CM14 pre-run

[Rzeppa]

Was that skilled comment for me?
It was the great team spotting and stacking.

On my first Cruise Moab in 2000, I was kinda scared and daunted. I had seen videos and wasn't sure I could do this stuff. Rob Merideth, our Rising Sun Commander at that time and mentor to me, said to me "pick your lines and watch your Trail Leader, you'll be fine". He also said that it was 90% driver skill and 10% rig. Since then I have come to agree with him.

Bone stock Toyota 4x4s are very capable, but the nut behind the wheel makes all the difference. Scott in his non-SAS 3rd gen Runner with 33s and a locker (I know he's now locked up front, but didn't used to be) showed that with all the trails he's run, and led.

So Micah, no that comment wasn't for you so much as an exclamation of what those pictures looked like as far as trail difficulty.

 

[Fishy]

Photo-takers,
May I use these pics for TLCA Social Media? Great shots in here!

 

[Corbet]

Photo-takers,
May I use these pics for TLCA Social Media? Great shots in here!

you have permission for any of mine

 

[MicahMan]

Such a fun Time!
I'm glad to poach some of these pics as I didn't have our nice camera with us. I'm almost as proud of the spotting picture as I am of the driving ones! It was fun helping people down their lines on the trails!

 

[Crash]

Looking at Corbet's pic of Jaderunner on Cliffhanger made me shudder. I don't recognize who the spotter is that's standing on the downhill side of the obstacle but that just seems to be the worst possible place to be with Scot's truck where it is.
Another observation made during the pre-run is that Razr-type vehicles are taking over the Moab scene. Unlicensed vehicles running all over town, through parking lots and on the roads in and around town. What they are doing to soft sections of trail is pretty radical - think moguls spaced about two feet apart - like speed bumps and it makes for a rocking horse ride in a truck. In two days of being on the trail, Cheeseman, Art Volmer and I saw very few full-sized vehicles. I remember only a couple on Wipeout Hill and Tusher Tunnel and NONE on Gold Bar Rim and only saw one group of buggies on the first mile of Rusty Nail. Tons of Razrs, however. The wheeling world is changing dramatically, IMO.

 

[Old40Dog]

Thanks to all who participated in another successful Cruise Moab Trail Leader Training Pre-Run. Looks like we're in very good shape on having leaders-gunners on all of the trails.

Great fun and an opportunity to meet old and make new friends.

Thanks to all who attended and a special thanks to Micha for the food and refreshments!

 

[Fishy]

Another observation made during the pre-run is that Razr-type vehicles are taking over the Moab scene. Unlicensed vehicles running all over town, through parking lots and on the roads in and around town. What they are doing to soft sections of trail is pretty radical - think moguls spaced about two feet apart - like speed bumps and it makes for a rocking horse ride in a truck. In two days of being on the trail, Cheeseman, Art Volmer and I saw very few full-sized vehicles. I remember only a couple on Wipeout Hill and Tusher Tunnel and NONE on Gold Bar Rim and only saw one group of buggies on the first mile of Rusty Nail. Tons of Razrs, however. The wheeling world is changing dramatically, IMO.

Disheartening to hear. I wonder the impact this will have during CM. Some trails will have 15 vehicles or more on them. Running into a group of RAZR's could cause a bottleneck. They obviously can travel much faster than vehicles on the trail. Maybe it's something that all trail leaders/gunners should discuss with their groups?

We had an issue at 100s in the Hills this year with a group of them on Poughkeepsie Gulch. They wanted by so badly that they rode us hard, but there was no safe place to pass on the uphill shelf road. Once we made room, pulled to the side and stopped, we waved them through. One of them tagged a friends 100 and traded some paint. The guy never stopped. We did catch back up with them and someone asked "Did you realize you hit one of our trucks?" and his response was "Well, you shouldn't have let us pass then". It could have went south very quickly right then...... but we let it go.

 

[MDH33]

Disheartening to hear. I wonder the impact this will have during CM. Some trails will have 15 vehicles or more on them. Running into a group of RAZR's could cause a bottleneck. They obviously can travel much faster than vehicles on the trail. Maybe it's something that all trail leaders/gunners should discuss with their groups?

We had an issue at 100s in the Hills this year with a group of them on Poughkeepsie Gulch. They wanted by so badly that they rode us hard, but there was no safe place to pass on the uphill shelf road. Once we made room, pulled to the side and stopped, we waved them through. One of them tagged a friends 100 and traded some paint. The guy never stopped. We did catch back up with them and someone asked "Did you realize you hit one of our trucks?" and his response was "Well, you shouldn't have let us pass then". It could have went south very quickly right then...... but we let it go.

