Colorado & Utah
April 24 - May 4, 2002

Back in 1999 I got to ride the trails out in Fruita, Colorado at their Fat Tire Festival. I loved 'em and I have been waiting to go back. So, when Jean and I were trying to figure out where to go for our vacation this year, riding in Colorado (for the festival) and Utah seemed like a good idea.

It was. We got to visit Fruita, CO, Moab, UT and more…

The week leading up to the vacation was pure hecticosity. That's a word I just invented, but it works. We both raced the Sunday before we left (offroad duathlon) and hosted a big cookout. That didn't leave much time to pack bikes, clothes, gear and whatnot.

However, we got it all together and got the airport in Rhode Island with plenty of time for airport security to go through ALL of my stuff. Oh well, nothing to hide, so that's fine.

The flight was fairly uneventful and we arrived in Denver right on time. We picked up our rental truck -which Jean LOVED. It was a 4-dr Ford pick-up with 4WD and a locking bed. It was pretty cool but there were a number of things that I HATED. Mainly the way that the bikes had to fit in the back and the fact that the truck automatically locked the doors when you put it in drive. Oh, and if you didn't put your seatbelt on, it beeped like there was no tomorrow. I always wear my seatbelt, but if say, you turned the car on to listen to the radio, or whatever, you had to have the seatbelt on. Lame.

Our first goal was to go riding in Salida, CO. However, some major forest fires closed the roads down and access was denied. We decided to just head right out to Fruita then.

This was Jean's first time "at elevation" and it was a little uncomfortable without the oxygen that we know and love at sea level. We had, prior to this trip, plans to one day race the Leadville 100 (a 100m mtb race), but after gasping for breath around Leadville (the highest town in the US, elevation 10,152ft), we decided to find a race with more air.

Anyway, we got to Fruita and were immediately blessed with good luck. The rear brake on Jean’s bike had NOT been working well. Not well, at all. It was a hydraulic disc brake and I brought everything I could think of to try and fix it (without much hope for success). I had planned on spending at least a couple of hours at the hotel trying to get it dialed in, but lo and behold, the Magura tech guys were at the event. Jude spent a good couple of hours bleeding, facing, adjusting and replacing. Essentially he put a whole new brake on. This literally saved our trip because Jean would NOT have been having too much fun riding inches from steep cliffs with no brakes. She didn’t like it very much with brakes, but that’s another story.

A big thanks goes out to the guys at Magura.

With Jean’s bike set up, the trails were calling – but our first full day of riding was fraught with danger and disasters. First, a bee wanted to get a closer look at Jean’s ear. This freaked Jean out and her only recourse was to jump off the bike and land with a thud. This did in fact dislodge the bee, and it left its mark on Jean’s legs. She was battered and bruised, and got some cool scars. In fact, Jean’s injuries were the hit of the mtb festival and we overheard people "ooohing" and "aaaahing" about them. Bikers are a sick bunch.

Next, I was riding this super technical stretch of singletrack when I was suddenly attacked by angry desert demons. Or, I was riding along a stretch of fire road and while I wasn’t really paying attention my front wheel washed out and threw me to the ground. The elbow and shoulder bled a little, but the bruised palm was KILLING me.

I’m a big sissy and we spent the next day doing non-bike things in Fruita. There’s actually a lot of cool things in the area. Colorado National Monument is like a little Grand Canyon and it held many cool photo opp’s and a couple of short hikes. The area is also rich in dinosaur history and we got to see some old fossils and check out the dinosaur museum.

I was ready to ride the next day and we hit some of the best trails in the West. Fun singletrack, great views, killer terrain – it’s all there.

Sunday, we packed up and headed to the country’s mountain bike mecca, Moab, Utah. We stopped along the way and shot more rolls of film (like 300 images all told for the whole trip), and then arrived at our very cool little hotel, the Inca Inn.

We stayed in Moab for a few days but we could have spent weeks there – there is so much to see! The riding was good, but the scenery was spectacular. Between Arches National Park, Canyonlands and everything else in the area, we probably only saw a quarter of what’s there.

Some of the highlights include Delicate Arch, which pictures simply can not do justice, the petroglyphs all over the place, and absolutely stunning views just about everywhere you turn.

We did all that we could in the Moab area, but we’ll be back for more.

One our way back to Denver, we stopped off at Fruita (because the riding is better there) and hit THE BEST trail of the trip, Joe’s Ridge. The trail is a narrow ribbon of singletrack on an exposed ridge that winds down to a lower trail which can only be described as miles of berm after berm after berm. If nothing else, I want to go back for that.

We also hit boulder on our way out of town and hooked up with a good ol’ buddy, Steve Z. Steve enlightened us to the benefits of a 10-day juice fast and entertained us with his usual brand of wit.

By the time we go to the hotel in Denver, it was very late and I still had to pack the bikes up. It was another LATE night followed by another EARLY morning.

I wouldn’t know it was a weekend unless I was getting up at 4:00 or 4:30 for some reason.

To top our trip off, we did a NEMBA fun ride in Lynn Woods the day after we got back. It’s all so little there…

So there you have it. A brief description of our Colorado and Utah trip.

PHOTOS:
> The top photo is of Jean riding a section of Mary's Loop in Fruita.
> The next is a photo from one of the overlooks in Canyonlands National Park
> The next photo is of me riding some slick rock
> The famous Delicate Arch. It's HUGE and short hike up to it is one of the best hikes I've ever done

Here are some more pictures:

One example of the many rock art scenes in the area.

Colorado National Monument is really, really cool.

So cool that here it is again...

Here's another shot of Jean riding in Fruita..

Eventually I'll get all of the good photos scanned and posted in the photos section.
This will have to do for now.

Until the next trip - adios!