# pads for moab?



## creekchubb (Mar 16, 2006)

I am going to moab in september, do I need some kind of padding?


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

Do what I did. Get hurt in Moab every year for 15 years....THEN buy pads! No sense learning from other people's mistakes.


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## Mr. 68 Hundred (Feb 6, 2011)

First time, I wore some Race Face hardshell knee/shin DH gear (with a road helmet). Next two times I wore 661 Evo Knee's w/o shin protection (and 661 Comp full face). I'm pretty happy with the second set-up; even wore it in 101 degrees this last June. I'd much rather smash my shin with a pedal (which I did) than my teeth on a rock.


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## eatdrinkride (Jun 15, 2005)

creekchubb said:


> I am going to moab in september, do I need some kind of padding?


You don't "need" pads to ride there. Padding is insurance against injury. If you want the insurance then bring pads. If you're sketchy on new trails or not familiar with rocky desert terrain then I'd buy the insurance if I were you.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

creekchubb said:


> I am going to moab in september, do I need some kind of padding?


I ride with elbow/knee pads in Moab. It's rocky and very techy. You don't need them, but you might be really glad you had them.

BTW - all the locals I ride with in Moab and Sedona use pads and it's not because they are awful riders...


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## She&I (Jan 4, 2010)

Moab has a lot of variety. Slickrock is mostly exposure and not so much tech difficulty; Porcupine Rim has lots of small drops and tech sections. Ditto what edr said about desert terrain; unforgiving in crashes.

IMO it mostly depends on rider skill and confidence rather than the area of the trails.


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## armourbl (May 5, 2012)

I fell in Moab. Over the handle bars, landed on both wrists and forearms. I was wearing pads and still thought I might have broke my arm. Turned out it nothing was broken. Still had 18 miles to go to get back to the truck. It was brutal. 9 weeks later and I'm still not 100%.

I don't even want to imagine what would have happened without pads. The rock there hurts. Not much dirt in many places. I'd say wear pads for sure. If you don't have any most of the local bike shops carry a nice selection of pads to choose from and not at "rape your wallet" prices either.

ben


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## mizuchan43 (Aug 2, 2013)

If you have yet to ride slick rock i suggest getting some elbow pads. You will find yourself tipping over a lot and you will want some elbow protection against the rock. I suggest getting something low profile. You dont need serious protection but you will want something in between your elbow in the rock. 

These pads a recommend. 

G-Form XRD Elbow 
POC VPD 2.0 Elbow
Demon Soft Cap Pro X d30 Elbow


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## bikerider2 (Nov 9, 2011)

It really depends on which trails you are riding. For slickrock, sovereign, bartlett wash gemini bridges you don't really need pads, unless you are prone to falling or like taking bigger risks. If you ride the whole Enchilada or even just porcupine, definitely pad up. It will give some confidence to try some tougher sections and piece of mind because yeah lots of chunk at it hurts. I crashed on Porcupine once and while getting x rays in the hospital, they had a dry erase board with number of broken bones and which trail. Porcupine won by a large margin.


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## Tystevens (Nov 2, 2011)

bikerider2 said:


> I crashed on Porcupine once and while getting x rays in the hospital, they had a dry erase board with number of broken bones and which trail. Porcupine won by a large margin.


That is funny! (not that you were in the hospital, but that they were keeping track). I ended up in the Instacare a couple weeks back (leg puncture wound from crashing in a rocky section), and the people were generally aghast that I was doing something as careless as mountain biking.

I always wear my knee pads in Moab, and usually wear arm and full face on trails like Porcupine/TWE and others. Just about anywhere you hit the ground there will hurt, and the speeds get pretty high on the Porc rim section -- I've seen some remarkable crashes on that trail in the past.

My mishap two weeks ago, on a local trail I've ridden a thousand times, reminds me that it is better to have pads on and not need them than to not have them and miss a couple weeks of riding because of it.


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## SRALPH (Jun 27, 2008)

You won't need them for every ride but you should at least get some of the new impact gel style knees and maybe some of the lighter weight elbows like the gforms. Easy to stuff in your Camel if you find them too hot or unnecessary.


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## deanopatoni (Nov 28, 2005)

Tystevens said:


> My mishap two weeks ago, on a local trail I've ridden a thousand times, reminds me that it is better to have pads on and not need them than to not have them and miss a couple weeks of riding because of it.


Your story is similar to mine. I own pads but never wear them as I find them uncomfortable and hot. Even in the alps I didn't wear them. On Tuesday night on a local trail that I ride 2-3 times s week I came off and tore a laceration under my knee cap and was in hospital for 2 days needing surgery under general anaesthetic to clean out the wound and sew it up. I was very lucky, as it could of been a lot worse. I had exposed tendons and a main artery, but fortunately I did not sever these. 
Now I'm looking for some comfortable pads that I can where all the time. I am considering GForm or POC.


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## skewe (Sep 30, 2010)

I would get the soft shell pads.

I know 661 makes a range of those soft shell pads


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## Bacon Seed (Aug 31, 2013)

Living and Wrenching here for a long time I can say I have seen it all. September? Prime time for the Whole Enchilada! Bring your pads, it's 32 miles of hard riding, people get tired towards the end where it's hardest and come back to our shop bloody all the time, or med-vaced to Grand Junction CO, or in the hospital. This where bikes come to die, and grown men cry. I always where knee and shin pads on that ride.


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## unrooted (Jul 31, 2007)

I sound like a salesman, but I'm not; try to find LEATT 3DF pads. Light enough I carry them in my camelback, but burly and comfy.


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