Jennifer Dilworth Hynes -- mtbchk

Thursday, May 1 and Friday, May 2:

(written May 5 after we got back in town)

Thursday, we ended up touring the Colorado National Monument and taking bunches of pictures.  It was REALLY cold and windy.  We had snow flurries on and off all day.  From what we could see, the Bookcliffs trails were probably snow-covered, and much of the higher elevations were snowed in, too.  So, we did the "tourist-thing".
 
Friday we headed over to Moab.  The drive down scenic Hwy 128 was absolutely beautiful.  The highway follows the Colorado River down in the canyon.  We also enjoyed a great blues show on the local radio station while we drove...
 
We rented bikes at Poison Spider in Moab.  They had some cool stuff on super-duper sale, so we also got t-shirts, stickers and socks there.  (Yes, we're cheesy tourists).  Instead of renting another bike rack or taking the shuttle, we decided to ride to Slickrock from the shop.  It was a HUGE warm-up ride, through town, UP, UP, UP a road for a few miles (did I mention all UP?)
 
We hit the Slickrock.  It was fun.  VERY steep, but fun.  It was a mostly smoothe ride, but the downs were straight down, and the ups were straight up.  I wouldn't say it's a "Beginner trail", but there were a BUNCH of newbies out there trying.  The weather was absolutely beautiful -- mid sixties, the sun was warm and there was a cool breeze.  We met a bunch of nice folks from all over.  We ran into Perry Lee (local racer) who noticed Brian's Trailblazer jersey.  That was pretty random.
 
It was a fun ride, about 13 miles of trail, plus the ride to/from town.  You really have to pay attention to the white blazes on the slickrock.  If you aren't looking, it would be REALLY easy to go off the side of a cliff.
 
We headed back to Hot Tomato's in Fruita for dinner.  I got another T-shirt, and we got some stickers.  They were out of the sticker I really wanted, so if anyone heads out there, get me the one that says "Ride Bikes, Eat Pizza".
 
We left town yesterday afternoon.  Our takeoff from Grand Junction was aborted due to a Coyote that ran across the runway as we were getting up to speed to take off...  wierd.

Other observations about Moab:
 
I'm glad we don't share our local trails with ORVs, Jeeps, dirtbikes and ATVs.
 
Sidis are NOT a good choice on slickrock.
 
While Moab is fun, I think I prefer singletrack.
 
There are no shade trees in the desert.
 
Slickrock is FAST and it's amazing how well tires will grip it.
 
Riding STRAIGHT down a STEEP drop is FUN.
 
My husband can climb some steeeeeeep rock.
 
I can't.  (More of a fear of stalling out and falling backwards down a steep rock).
 
Deep sand will stop your bike very quickly.
 
The climbs out there are WAY steeper and longer than the carpet climb and goat hill put together.
 
Renting different bikes is a great way to demo new bikes, and it saves the hassle of shipping or flying with your own bike.

Wednesday, April 30:

(Written Thursday Morning, May 1)

Yesterday we headed over to do "Lunch Loops".  It's just outside Grand Junction, and is more of a "local" ride.  The books say that they are more technical.  They are.  We figured we'd start from Monument Road, ride up the Tabegauche Trail and then back down Andy's trail (since that looked like one of the longer routes and wasn't a freeride trail) and then maybe hit some other loops.  
 
Well, we chose the Tabegauche Trail to ride up because it looked like the easiest way up, and was a "road".  Yeah, right.  Let me also point out that we had GALE FORCE WINDS yesterday as a front came through.  I got blown OFF the double track at least twice.  So, this "road" has a section in it called "Widowmaker's Hill".  Looks like it could be fun for the DH guys.  Not so fun to try to push your bike up.  After that, it leveled out and I could ride small sections.  I rode some cool rock gardens, and Brian is a witness that I cleaned them.   .  
 
At the top, we turned down the road at the upper trailhead and headed down to Andy's.  It's rated (at least most of it is) as one of the milder trails in this fairly technical area, as an M+, which seems to be right where I belong -- it's technical enough to really challenge me, but not so much that I'm walking everything. (E=easy, M=Moderate, M+=Moderate to Difficult, D=Difficult, DD=Unridable for most, Extreme).
 
So, we get onto Andy's and the wind is whipping around, sand is blasting us, and the trail is exposed on the side of a mountain.  What I would have ridden otherwise, I walked because I was scared the wind was going to blow me off the trail and down the mountain (yes, it was THAT strong).  Then, the trail headed up.  Into large boulders.  Like, Triple-D kind of stuff that was hard enough for me to climb up, and even harder to lug a bike up.  It felt like we were going on a long, very windy rock climb with our bikes.  I looked at Brian and said, "This isn't fun anymore".  He was up ahead and said "It gets better from here".  It did.  
 
