White Rim Micro-Invitational – Feb 22nd

In December I had the most incredible solo ride across Utah’s White Rim Trail, located in Canyonlands National Park. December is not, as far as I know, a particularly popular time to embark on White Rim, probably because the desert’s fickle ability to be quite warm, or utterly freezing, within hours. Thankfully, my trip wasn’t planned, it was entirely impulsive: I looked at the immediate forecast, saw a window with lows in the high 20s F, and highs in the low 50s F, and knew deep down that as long as I was dry, those temperatures would be doable, if not a bit of an unknown to plan for. I’ve ridden White Rim five times, always in a day. Sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. On this outing I wanted and needed to go alone, to get some think time and rekindle the flame that keeps me excited for the wild, unscripted bicycle lifestyle. The trip was a spectacular success. On the first day I started late and rode to camp in the sunset and utter darkness. Magic. On the second day I woke up to a cold morning that warmed quickly, and had the entire place to myself as I completed the loop. Having done the trip, I had an idea: Why not try to invite others to come and do this same trip with me? So that’s what the White Rim Micro-Invitational is: An incredibly limited space invite for people I know and don’t know to come and do that same trip with me again in late February, 2025.

So, here’s the deal.

I went online and booked a campsite for 15 people on White Rim for February 22nd, 2025. That’s a Saturday night. This leaves 14 total spaces for people who can come and do the ride with me. The goal of this event is to introduce new people to The White Rim, people who might not otherwise go on their own, and it is also to both ride with friends and make new friends.

February 22nd is very early in the season to do White Rim, so we will be at the mercy of nature and the weather. It could be that we win the weather jackpot and have pretty mild temperatures like I did in December. It could be both colder and warmer than when I went. It could also rain or snow to such an extent that this ride is impractical and unsafe to do, in which case I will cancel the ride.

Ride start: Saturday February 22nd. Complete approximately half of the Rim, and make it to camp.

Day 1 route: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/241349582

On the second day we’ll break camp and complete the Rim, ending at the parking lot where we started.

Day 2 route: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/241353987

Notes:

1. This ride is totally unsupported. Neither myself or Rodeo Labs are providing any services, support, rescue, technical assistance, moral assistance, or any other assistance on this ride. In order to come you must have a capable bicycle for the route (See gear notes below), have the fitness to complete the route, have the riding ability to complete the route, have the technical ability and supplies to maintain your own bicycle, and have a safe way to be extracted (evacuation insurance) if you are unable to complete the route for any reason. There is essentially zero cell phone service on White Rim, so the ability to contact outside parties for rescue is needed. This could involve a Garmin InReach device and plan, a Spot device and plan, or a modern phone such as an iPhone 15 which is able to send satellite text messages.
2. You will need to carry all of your own food and water on the route.
3. You will need to carry your sleeping supplies and clothing.
4. You will need to be prepared for a wide range of temperatures from far below freezing to relatively warm. You will need to pay attention to the forecast in order to refine the gear and clothing that you bring in order to be prepared for the weather.
5. I am implementing a fee to participate but do read the terms: This fee isn’t for the sake of profit, but rather to make sure that people who RSVP one of the very limited spots treat the RSVP with respect instead of just taking up space and deciding if they want to go later. So, the fee will be $100 to participate, but if you do come and begin the ride regardless of whether or not you complete it, I will refund $80 after the ride. If you RSVP and do not do the ride, but I’m able to find an alternate rider to take your space, I’ll refund $90 and a new person will be able to RSVP under the same terms. If you RSVP and are simply a no-show or cancel and I’m unable to replace your space with a different rider, there will be no refund. If I decide that weather is such that I don’t want to host this ride, I’ll refund everyone $95 (the other $5 gets eaten by the credit card processing company). Why all this hassle? As I said, I don’t want people to RSVP and then bail, and take up space for someone else who would have come, so hopefully this completely contrived system helps filter out some of that.
6. We will work to institute a buddy system for people on the ride, so that nobody is left totally alone out there. If you want to go fast, buddy up with someone fast. If you want to go sloooooow, buddy up with someone else who feels the same.

More info:

What time of day will the ride start?

