My pockets were filled with over 1,500 calories worth of candy and energy bars, and I prayed that my four water bottles would last the day. The desert sun warmed my black cycling shorts, but my legs were burning for a different reason.

It was the second of three days spent cycling 250 miles (402 km) through the mountains and national parks surrounding Moab. The winding route up the snow-capped La Sal Mountains climbed over 4,000 feet (1,219 m). On the climb we passed other cyclists pedaling so slowly it’s surprising they hadn’t toppled over, their shoes still clipped to the pedals.

The Sand Flats Recreation Area, southeast of downtown Moab, offers cheap camping.

With its slick rock, unbeatable scenery and immense variety of nearby trails, Moab has long been hailed as a fat-tire Mecca. On this trip, though, there would be no trails or slippery sandstone.

I, along with nine teammates from one of my local cycling teams, would keep our skinny tires on the road and our jersey pockets crammed with as much extra food and clothes as they could hold. In this high-desert landscape of natural arches and wide, water-carved canyons, we wouldn’t find many corner stores or re-stocking points.

Because of this, we chose to set up base camp in the 7,320-acre (29.6 square km) Sand Flats Recreation Area, just southeast of downtown Moab. With water so difficult to find, even in the region’s major campgrounds (such as Sand Flats) and national parks, it pays to be close to the gas stations and bike shops that offer free drinking water. From this high-desert plateau, we’d head out on a different route each day and return to our temporary home at the recreation area.

I unfolded my aluminum tent poles in the shadow of huge horizontal slabs of Navajo Sandstone. Piled like a sloppy stack of pancakes, the formations would provide some shelter from the sweeping northwest winds. But that wouldn’t stop the red desert sand from invading my tent and camouflaging everything in it.

As we pitched tents and unpacked the kitchen, the faint whir of faraway engines slowly grew to a roar. Our campground neighbors arrived in enormous, dual-rear-wheel trucks, towing trailers loaded with all-terrain vehicles.

Unlike some neighboring states, Utah doesn’t strongly regulate the use of off-highway vehicles, and Sand Flats is a popular stomping ground for off-roaders. Utah’s standard of mixed-use public lands has brewed an ongoing storm among environmentalists, ATV users, mountain bikers, archeologists, ranchers and camping enthusiasts. But over the next few days, we’d be far too tired to lose sleep over growling dirt bikes and drunken neighbors.

Morning arrived, and we were off. Heading from Moab north on state Highway 191 toward Canyonlands National Park, we pedaled along the bike path, which looked beautiful from the highway. Once it wove away from the main road, however, the smooth cement path turned to cracked and crumbing asphalt.

The obstacle course of large potholes, loose gravel and stretches of sand turned 8 miles (13 km) into a 45-minute affair, and caused an astonishing tally of four flats. (Except for the first few miles from Moab, the path does not suit skinny tires.)