Rocky Mountain Ticket to Ride...It Doesn't Get Much Better

Rocky Mountain Ticket to Ride. If you’re not familiar, each year at the GNCC banquet two winners on each night (2 ATV and 2 bike) are selected for a trip to Utah to ride in the Moab area with our friends from Rocky Mountain ATV/MC, and additionally we send along a member of the GNCC staff. Rocky Mountain takes care of the entire trip, and everyone raves about how much fun it is. Last weekend saw the dirt bike portion of the Ticket to Ride take place and it was a great time. 

The winners also bring along a guest to ride as well, and this year’s group was a really solid one. WXC racer Taylor Johnston won one of the spots and brought along JDay Womens Pro and occasional WXC competitor Savannah Kipp, and the other winner was Vet A class racer James Bower who brought fellow Vet A competitor Tom Truxell. On our end, I got the pick to go for the first time (everyone assumed I had been before, but I hadn’t!) and I was absolutely blown away at how great of riders everyone was, as well as how much fun it really was. The rocks out in the Utah desert are polar opposite of what we have here. 

Naturally, as an east coast off-road rider you expect rocks to be slick but the rocks out there provide perfect traction, even when they’re wet! Day one we rode the White Wash Sand Dunes area, which is chocked full of awesome sand, rocks and tons of free roaming riding. You can just about go ride anywhere you want. Our entire group managed to ride right on top of each other’s rear wheels through the entire day and for day two Just Deschamps and the crew from Rocky Mountain decided our group would be fit for something a little more technical on day two. 

Day two we rode the Temple Mountain area which is much more technical single track type trail that even features the famous “Five Miles of Hell” loop, which we opted to skip since we were all on borrowed bikes. Regardless, there were still a lot of really tough and technical sections to contend with, but like I said, there’s nothing but pure traction on those rocks. At one point, Justin even mentioned that this was the first time they had taken the Ticket to Ride group to the Temple Mountain trails, which was pretty cool to hear. 

Overall, it was an absolutely awesome experience that I could go on and on about, including raving about just how cool and high tech the Rocky Mountain ATV/MC facility is… If you ever see it, it gives you a real appreciation for what it takes to fulfill even the smallest order. Huge thanks to Justin and Chance from Rocky Mountain for making the two days of riding absolutely epic, and also a big thanks to Rachel Bretzing for organizing flights, hotels and other arrangements, plus driving everyone to and from the airport.