Moab’s most iconic road on a gravel bike, the switchbacks of the Shafer Trail Road. Are you looking for a gravel bike adventure in the Moab area but not sure you can handle the White Rim Road? Why not make a loop from Moab that catches the highlights of the White Rim but with a more manageable resupply? Follow Moab Adventure Condo as we start from the Lions Park in Moab and explore the Old Spanish Trail bike route from Moab to Ut Hwy 313, then up to Canyonlands National Park to the start of the Shafer Road Trail switchbacks. This gravel road is a heart stopping drop from the top of the Island in the Sky Mesa back to the Colorado River. From Shafer Canyon we follow the road to Potash then UT Hwy 128 back to Moab.
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It’s spring break and time for our annual trip to Moab, Ut. I was looking for some type of exciting / boneheaded thing to do on my Specialized Diverge gravel bike. First thought was to do the White Rim on a gravel bike but I didn’t want to do 100 miles solo with no real bailout.
Next best idea was to do a groad ride that included part of the White Rim Loop but allowed for bailouts if I needed them due to a mechanical.
So I climbed the paved road to Canyonlands National Park. I was a little worried about what I would find at the park. Some websites said they had water, others didn’t. Things weren’t looking good when I passed a sign that said no water in the park, but whatever I just kept going. Luckily when I got there was a water pump at the visitor center and I was able to refill.
Now it was time for the adventure, the Shaffer Switchbacks. A 2000 foot loose gravel drop right off the mesa. Right at the start a tour guide company person tried to talk me out taking the trail. Whatever, what do they know?
The trail wouldn’t be too bad on a mountain bike but it beat the crap out of you on a gravel bike. The road surface alternated between rock and dirt that was packed as solid as rocks. Now I know why Keegan Swenson did the White Rim on a Mtb.
While on the switchbacks I tried to ride as close as I could to get to the edge to get some good GoPro footage. It was kinda cool to zoom past tourons in their cars when you know they were thinking they really should not have taken their cars down this road.
Once to the bottom the views are 5 star, it really is some of the best scenery in the world. Even though the road to Potash was described as a gravel road, I didn’t see much gravel, it was all rock. Twice I thought I broke a rim, I might have, I’m scared to look. It was impossible to hold on to the bars, you just had to kind of loosely grip them and let them bounce around. And bounce they did, so much so that my hands got hot from the friction.
Regardless of the rough road the views were amazing and it was well worth the effort. The last 17 miles I was back on the pavement and I was able to average about 20mph until the last 3 miles. At the end I was bombarded by a headwind that was so strong I could hardly move forward.
In the end it was a great ride. The only thing I would change would be that I would do it in reverse next time and get a 30 mile coast back to town. I don’t think it would be much harder to climb the switchbacks than it was to descend them.
-- TIMESTAMPS --
00:00 Gravel Bike on the Shafer Trail, From Moab and Back on the Potash Road, Could You Survive?
00:19 Lions Park Trailhead, Moab Utah start of gravel loop
01:25 No Strava KOMs on epic Moab adventures
01:56 Kid bike trails in Moab
03:10 Moab gas station at Ut Hwy 313
03:45 Intestine Man Petroglyphs
04:50 Navajo Rock Trailhead for Mountain Bikes
05:35 Entrance to Canyonlands National Park
06:10 Water bottle refill at Canyonland National Park visitor center
06:37 Start of Shafer trail, gravel road switchbacks
10:40 Descent of Shafer switchbacks completed
11:45 Start of Potash Road
13:28 Colorado River Overlook on Potash Road
15:09 Start of asphalt on Potash Road along the Colorado River
17:34 Returns to Lions Park Trailhead in Moab
Негізгі бет Gravel Bike Moab’s Shafer Trail and Potash Road, Could You Survive?
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