2023 Nationals Road Trip

TLDR: We put together an epic 5-week long road trip centered around the 2023 MTB nationals at Bear Creek Resort, PA. We visited 9 cities, went through 24 states, and drove 5,000 miles and 80 hours. We rode 300.9 miles and 27,635 feet of elevation, riding across 439 segments. We rode 15 trail systems, and 3 bucket list trails. We saw groundhogs, a fisher, 3 baby river otters, and prairie dogs, all of which are new to me. We saw some beautiful scenery, and this was definitely a trip I'll never forget. (Disclaimer - some of the Strava info may be inaccurate) 

Atlanta, Georgia. 

STATS: 7 days. Rode the Chicopee forest trails. 28.71 miles, 1,699 feet of elevation.

We were here on Lake Lanier for a family reunion and got to ride some pretty cool trails with the cousins. 

Roanoke, Virginia. 

STATS: 5 days. Rode Carvins Cove and Mill Mountain. 40.06 miles, 2,915 feet of elevation.

I got to ride with the other mountain bikers on Team VBR Twenty24, which was really cool. Tegan and Ally were awesome to ride with, and they showed me all Roanoake had to offer. We rode Carvins Cove, which was really fun, and we also rode up Mill Mountain to see the Roanoke Star. For our last day in Roanoake, we tubed the Roanoke River, which was really relaxing. 

Macungie, Pennsylvania. 

STATS: 3 days. Rode Bear Creek Resort. 15.64 miles, 3,803 feet of elevation.

This is where Nationals was, and I raced short track and cross country. I got 10th place in short track, which I was pretty happy with because it was my first short track race, and I got 16th in cross country after a wreck at high speed. I had a great time, and I can't wait to get back out there again next year and improve. We also found one of the best restaurants, the Jamison Publick House, and if you're ever in the area I highly recommend you stop by there. 

Brave, Pennsylvania. 1 night. 

We got to stop by my aunt's place, and it was great to be taken care of for a little bit before we were off to Air-BNB surfing again. 

Nashville, Indiana. 1 night. 

We went ziplining at eXplor Brown County Adventure Park, and it was super fun. It was my first time ever ziplining, and I had a blast. 

Johnny Motox!

Bentonville, Arkansas. 

STAT: 6 days. Rode Coler, Slaughter Pen, Wonderland, and trails around town. 89.73 miles, 6,731 feet of elevation. 

My dad had to work in the mornings, so I got to ride with Ashley Green and Bella Fish, both local shredders that I loved riding with. We rode Coler Bike Park on the first and last day, once without a GoPro and once with to get some cool footage. In the evenings, I rode around with my dad and Johnny Russell. I tried to show Dad the Wonderland trail system but I got a flat and Davis Green saved the day by giving me a tire. I'm so grateful, he made the rest of the trip go much smoother and he definitely saved that ride. That was also the day we got a GoPro and we were experimenting with it. 

Denver, Colorado. 

STATS: 5 days. Rode Red Rocks, Dakota Ridge, and Floyds Hill. 11.27 miles, 1,519 feet of elevation. 

My aunt and uncle live up here, so we stayed with them for a bit, hung out, and rode a few trails around. Red Rocks was breathtaking - literally. It was at a pretty high elevation for me, and I don't do the best at elevation. It started raining on us a little bit, but we still continued onto Dakota Ridge. And I'm so glad we did because it was super fun. It was a black trail, and you were on a literal ridge. 

It was my first time ever riding on a ridge, and it was pretty rocky. Once I got the hang of it, though, it was really fun, and after we climbed to the top, it was mostly downhill the rest of the way. The views from the top were incredible. We also rode Floyds Hill, which was a really fun stop on the way to Breckenridge. As we were leaving Floyds Hill, it started hailing on us in the parking lot, so glad we weren't on the mountain when that happened. 

Breckenridge, Colorado. 

STATS: 4 days. Rode trails around town. 58.26 miles, 6,789 feet of elevation. 

We were supposed to go home after Denver, but with all the excessive heat warnings popping up from Austin, we decided to come over to Breckenridge. We rode in the evenings, and the views here were incredible too. Breckenridge is at a pretty high elevation, sitting at 9,600 feet above sea level. On our second day there, we drove out to a mountain, planning to ride a loop with the Colorado Trail that would bring us above the tree line for some amazing views. 

