Jennifer Dilworth Hynes — mtbchk

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.