Fruita is an interesting little town with a few hotels, Mexican restaurants, gas stations, a couple of bike shops and that's more or less it. Oh yeah, a dino museum that seemed interesting, but I didn't get the chance to check out. RV sales dealerships (and some trailers just out in the middle of nowhere) dotted the side of the highway. While there are beautiful houses built into ledges, there are more typically houses with old equipment and junk filling their yards. Most people that we've met seemed very nice and staff in restaurants were particularly friendly.
Today we rejoined the crew from Leadville at the local bike shop and headed for the trails. A detour finding the trailhead, but we arrived amidst lots of other riders prepping or re-packing their gear. Outside of mtn bikers, there are lots of ATV, jeep, DH, and others in related sports. Lots of big-tired trucks too. The trailheads are basic parking areas, but with reasonable outhouse buildings. The demographic that you run into is well – basically just like us.
The first part of the ride was a long technical climb. People start off full of piss and vinegar but it eventually settles into a pace. For the climb - basically you needle your front wheel around rocks of all shapes and sizes and keep churning up and around; lunging and spinning to keep moving forward. The views are incredible with remnants of Lord knows what geological history, but it's always incredible and aplenty. There are snow covered peaks in the distance, yet you're riding on mountains of rock and sand in a desert environment. I refer to it as Wiley Coyote/Road Runner territory. While riding, the pace was reasonable but fatiguing - though we were very appreciative of the trail knowledge that our riding companions had, there was one poor trooper in their group who wasn't at the same level. So we stopped every few minutes to re-gather and wait for him. Eventually he would come along on his borrowed bike, get the shortest break, and then bravely repeat the cycle. Not quite sure what's been going on but I just haven't had any giddy-up. I recognize that I'm not in the greatest shape and especially far from a cyclist physique this time of year, but fortunately there is still the underlying ability to just keep biking. I picked a conservative spot in the group and just rode. Admittedly, the continual stopping just killed me. Every time I would finally get into a grove, we'd stop and wait. Then you'd start up again and feel the load in your legs. Anyway, gravel, rocks, moderate ups and steep downs. Lots of fun. We made it back to the parking and said farewell to our friends, loaded up the van and headed to do a downhill shuttle on The Ribbon. It involved driving the bikes up to the top of a slickrock section, via a winding 8 mile of paved road. We figured that we'd try our luck at sending a (non lyra clad) hitchhiker to get the van then rejoin us at the bottom. But – the forecasted storm was moving in and it was getting late. Sure enough we met a "dude", named Kyle in the parking lot. We tore down a sloped field of slickrock looking for the trail markings. You really have to be careful as when you are tearing down the hills, you may suddenly be made aware that you're on the edge of a rock overhang, possibly hundreds of feet up. This realization suddenly made me a bit paranoid of a chain slip, pedal disengagement, branch hitting the bar, or whatever other freak incident which would send you barreling over the cliff. Unsettling. Anyway, probably an hour of zig-zagging down rocky descents and continual body English, we arrived at the lower parking – it was a hoot. Kyle had graciously offered to take his awaiting girlfriend's car to return us to our van. She stayed and chatted with us while we waiting. Then it was diner in Grand Junction and we headed back to the motel.
Today I got some great helmet-cam video. We only had a few hours of moving time but we were out there all day. It is as tiring as actually moving all day (not as fun though).
Windows Live Messenger makes it easier to stay in touch – learn how!
No comments:
Post a Comment