Fruita, CO

Jeff overlooking the Colorado River from Mary’s Trail

Independence Monument, part of the Colorado National Monument canyons

We just spent 3 days in Fruita, CO.  Everyone asks us, ‘why are you going to Fruita?’.  Mountain biking, that’s why:

“I used to live in Moab.  We drove to Fruita to go mountain biking.” – bike shop mechanic in SLC

And it was . . . everything it was promised to be.  We started out by riding 4 hours on Saturday and 3 on Sunday at the 18 Road trails area.  It was almost 100 degrees every day, dry as a bone, and we loved every minute.  The best was definitely Kessel Run, which is a roller coaster of a smooth downhill with tons of bermed corners and rollers.

We intended to leave Monday morning for SLC.  But on Sunday afternoon, we stopped by the local bike shop (Over the Edge Sports), and the guy there (Max) told us we couldn’t leave town without riding Horsethief Bench, over at the Kokopelli Trails area.  We’d heard Kokopelli was very difficult, so we figured it wasn’t for us (yet), but he made a good case.  So we figured what the hell.  We rode Mary’s to Horsethief early Monday morning.  The guy from the shop was right – fantastic views of the Colorado river, technical singletrack, and ripping downhills.  Now, we walked probably 30% of the trail – some of which was ride-able for us in the future (~1-2ft risers, steep slickrock), and some of which we will never ride (4 in wide rock benches right next to a cliff, and the infamous drop-in to Horsethief).

Afterwards, curiosity got the better of us, and (exhausted) we drove up to the Colorado National Monument.  Kristen was starting to lose it and was falling asleep in the car, but we were able to snap some great shots on the drive up and around the canyons.

The whole thing turned out to be a perfect introduction to the Southwest.

Picture album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22845041@N08/sets/72157630193979696/