We got halfway up the mountain when it started thundering. Then, we were almost at the top when it started hailing and raining on us. We waited under a tree for the storm to pass, and then we continued up. We were at the very top, just starting to descend, when it got really cold and the rain picked up. We found a tree, but the rain and hail were getting through the branches. The trail started to look like a little stream, and the hail was collecting on the ground like snow. We decided to try and ride it out, so we got on our bikes and started down the mountain. 

It was 98% downhill from there, but our hands were numb, so it was hard to regulate speed. The hail stung us through our jackets, and it was probably 40 degrees max up there. When we made it to the bottom, I started crying, because I thought we were gonna die up there. We learned a valuable lesson - Always be off the mountain by 2pm during monsoon season. Being stuck on a mountain during a freezing rain will be a memory that'll stick with me forever, though not necessarily one I'll want to repeat. After that, we rode a bunch of trails around town, and on our last day, we put together a ride that was 20 miles long with 2,500 feet of elevation that hit all of our favorite trails and explored some new ones. 

Moab, Utah. 

STATS: 8 days. Rode Slickrock, the Whole Enchilada, Captain Ahab, and Moab Brands trails. 59.07 miles, 4,179 feet of elevation. 

Even though we were extending the road trip to beat the heat, we just had to stop by Moab, so we beat the heat by riding at 6:00 am each day. We went to Slickrock on the first day, one of the most well-known mountain biking trails, and definitely a bucket list trail. I'm so glad I got to ride it, and it was so unique, so different from anything I've ever ridden before.  

The trail was just white paint dashes on the rock. It was a super fun trail, but also the fact that you could ride straight up a rock face and still have grip was insane. The landscape was incredible as well, with a canyon in the background and this smooth, flowy-looking sandstone covering everything. The trail was shaped like a lollipop, and coming back down the 'stick' part of the trail, I was amazed we had ridden up some of the super steep things we were riding down. When we got done with Slickrock, we saw that we had each drank our 2 water bottles, and it was super early morning with only 10 miles, we realized that we'd need a lot more water for the Whole Enchilada than we originally thought we would. 

The next day, we rode The Whole Enchilada trail. Well, Burro Pass was still closed, so we rode 5/6 trails. We took the shuttle up and then rode 7,000 feet of descent. Our water setup ended up looking like this - I had a 2.5-liter backpack with 2 water bottles in the backpack, a water bottle in my jersey pocket that wouldn't stay on my dad's bike, 2 water bottles on my bike, and my dad had 2 waterbottles on his bike as well. The whole Enchilada trail system was a bunch of black trails, with trail styles ranging from Slickrock-ish sandstone to chunky, ledgy stuff that reminded me of home. The last part of Porcupine Rim had a lot of exposure, so we walked most of it, just to be safe. I loved the Whole Enchilada trail, and I was ecstatic to have been able to knock out another bucket list trail at age 13. The next day, we went white water rafting in Westwater Canyon. 

We went through class 4 rapids, and I am officially a fan of whitewater rafting. It was a full-day trip, and it started out really calm, with little itty-bitty rapids. I even got to get out of the boat and float down a section the guide called 'Swimmers rapids', because there were no big rocks that we would hit. We floated down the river until we got to our lunch spot, where we had sandwiches. Then, we put on these incredibly uncomfortable helmets that seemed like they were designed to dig right into your temples to deliver maximum headaches, and started on the rapids. 

I had no idea what to expect, and the rapids were so fun. They were also really scary because the boat moved so much during them, and there was one time when the boat got stuck in an eddy and ran up against some rocks and we almost flipped. We were okay, and pretty soon, the rapids were done. Then, we just floated all the way to the boat dock. Thursday, we just chilled at home because my dad had to work, and Friday we rode some little trails around town that I didn't enjoy as much as all the other trails we rode. On Saturday, we rode the Captain Ahab trails. We rode up Hymasa, and halfway up I wasn't feeling so good. I almost went back to the car, but I pushed through and made it to the top. I'm so glad I did because the view from the top was the most breathtaking thing I had seen on the whole trip. You could see for miles, and it felt like you were miles above the ground. On the way down, the Captain Ahab trails were amazing. They were really challenging, and they were some of the best trails I've ever ridden in my life. After that, we rode the Moab Brand trials, and we rode Circle O which looked like you were riding on the surface of the moon. It wasn't my favorite, because there was no shade and it was getting pretty hot outside, and I was pretty tired from the Captain Ahab trails. Then, we rode a little fun loop and hit a downhill trail on the way out. I did like the Moab Brand trails, but I was pretty tuckered out after Captain Ahab, so I couldn't enjoy them as much. All in all, an unforgettable experience with so many highlights. 

Such a fun trip!