As per the title, planning a trip to Moab for a week in late May (will be in New York the week before, so will take an internal flight).

Anybody got any tips? There’ll be 2 of us and plan to fly in to Salt Lake city. Other than hiring a car, is there any other way to get to/from Salt Lake city to Moab? Also, do you need a car to get to the trails when you’re in Moab, or can you catch the various shuttle buses from the town?

As for places to stay, ideally a self-catering set-up, such as a small apartment – again, any tips?

Also any tips on bike set-up? I gather I want big volume, wide tyres for the slick rock, but also quite tough?

Thanks-in-advance.

Shuttles are worth taking even if you’ve got a car. If you drive to the trail head, you’ve still got to go and get your car afterwards.

“Bike set up” sounds like you’re taking your own bikes? If not, you can take the opportunity to try a few things out. I tried a Mukluk, it was awesome.

I’d have thought with slickrock, the tyres are probably less important than on pretty much any other surface? You’d get good grip with road tyres!

Dunno about accomm. – we camped.

Are you flying back to the UK from there? You’ll might end up flying via Vegas, so you could drive there instead and take the opportunity to stop in at some National Parks on the way.

It’s going to be getting warm then…

It’s still ~ 5hours from Salt Lake city… I say it everytime but consider Fruita as well at least some of the time.. maybe a day trip on your way there / back.

I would say a car is a good thing as some of the trail heads are a little out of town but shuttles are good for the more DH orientated trails (Porcupine rim being the classic)

All you need to know about trails…

Slickrock eats tyres…. but anything gives grips so I wouldn’t buy just for slickrock.. it’d be an expensive addition. Riding is basically either grippy rock or loose dry sand.

We stayed here Rim Village It’s a bit out of town so you end up driving but that wasn’t a hardship to be honest and it was nice to be self catering.

Try owners direct for accommodation if you want an apartment type of deal, definitely rent a car, take old tires but make sure the sidewalks are ok(unlike me who ripped a sidewall out on hazard county and had to limp back to town)

Hazard county uplift is a must for me whenever I go

prepare to be utterly shafted taking bikes on US internal flights – do your research well in advance

For accommodation we stayed here El Rancho Fandango, it’s on a quiet street but only a couple of blocks from the strip.

The apartment was really well finished, clean and had loads of space. Booking was a bit testing as it sometimes takes a while to get hold of Candice (phone booking only) but well worth it.

We stayed here for 10 days, sounds like what you’re after, right in the centre of town with parking outside (but they didnt really want bikes insdie). Previously we’ve used cheap motels. Going again for Outerbike this year.

http://kokopellilodge.com/kokopelli-inn-towner

Weather should be ok in may, but heating up. But it’s not like you’ll be doing 1000m climbs there.

There’s a few trails you can do from town – Pipedream, Slickrock, Amasa Back, Poison Spider / Portal Rim (but a bit more road). Shuttles are easy to arrange from any bike shop though.

I would recommend Whole Enchilada as a must-do, assuming the snow has cleared from Burro Pass (which it might not have in May). Mag 7 is a good shuttled trail too, and you can ride back to town via the Bar-M trails and new bike path.

I used the same site as sweaman for all my info on the newer trails.

I wouldnt worry about tyres, the usual shape and colour will do fine. If you’re are 26″, you’ll be in the minority 😉

You’ll have an amazing time, enjoy the <4% pale ales, cheap food and a really friendly town.