of town, mostly unmarked dirt spurs, where you never see another cyclist. These tracks were originally layed down by miners, some more recently by motorized recreationists set free by our state government to rape and pillage the lands in preparation for development that will probably never happen. Copper Ridge is a good example. Designed for motorized vehicles, it has recently been signed, but is seldom used by cyclists and rarely by the motors. It seems to be just a bit too hard for those with SUVs and a bit too "unattractive" for the cyclists (it has long stretches of loose rock and sand). On top of the ridge views are spectacular and wildlife abounds. This ride parallels more difficult mountain bike trails, so you can dive in at any point or use it to bail onto an easier, faster route to more trails or to the road back home.