Western Spirit Cycling — Local services in Moab

I did quite a bit of research and asked a lot of questions prior to going on this trip with my 10 year old son and girlfriend. It was advertised as a family trip and the trail was considered easy and the park allowed for pedal assist bikes

There was 12 of us in the group, not including the two guides Colin and Riley, crammed into a van that had no windows that opened up. My girlfriend and I and my 10-year-old son were instructed to go to sit in the back of the van…we got there a little late and we were stuck in the last row the entire five days. Not once did anyone offer to rotate with us.

Of the 12 riders, our group of three were the only ones that had pedal bikes. The other nine writers had regular pedal bikes. This turned out to be very disappointing, frustrating and problematic for everyone involved, including us three.

It was a lot of uphills as well as downhills. There was an older couple with a special needs child, another two middle aged couple. The Hills were so big there’s no way they could make it up there in a pedal bike. We all discussed it and they said that WSC never offered them an E bike and they just told them that they don’t have those available What they should’ve done is instruct them to rent a e bike in town.

For the first two days, the majority of the group rode in the van due to the uphill climbs. I just can’t understand how this organization would allow people on this journey without a pedal assist bike. It was not only miserable for them, but it was also not pleasant for us. Every time we started to ride we got to the regroup point very fast and we waited over 40 minutes for everybody to catch up. We even was backtracking back-and-forth just to keep riding and stay busy.

The third day started with a 4 mile downhill. Followed by a 1 mile uphill and then another 9 mile downhill Colin, who was the senior of the two guides was really unaccommodating the entire week. Instead of letting the group ride together for 4 miles and then hop in the van for the 1 mile up, he insisted that they just drive straight to the second half of that day trip because he did not want to unload the bikes and load them back in the van. It was another long section of 7 miles downhill that he didn’t want to stop beforehand and literally everybody went down the most amazing 7 mile downhill section in the van.

I felt he was being lazy and completely unaccommodating Not just with the loading and unloading of the bikes for the people who didn’t have an E bike, but also throughout the week. I even felt he was scolding us at times and treating us like children.

On day four my son slept in until 8:05 AM and asked Riley if she could heat up some water so he can have hot cocoa or ramen. He missed breakfast that usually started at 7:15 because he was up the night before and already had ridden over 50 miles. She was about to heat it up and then Colin said it’s too late for that because everything is being taken down. My son cried all morning Hungry. How rude!

Seriously how hard is it to just boil a little cup of water for my kid? It can’t take more than 10 minutes. This is just one example of his attitude the entire trip and I would never recommend anyone take a trip where he is the guide. Riley, and the other hand, went above and beyond what I would have expected. She was helpful and always went th extra mile to make sure my son was ok and having fun. She even went down to the lake to help my son find the tiny rod cap to his fishing pole. It fell off with the handle. It was the size of a dime and she walks the entire area with my son until she found it. Because of that, my son got to keep fishing the rest of the trip. When Colin found out she was down there. He was just getting ready to yell out and tell her to come back right before we found it.

I think I would give this experience two stars but the reason I gave it 3 is because I thought the food was really good. I credit both Colin and...

Wow! This trip and this company are incredible. My family just completed a White Rim trip in April 2022. You can tell they have everything dialed in and their level of experience shows. Western Spirit takes care of every last detail. All you have to do is show up and bike! They provide restaurant-quality food in the middle of the wilderness, biking and maintenance tips, games, good conversation, knowledge of the area, and great time!

I can't decide which was more jaw-dropping: the views along the White Rim, or the food and level of service offered by the guides.

Every morning we were offered coffee/tea/hot drinks, a cold breakfast and later a warm breakfast, snacks along the way, a gourmet lunch, more snacks and cold drinks, an appetizer before dinner, a complete dinner and then dessert afterwards! The last night we had lasagna, garlic bread and Caesar salad with dutch oven carrot cake for desert. I can't believe the level of cooking they can do in the middle of nowhere!

My guides were Mark, Adam and Ben and I can't say enough about how wonderful they are. They were so encouraging, helpful and professional. Here are just a few of the snippets of things they said along the way...

"Can I take your plate?" "I know you can do this!" "Who wants to play bocce ball?" "That was incredible riding!" "This is the desert evening primrose flower" "Who wants more food?" "We'll be right behind you the whole way" "Let me set up a chair for you"

I was nervous to go on this bike trip but I literally had nothing to worry about. One guide leads the way and the other follows in the red Western Spirit truck to make sure everyone in the group is OK. The truck is supplied with water, food, bike maintenance supplies, maps, chairs, and more.

If you have any reservations about booking a trip, call them up and they'll walk you through the trip that's right for you. This trip was worth every penny! When I got done, I really feel like I should have paid more for the experience I received. 5 huge stars for...

It’s easy to sing Western Spirit’s praises when the weather cooperates and guides aren’t put in a challenging position with the guests and their bosses. Weather can’t be helped but the response to it was lackluster. This was my first fully supported, guided bike trip. I bikepack and backpack and will make my own plans and calls on weather and safety in the future.

My friend and I knew that the weather would be unusually cold (October 2020) and packed accordingly. Others bailed beforehand by claiming an exposure to Covid-19 and got rescheduled to 2021. We didn’t want to lie and screw the business owners and their employees, so we showed up and hoped for the best - we would be out-of-town and outside - low Covid risk.

A NWS storm warning on the day we left showed that in addition to freezing temps, precipitation was nearly guaranteed. Hypothermic conditions were pointed out by concerned guests once we got soaked and the temp dropped to below freezing. Communication between guides and management about a bail-out plan was poor and caused us to pack up our wet tents and then find out that we still needed them. Loaner tent was wet inside and had holes in the rainfly. Plans to put us in-town and indoors with other out-of-town guests during the pandemic – nope.

Customers need to feel safe. We didn’t. Our concerns about the weather were minimized and we wound up in conditions that could have been avoided by better decision-making on the part of Western Spirit. They offered us 20% off a future trip. We asked for 50% and were ignored, despite making the same offer to new customers on Instagram.

Finally - if you have a Covid policy, adhere to it. Don’t offer to put your guests and guides in the same indoor accommodations and simultaneously remind them to “mask up” before going into Western Spirit’s office to use the bathroom – a bathroom that didn’t offer single-use paper towels – only a shared...