Moab Mountain Biking for Intermediates and Older Riders

Moab is a prime destination for fantastic mountain biking. Jim reports on the Moab Brand Trails, Slickrock Trail, Poison Spider Trail, and the fearsome Portal Trail during his May 2011 60th birthday trip. The trail analysis is from the perspective of a long time mountain biker who is getting older, overweight, and spends lots of time on his computers doing really cool projects.

Jim could not spend time color correcting the images. Most of the videos were shot with a Contour HD 1080p helmet camera. It has no viewfinder or manual exposure and white balance settings but does a decent job. It is a very rugged camera for outdoor sports and recreation.

The shaking in these videos is what a rider experiences on "slick rock". It is usually bumpy and sometimes extremely bumpy. The camera was mounted on Jim's helmet with an aluminum bracket that Jim designed and built. The mount is completely secured to the helmet. The helmet is tightly secured to Jim's head with the strap but also a headband. So the shaking is what Jim's head is doing. Jim has progressive lens glasses which increases the challenge of seeing what is ahead.

Jim is riding a Cannondale Rush full suspension mid-range cross country mountain bike with a lefty fork and Katya is on a Cannondale Jekyll, also a cross country bike.

If you are an older rider or beginner - intermediate then the information in this video will show you that Moab is a great place for you to bike! The recent addition of the Moab Brand Trails a few miles north of Moab opens a large area to beginner and intermediate mtb'ers. Previously these riders had to make do on more technically and endurance challenging trails. Poor Katya learned to mountain bike on the Slick Rock Trail in 2005 and she had never biked before.

Music by Zapac under Creative Commons license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Moab mountain biking
• Moab trails
• Moab Brand Trails
• Slickrock Trail
• Poison Spider Trail
• Portal Trail

[conceptuator]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! We intend to return to Moab in May or June 2012 and do a better job of shooting.  We'll add more trails for the next video.

This next trip we'll shoot with a Sony Handycam, the Contour HD, and if we need it an iPhone 4S with 1080p. We'll have more action and better quality video.

We're exercising and biking like crazy to be in better shape this year!

[LowBall602]

You've made me home sick. Southern Utah is hard to beat if you love to be outside.

[snillumdivad]

We have been to Moab many times and we always find new adventures. This video has given me great ideas fro next year. Thank you. Love the narration.

[argallguitars]

Nice video! I also enjoyed the narration as I have never been to moab..... yet.

[lidia459]

Great Video, way to go!!