Reminds me of the 40's Only Run a few years ago when we were running the Swan loop. We ran into multiple groups 10+ of those things and had a tough time getting them past. I even had a pretty heated exchange with one guy. We found out that the majority of them were rentals/tourist groups from Summit County, so it isn't just Moab thats being over run!

 

[Rzeppa]

Razrs are everywhere we are these days. I would speculate that they have outnumbered not only dirt bikes but regular ATVs as well. I know the past couple of Cruise Moabs there have been tons of them out there, and same with every local trail ride as well. The only place I haven't seen them is Spring Creek. I know Christo and Woody typically brings their to Moab, and I remember one year Woody did Pritchett in his!

Like we do for all the other trail users, we need to lead by example of courtesy and sharing as much as practical.

 

[Corbet]

Looking at Corbet's pic of Jaderunner on Cliffhanger made me shudder. I don't recognize who the spotter is that's standing on the downhill side of the obstacle but that just seems to be the worst possible place to be with Scot's truck where it is.

Steve, that picture is some what deceptive in depth of field but I see your point now looking at it. While taking photos I don't once recall seeing anyone in a bad spot. Yoder was backing off at the time of that photo by the way. I believe Clayton was moving in to stack some rocks.

 

[Fishy]

Like we do for all the other trail users, we need to lead by example of courtesy and sharing as much as practical.

Agreed. Which is why it might be a good idea for trail leaders to mention that to their respective groups. You never know how someone in your group is going to react to a situation. Especially one like the paint trading we had in Ouray. Because the chances are high that we'll cross paths with rented Razrs and out of towners, it's best to talk about it before it happens.

I'm in no way trying to stereotype razr drivers as bad apples. They're awesome vehicles and 99% of their community is looking for the same things that we are. Just a good idea to make a plan for it because they can travel so much faster than a group of Land Cruisers.

 

[Rzeppa]

Agreed. Which is why it might be a good idea for trail leaders to mention that to their respective groups. You never know how someone in your group is going to react to a situation. Especially one like the paint trading we had in Ouray. Because the chances are high that we'll cross paths with rented Razrs and out of towners, it's best to talk about it before it happens.

I'm in no way trying to stereotype razr drivers as bad apples. They're awesome vehicles and 99% of their community is looking for the same things that we are. Just a good idea to make a plan for it because they can travel so much faster than a group of Land Cruisers.

At my driver's meetings before each run I lead, courtesy to other trail users, mountain bikes, dirt bikes, hikers, ATVs and Razrs is always one of the topics I touch on. I'd like to effectively disseminate that to our trail leaders at our trail leaders meeting each year, but it is typically poorly attended and these guys usually feel like they don't need to learn or be reminded of anything.

 

[JadeRunner]

This was a fun successful outing. I big thanks to Micah from the Wasatch Cruisers for cooking and donating food and beer. Also a big thanks to those people that adjusted their trail preferences to sign up lead and gun trails that are needed. We now have all the leader slot filled!

We met our new Event Managers (Ron and Linda Brewer) Friday morning and feel good about their commitment to help manage our event during Cruise Moab. Then we tuned in our signed permits to the State Office. Neil has all the permits in order as usual. Then I caught up with our group running Cliff Hanger. I guess the trail is about the same in terms of difficulty. Some parts are harder and some easier based on rocks that were stacked. I have a hard time getting back up the cliff hanger obstacle for some reason even with my front locker. Had to have rocks stacked. Must be a wheelbase thing. I crunched my front flare dropping off a ledge just before the creek. Driver error.

I followed a large group of side by sides up. They were basically going my same speed with their large group. And they seemed to have a similarly difficult time getting up obstacles like we did. Their slower people were probably holding them up. It seemed pretty dangerous to watch their spotters push and pull their rigs around. Saw one big guy almost get knocked backwards off his feet. I agree with others statements. They were out in large numbers and were the dominate vehicles on the trail. So we have to mange to that.

Flat Iron Mesa will be a great trail for us to run. I agree with Corbets statements about the difficulty. It’s a standard one locker 33 trail or less if you take all the bypasses. But, lots more challenge if you want it. The Easter Egg Rock obstacle has pretty serious consequences for body damage if one were to get off line and into trouble. Only 4 of us took it after walking it from the end of the trail. See pictures.

1. Corbet going up Cliff Hanger and making it look easy.
2. Steve Powers. Our ultimate trail leader coming down EEHill.
3-5. Travis Hurley. Another of our awesome trail leaders coming down EEHill

 

[JadeRunner]

Corbet man handling Easter Egg Hill with confidence. It sure doesn't look very tough in the pictures. The Intimidator obstacle right after this wasn't a problem for the wider vehicles like we thought. But, it would be scary for most people.