Moab GuestGuide: Articles: Activities: Road Riding

Articles » Activities » Road Riding

Get the Skinny

The variety of terrain in this area and the stunning views of the Moab area make road riding truly exceptional. Moab boasts an increasingly popular Skinny Tire Festival in early March and a Century Ride in early October. Both double as Lance Armstrong Foundation fundraiser events.

Arches National Park is an out-and-back ride; total mileage from town about 45 miles. The 18 miles of riding in Arches feature three short climbs (about one mile each) and rolling terrain. Explore the Windows for more mileage. Water available at the end of the road at Devils Garden campground. You will need a park pass or $5 per rider.

Potash Road is a mostly flat out-and-back ride with views of the world-class climbing routes of “Wall Street” to one side and the Colorado River on the other. Thirty-eight miles round trip from town.

The La Sal Mountain Loop is an 64-mile ride with lots of variety. Start in town and head north to Utah Hwy 128, turn right for a 16-mile warm-up to Castle Valley Road. (There is a sign for the La Sal Mountain Loop.) This part is a slight incline and fairly straight. Turn right again and start a long, steep and winding climb up to the slopes of the La Sal mountains. Turn right onto Loop Road, past the small enclave of Castleton, and ride this little-traveled road with gorgeous views. The road is narrow with classic switchbacks making it an epic ride. The road drops you down to the Moab valley past Ken’s lake and into town. The Moab Century does this climb in reverse.

Riding to Dead Horse Point of the Islands part of Canyonlands is another great option. From the intersection of Hwy 191 and Hwy 313 it’s about a 70-mile roundtrip ride to Grand View Point of Canyonlands and about 50 miles to the visitor center of Dead Horse Point. The road is wide and rolling with a few good short hills to keep the legs awake. Carry plenty of water and some money to buy water at the visitor centers. You must have the appropriate pass when riding in any of the parks.

Bike Path

There is a bike path along Hwy 191 to the Gemini Bridges Trailhead. This allows access to Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands without having to ride on the highway. It starts at the Courthouse Wash Trailhead off of Hwy 191, on the right side just over the bridge. It’s about seven miles total and is paved until the last mile or so.

© Copyright 2000 - 2010 GuestGuide Publications, LLC | All rights reserved | All images and materials on this site are protected by the U.S. Copyright Laws. No use of such images or materials shall be made without the prior, express written permission of the publisher.

site design & hosting by www.machfive.net ®

Having trouble viewing our website?The GuestGuide Publications websites rely on advanced Flash & Javascript technologies to bring you the very best web experience possible. In order for you to fully enjoy this experience, please make sure that Javascript is enabled on your browser and disable pop-up blockers or allow pop-up windows for this site. If you cannot see the main top menu or are experiencing unusual behavior, please download and install the latest Adobe Flash Player by clicking the Flash icon ». You may also want to consider updating your web browser if you have not done so in awhile. We've optimized our GuestGuide Publications website to perform best in the latest versions of all the major web browsers for both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.

OPTIMUM SCREEN RESOLUTION: 1024 PIXELS WIDE OR GREATER