The ride down was fun.  I guess the good side of all that unridable "trail" is that if it looked like singletrack, I was going to try to ride it after all that bike-carrying frustration.  I rode a bunch of technical rock gardens and drops that I probably wouldn't have on Monday.  We rode Andy's to Eagle's Tail and then back to the trailhead.  That was fun.  Short, but fun.  
 
At that point, I was tired.  It seems silly, but pushing your bike and rock climbing with it is hard work!  So, we did 7.7 miles in 3 hours!!!!!!
 
It was 80+ degrees Tuesday.  It was snowing sideways this morning.  We're waiting for it to warm up and hopefully dry out and we'll probably head over to do the trails in the Kokopellis area that we missed the other day.

Oh, and we went to Hot Tomatos for dinner last night (that's the place you were talking about, Tom).
 
Four thumbs up for the dee-lish-ous pizza and mountain bike atmosphere!

Tuesday, April 29:

We rode the Kokopelli's trail systems today.  Started out Mary's Loop to Rustler's Loop.  Rustler's is a "Practice Loop" and considered beginner, but it is fast and fun in its own right.  Back onto Mary's, then onto Horsethief Bench.  The entrance/exit to Horsethief is GNARLY rock drops.  I'd love to see someone actually ride it clean.  Horsethief was awesome -- great views of the Colorado River, riding on the edge, rocks, ledges, both up and down.  Then it was back onto Mary's and then Steve's Loop and Handcuffs.  More rocks and ledges.  Some portage.  Back on Mary's, we passed the bottom of Lion's loop and went on up to Mack Ridge.  Mack would have been MUCH better as a downhill run (for future reference, I think we should have taken the left onto Lions and connected to Mack in the other direction).  About halfway up Mack's, I bonked.  Pushed a bunch of climbs that I would normally ride.  Rode down the other half of Lions at the top of Mack's for a fast, loose, rocky double-track downhill.  Then back onto the gravel frontage road back to the trailhead. 

Horsethief:


Up close:


I'm not sure how far we rode, but we stopped a lot to take pictures and try technical sections a few times.  We probably rode for about 6 hours.  It was very hot. 


 
Things that would have been good on this ride:  More sunblock.  Butt'r.  More water. 


 


I surprised myself and did a few technical rocky sections that pushed my skills.  No falls.  The trails today were tighter, fast (in most sections), some portage over rocky sections that I'm guessing aren't ridable for ANYONE.  Overall, the trails were nice and rocky and most of it ridable.  Some areas reminded me of a technical Dupont. 


 
I think Brian and I both agreed that we liked this area better than Bookcliffs.
 
I got the "right" bike this time.  Pivot Mach 5....  It was AWESOME!
 
Tom -- we tried to go to Hot Tomato for dinner (the place across from OTE).  They were closed "for cleaning"?  We ended up at the El Tapatio next to the hotel.  Typical Mexican food.

Here are the posts I made from our trip to Fruita, Colorado back in April...

Sunday, April 27:
Woo!  We're here, weather is beautiful.  Suddenly, my allergies are GONE, and I finally got a good night's sleep!  
Off to ride once the bike shop opens and we can get our bikes! 
We ate Pablo's Pizza last night and watched prarie dogs run around.  It was our very own "Meerkat Manor".  
(p.s., I'm renting a SA-WEEEET bike, so I'll give a report later)

Monday, April 28:
We got to the bike shop (OTE) this morning to pick up the bikes and the rack for the rental car.  They didn't have the bike I had reserved  , someone rented it out from under me... (maybe tomorrow?).  So, I ended up with a Blur LT and Brian has a Kona Dawg.  We headed out to 18 Road (The Bookcliffs riding area).  On an ambitious whim, we rode up Prime Cut and 18 road to the trailhead, took Frontside to Joe's Ridge, then cut over to Zippety Doo Da to take us back down to the car.  Whoa.  It's just like what you see in the video, but steeper.  There were a couple of climbs that I pushed.  The trails aren't overly technical, but when you add the "pucker factor", it really makes you think twice.  We crested the first ridge and it was a steep descent with high-consequence drops on either side.  Really, the descent wasn't that steep, but it was so loose and sandy that it was hard to not slide at the smallest turn of the wheel or lightest tap of the brake.  So, the sliding and potential for laying the bike down with not much room on either side of a sheer drop is a little frightening. 






We got back to the car, adjusted my brakes, and then headed back up the road.  We went next for "Chutes and Ladders".  It's exactly what the name says.  Tough pushes up hills, and then fun descents.  It levels out into a field, and is slightly downhill and fast all the way to the parking lot.  It felt like a slalom course in some places.  We came upon several cows on the trail.  One was VERY upset that we were there. Moooooo!


Tonight we went into Grand Junction for a "nice" dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  We found a microbrewery right in downtown and walked around a little.  They have cool art and metal sculptures everywhere.  Lots of "Bike art", too.