Bikepacking is an incredible way to explore new terrain – riders can pack their bikes with camping gear, set off on two wheels, and traverse worlds that are accessible to a rare few. Most casual bikepackers have heard of the more famous races and routes. The Tour Divide runs from Banff to the Mexican border in New Mexico. The Arizona and Colorado Trails test riders through epic climbs and singletracks. However, these routes owe their inspiration to what is known as the original bikepacking trail – a trail that lies right in Moab’s backyard.
The Grand Loop Race was started in the late 1990s, and it links some of the earliest established long-distance mountain bike trails in the country. The Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Alliance created three long-distance mountain bike trails in the late 1980s and early 1990s – the Kokopelli, Tabeguache, and Paradox trails. Linking them together forms the Grand Loop.
On the route, riders take on technical 4×4 tracks and abandoned uranium mining roads for 360 miles over the Uncompahgre Plateau and La Sal Mountains. The official race was on hiatus for more than a decade, but returned last year. This year, four Moab locals joined the challenge, setting out from Nucla, Colorado on a punishing loop that very few finish.
Dave Wilson, Scott Pauker, Evan Smiley, and Pete Bassinger are the four Moab riders who took on the Grand Loop last month – and, making Moab proud, all four finished the route.
Bassinger, an accomplished endurance cyclist, completed the route as an individual time trial a few days before the official start because of a conflict. The other three lined up on May 31 with the “Grand Depart.”
“Big Dave” Wilson has been riding bikes since he was young and has tackled numerous long-distance trails on both geared and single-speed bikes, but the Grand Loop was his first race in a decade. Wilson founded and owns Nuclear Sunrise Stitchworks, a local bikepacking bag manufacturer. “I’d always been into bike touring and always had the adventure mindset, which is what it really takes to be able to complete these routes,” Wilson said.
Scott Pauker started his own bikepacking journey with a bang, riding the Continental Divide for his first-ever overnight bike experience. He was hooked from there and spend three years bikepacking from northern Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. The 2024 Grand Loop, however, was his first self-supported multi-day race. “It was an intention to see if I could finish it, and not really worrying about how fast… just wanting to be able to finish,” he said.
Evan Smiley, the founder of Moab Community Cycles, is a well-recognized name in the local bike scene and an advocate for accessible cycling in Moab.
Wilson, Pauker, and Smiley each came in with plenty of bike experience, but none had ridden the full Grand Loop before—and with any new route comes new challenges. Wilson and Pauker were leapfrogging each other most of the first day, while Smiley waited out the heat for a later evening start.
The temperature on the first day was punishing, but the weather improved, and despite some tough headwinds, the riders all made great time.
“My highlight was also probably my low point – riding what’s called the Robidoux Mesa up on Uncompahgre Plateau,” Pauker said. Riders must ride laterally across the mesa, dipping in and out of drainages that can be a few hundred feet deep. Pauker counted 23 drainage crossings in a row.
Meanwhile, Wilson ran into navigation issues with his GPS and went off trail a few times, but was having a blast on his Esker Japhy Titanium bike. “I was just really stoked on my bike,” Wilson said. “That was a super high, to be on a really fun bike that was just capable of anything out there, just let it rip.”
The plentiful water—not always a guarantee on this route—in addition to agreeable weather made the experience a fun one for all, even despite the hard parts.
Wilson rolled into the finish line in 3 days and 19 hours after riding straight through until 3 a.m. on his final night. Pauker arrived late the next morning, with Smiley finishing a few hours after him. Combined with Bassinger’s completed time trial, all four Moabites completed the loop this year, no mean feat considering the odds—out of the nearly 70 registered riders, less than 30 finished.
“Most Moab riders have an adventure mindset,” Wilson said. “I had no doubt that we’d all finish.” He felt the local love from the course, getting messages when he turned on his phone from dozens of Moabites cheering him on.
“Honestly, you feel that,” he said. “You know that people are stoked for you, stoked for Moab and having Moab finishers. It was just a hell of a lot of fun.”
Wilson hopes more Moabites become aware of the Grand Loop, and that the number of Moab riders in next year’s race can double – or more.
To any riders looking to take on a new challenge, whether it’s their first overnight trip or tackling a race like the Grand Loop, his advice is simple: “Just go out there and have a good time. See what happens.”
Hopefully, as word spreads and more great local riders come out, the 2025 Grand Loop will boast even more Moab finishers setting out to conquer the “original bikepacking trail.”
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