You can start whenever you like on that Saturday. I will be driving out from Denver and arriving approximately 2pm on the 22nd, and will begin riding about then. I will ride into the sunset / evening and have lights for darkness, which is a pretty special experience out there. As a point of reference, if you average 10mph, it will take five hours to reach camp on the first day. You may stop a lot to goof around, rest, or take photos, so your personal pace may vary.

What type of bike should I ride?

The best bike for White Rim in terms of comfort is a hardtail or full suspension MTB. Full stop. You’ll have a more relaxed experience on one of those. I, myself, have always done White Rim on my Traildonkey or Flaanimal. If doing it on a gravel style bike, you’re going to want the largest tires you can run, i.e. 700×2.1 or 650×2.4. I’ve done it on 700×35 and enjoyed my day, but I’m weird and I like underbiking, so I would NOT advise doing that. I would recommend a Redshift stem / post, or even a gravel suspension fork on your gravel bike if you have one.

What’s the water situation like on White Rim?

There is almost zero water on the route, and you should plan for that. Yes, you do reach the Green River and can filter at about mile 25 on the second day, but you would need a robust filter and / or tablets to purify Green River water. I’ve done it successfully, but I’ve also clogged my filter doing it. A bonus of going in the winter is that I almost didn’t sweat at all over the two days, and my water needs were quite low. I brought two Nalgenes, two very large water bottles, a Coke Mini, and a 70oz water bladder on my back, and ended up finishing two large bottles and the bladder, not needing the Nalgenes at all. But your mileage may vary. Everyone uses water differently. You can always dump water out if you feel like you brought too much.

What temperatures should I expect?

If the lows are lower than the teens at night, I’ll probably consider canceling because that is very cold and you’ll need so much gear to stay warm while riding and also while sleeping. When I went the low was 27F and the high was 50F, which was doable. Average temperatures in February according to Google are 49° / 23°, but any freak weather event can change that.

How about pre-post ride lodging?

If you want to stay in Moab to soak up the place before and after the ride, there are countless lodging options in town. Moab is about 45 minutes from the starting area parking lot.

How much food should I bring?

I don’t know. Depends on how fast you go and how much fuel you burn. I brought four Snickers, gummy worms, mixed nuts, dried mangos, a footlong sub sandwich, and a few other bits of candy and I had plenty of food. But bring a bit more food than typical if its cold, as you’ll burn calories staying warm.

Gear requirements and recommendations (not exhaustive, do your homework!)

1. Capable Bike
2. Capable clothing for cold and heat. Recommendations: This means many light riding layers to add or subtract, a waterproof jacket layer, a down puff layer jacket, down pants for camp / sleeping, buff / face mask, beanie (warm head covering). Two pairs of gloves – a liner layer and a warm shell layer. Two pairs of wool socks, or three if you like. Shoe covers if you use them – I didn’t. Wool is always a hero material on trips like this. Cotton is BAD.
3. 1200 lumen headlight good for 4-6 hours of night riding, depending on your speed.
4. Camp headlamp / backup light.
5. USB power bank and cables to recharge phone / lights / GPS if needed
6. Communications device to send for help if needed. Phone with satellite texting. Inreach / Spot / etc. Evacuation / search and rescue insurance recommended.
7. Tent or bivvy sack
8. Sleeping bag rated for winter temperatures.
9. TWO emergency blankets – mylar. They help a LOT in a pinch
10. Helmet
11. Hydration vest (?)
12. Sunglasses. I like photochromatic so I only need one pair for day or night.
13. Sunscreen / lip balm
14. Camp stove?
15. Coffee?
16. Camp chair? (Worth the weight?)
17. Camp food / hiking meals
18. Riding food
19. Camera / Phone camera. No drones in national parks!
20. Repair kit / tube(s), hex wrenches, pocket knife, spare cleat bolts, spare cage bolts (M5). Sidewall patches. Spare chain links.
21. Toiletries.
22. All the bags to carry all of your gear

Here is a video that I made from my solo trip with pretty much everything that I brought, minus my main frame bag which I forgot to unpack.

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A post shared by Stephen Fitzgerald (@stevetheintern)

I will create a Discord channel for coordinating rides / discussing gear / finalizing logistics and send out an invite to registered riders.

This ride / event is an absolute experiment. I hope it works, and I hope we get to ride together in February.