Fruita, usa trail report for April 4th, 2010

A happy group sharing the love of ride on the Horsethief Bench

Spring 2009


New work schedule (5 -12 hour days, followed by 2 -10 hour days to make 1- 80 hour week) forced me off the bike most of last week. Harsh. But I went to Happy Hour after the whistle blew yesterday with a power loop of Prime Cut/ Zippity/ Kessel's - and put my head back together. Yeah baby. (Have I told you yet how much I love the buttery shifting of my new Shimano Deore XT rear cassette?! )

Sunday evenings are so sweet here. Just like all the beach towns, ski towns I've ever lived in- it gets suddenly quiet, yet the excited, joyful energy of the weekend visitors lingers in the air. Locals come out to hike or ride then sit and visit over a cold beer- their weekend chores completed.

One thing that keeps me living in small towns is the drive by wave. I learned it first after leaving the SF Bay Area to live on an island 13 miles out to sea- If you were still on the island after the last ferry departed Sunday afternoon, you would start to get the wave from every tractor, horse cart, pick up truck driver and bicycle you passed. It has been a part of the cultural fabric in every community I've called home since. The subtleties of the one finger vs two finger vs entire hand off the wheel wave remain visceral and undefined, but transcend time zones and geography.

Last evening, jamming out to the 18 RD trailhead Dave and I both were struck by the consistency of the wave from all we passed- except for those rigs piled high with bikes. In fact, most of those drivers avoided eye contact entirely, their gaze intent on something further down the road.

Strange. Ironic. A little disconcerting.

We are so glad to be here. We are so glad you are here and we know you are too. If you find you are fortunate enough to be in town when the weekend dust is settling and the pace slowing, don't deny yourself the pleasure of the wave- it is an absolute Do Not Miss.

Slan abhaile.

These cats have created such sweet maps...

The 18RD (known among the hip-wah-zee as 'the 18 mile') trails are super rideable albeit heavily bovine laden- nothing like bovine to de-groom a trail (and leave plenty of poop traps behind). Get out there and throw down some rider groom! It is so fun to ride in the cool, damp with the dust still plastered to the trail.

Heads up though- any amount of rain will make for some real unhappiness if you take it out too far in the vegetarian, superfly, Edge Loop return area. We have hauled bikes coated in 50 pounds of clay out of there in April, fearing we may never make it back to the road and die a slow death trapped to our ankles in mud. Proceed with caution!

Kokopelli trails (Loma) just keep getting nicer (read, faster). It would be a lie to say I have explored the upper reaches of Moore Fun this year but, I have it from a very reliable source that the whole deal is rideable and fun (if you like that sort of thing (-: ). Lion's and the other west end stuff is all good to go as well.

Will take it out to Rabbit Valley a little later today (visualizing the wind dying down a bit this afternoon) to reconnoiter the upcoming MSC Rabbit Valley Rally. We'll let you know how it looks and, hopefully, we'll see you out there in a couple of weeks!