More Moab MTB - Thanksgiving 2012

Still feeling a bit groggy from the great american holiday of overeating, Rachel, Jordan and I headed out early last Friday morning for a long weekend in the desert. After a pit stop for supplies in Grand Junction, we were happily eating lunch under the warm desert sun by 12:30.

After lunch we checked out the Klondike Bluffs trail network on our bikes. Hoping to grab a campsite before the hordes arrived, we were a bit limited on time, but we still managed to ride Dino-Flow, EKG, Baby Steps North, and Megasteps. Unfortunately, as we did not ride the Klondike Bluffs jeep road we missed the dinosaur tracks imprinted in the rock along the road. Next time, I'd like to check those out. Overall, Klondike Bluffs is a far cry from some of our favorite rides in Colorado where continuous, long climbs are followed by screaming descents. The elevation change at Klondike Bluffs is minimal, making it a great place to go if you are not into suffering through long climbs. At the same time, the terrain is just technical enough so that anyone can have fun without having to walk their bike much. What I really like about Klondike Bluffs is the great views of the La Sals which rise out of the desert to the southeast. After riding both, I'd recommend the Magnificent 7 trails, which we rode back in October over the Bluffs - they provide similar technicality with more flow and even better views.

Rachel on EKG:


One of the more technical sections of Klondike Bluffs:


With a little light left, we hurried down to Moab, finding a great campspot at Williams Bottom. I'd highly recommend this campsite for winter camping - located along the river it faces southeast, providing awesome warm early morning light.

Saturday morning we spent the day checking out Canyonland's Island in the Sky. A day, let alone a lifetime, isn't enough time to see the incredible detail, beauty, and variety of Canyonlands, but we packed in many short hikes to see as many places as possible. Some of our favorites are below.

Murphy Point:


White Rime Overlook:


Aztec Butte:


Upheaval Dome:


All the sites we visited were amazing and easily accessed; I'd recommend all of them. I can't wait to get back and spend more time in Island in the Sky!

The next day we were up and at em early with plans to check out Arches National Park and then squeeze in a ride. With only a few hours to work with we saw only a few of Arches' plethora of sites. Arches is a juxtaposition of scales: Each arch is filled with infinite fingerprint sized detail, yet you have to crane your head back to see the top of the towering arch, and on top of that, the arch is dwarfed by the La Sal mountains rising out of the desert.

Turret Arch:


Double Arch:


After the sprint through Arches, we piled in the car and headed to one of our favorite trail networks: Fruita's Kokopelli Loops at Loma. I'd easily rate Loma as one of my top 5 rides: its technical, exposed, fast, and downright beautiful. There are few things like riding a bike on the edge of a 400 foot cliff that overlooking the Colorado River. I've done a writeup of this ride before, so I'll just share a couple pictures of how amazing winter in the desert is:

Mary's Loop:




Steve's Loop:


Cheers!

Fruita Mountain Biking - October 2011

This past weekend Jordan, Rachel, Grete, Emrys, Emiel, and I headed out to Fruita for one last summer hurrah before ski season (yes I know Wolf Creek was open). Fortunately, Emiel and Emrys wisely left work early and snagged the last camp spot at 18 road.

The race van makes things blurry
Photo: Emrys Hall

The rest of us were not so wise and left Boulder around 6:30. Counting our 30 minute dinner pit stop it took us 5.5 hours, we rolled in to this lovely site, and deceptively clear skies:

Night at 18 Road w/ the race van
Photo: Emrys Hall

By morning a lovely 45 degree rain was falling, no one was feeling too motivated or warm, especially Grete who had made the unfortunate decision to sleep under the stars. Somehow she was not awoken by the liquid hypothermia falling on her, fortunately Emiel woke up and was nice enough to wake her up. We eventually got rolling and by noon we were riding the Kokopelli trail network down at the Loma exit. At this point the rain had slowly to a slight drizzle, which soon ended. We rode Mary's to the Horsethief Bench Loop.

Horsethief Bench Loop, Horsethief Canyon, Colorado River

Rachel finishes up the Horsethief Bench Loop

Horsethief bench is awesome: its a combination of fast, flowly, smooth singletrack and technical sandstone ledges, blocks, drops, and rolls. It has some challenging sections that I didn't clear, but maybe could with a couple more tries, and some moves I doubt I'll ever make. Given more time I would definitely do a couple laps here.

Emiel, no doubt discussing how awesome my bike is

Rachel cruises along Mary's towards Steve's

We then continued along Mary's to Steve's Loop via Steve's cutoff. Steve's is similar to most of the Fruita riding we did: rolling and awesome. It was less technical than Horsethief, but had some mindboggling sections next to enormous cliffs. You would never fall of them, but they still gave me some butterflys. Nothing like riding five feet from a 400 foot cliff with the Colorado river below you! Another loop I wouldn't miss. Unfortunately, Steve's loop was when our bikes began to fail. My chain was the first casualty, to be followed later on in the day by Grete and Emiel's bikes.

Steve's Loop

Grete on Steve's Loop

After Steve's we started up Troy Built with the plan of riding it to Mack Ridge. I was having a great time racing Emiel up the climb when my cell phone informed me that Grete's derailleur had exploded behind us. Fortunately it was only her derailleur hanger, but of course no spare! We burned a fair amount of time failing to turn her bike into a single speed. At this point we realized that our plans were derailed and that we needed to head back and hopefully find Grete a new hanger in Fruita ASAP.

The straw that broke the camels back

o well....

After hearing rave reviews those of us with functioning bikes headed for Moore Fun on the way back. I do not like this trail. Its just not possible to ride bikes up 3 foot rock blocks and around opposing 90 degree turns. Its one of those trails that just destroys bikes: one second your disc brake rotor is smashing into a rock, the next second its your crankset loosing a couple teeth, then its your stanchion tube grinding through a large boulder. Its one of those trails I would have probably enjoyed much more a few years ago when I was all about destroying my bike. Remembering that we were after all trying to get Grete to Fruita before the bike shops close, I gave up on this silliness after about 20 minutes and turned around to ride the frontage road back. Apparently the rest of Moore Fun was similiar, we were back at the bike shop in Fruita before the rest of the crew had even made it back to the car (minus one of Emiel's pedals). I would highly recommend Mary's, Steve's, and Horsethief; Moore Fun only if you are REALLY good and enjoy bike destruction.

The Bookcliffs

More scenery

The second day we woke up at 18 Road, where we would spend the day riding, to clear skies and perfect temps. 

French Toast and our campsite at 18 Road

We started out the morning with a lap on Joe's Ridge, climbed back up the road, rode Kessel all the way down, rode Prime Cut back up, and finished off with a short climb up Frontside followed by a descent down the upper half of Zippity Do Dah. I spent one day at 18 Road back in high school, but forgot just how fun it is. All the trails provides fast and smooth singletrack, Joe's and Zippity combine this with exciting descents down some rather skinny ridges, Kessel with a couple miles of perfectly banked corners. Prime Cut provides a great reascent route. The only trail that I would not recommend is upper Kessel, its not bad, its just that everything else is much better. Joe's Ridge to Kessel incorporates the best parts of Kessel. It reminds me of skiing at a ski area: the climbs are effortless, and are followed by a couple minutes of exhilarating and fast descents. Nothing here is very technical, but riding down the ridges is fun enough that a group of mixed ability can have a good time. I would recommend this area to almost anyone.

Emiel legs are a bit tired - Top of Zippity Do Dah

Emiel pumps the rolls of Joes Ridge

Jordan braves the steeps of Zippity Do Dah

Grete at the top of Joes Ridge

Emiel and Emrys nearing the bottom of Joes Ridge

Jordan and Rachel heading up Western Zippity to Zippity Do Dah

Serengeti or Fruita? - Western Zippity

Jordan rounds an exciting corner on Zippity Do Dah

Emiel and more awesomeness - Zippity Do Dah

Zippity Do Dah

The afternoon was almost a repeat of the morning: up the road, down Joe's Ridge, down lower Kessel, upper Western Zippity, all the way down Zippity and back up to the campsite. We had planned on riding Chutes and Ladders (which I have ridden before and remember being pretty awesome), but we ran out of time. O well, next time!

The Crew + Monster Bike

If you haven't ridden in Fruita, ride it! 18 road isn't technical or tiring, but its fun, fast, and exhilarating. The Kokopelli area is a great combination of precipitous views, fast singletrack, and technical sandstone. I'd love to spend more time riding the rest of the trails at both areas.