I didn't want to lose the journal, so I have decided to add it to my blog - which was my intention all along (to blog it in real time) but unfortunately the antiquated blog software made it difficult to post on location and our time was limited...So the ease of posting it on the Trailblazer's made that forum a better choice for us. I have included comments from Jim and Ivan, but left out the membership responses that can be found in the original posts]...
Saturday, September 27
Ivan, Jim and I landed in Grand Junction, CO on Friday night, picked up a few a
staples (peanut butter, jelly, bread, and of course, some fine Fat Tire micro-brew), then it was off to our hotel and a hike around the Fruita Fall Festival. We were up early Saturday morning, thanks to Commander Konermann's 6:00 am revelry (hey, aren't we on vacation?). Oh well, if I just stay on East Coast time, that's still sleeping in to 8:00. Or so I'll just keep telling myself...We hit the coffee shop in Fruita and I picked up my bike at Over The Edge Sports. (Side note: I shipped my bike via Fed Ex - special thanks to Mark at Cycle
Path...btw Mark, the new Endura bearings in the bottom bracket are awesome! Jim and Ivan flew their bikes with them). We met up with Dirt Diva for Life, Rebecca Adler and her friends, and it was off the the Kokopelli Trail system.[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/2894460953_13efdb8e6b.jpg?v=0[/img]
We did a warm up ride on Rustlers Loop, which offers tremendous views of the Colorado River. While it would be considered a beginner loop, it offered those that hadn't ridden Fruita in the past, a chance to see what it was all about. It was a great warm up before going off on the more challenging trails.
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Next up was the 1.5 mile climb up Mary's Loop to the portaged stairway of washing machine boulders that dropped us onto Horsethief Bench. It is truly amazing the kind of punishment that today's high tech mountain bike handle. Several times, with my skills somewhat maxed out, the bike (my Turner Flux) saved my hide. Jim, Ivan and I would scamper off for a little wide open adrenalin rush, then throttle back for Rebecca and Lese, who were never far behind. We completed Horesthief, then it was a return hike up those washing machine boulders and back to complete Mary's.
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As we headed back to the parking area, Jim suffered a pinch flat of his rear tire. A pinch flat to a tubless tire can spell disaster, so we installed a tube. While reinstalling the wheel, the rotor caught a brake pad and one thing leading to another, we eventually had to remove the rear brake caliper and Jim limped in on just a front brake. The upshot was that with only one brake, Jim got to work on some new skills. Fortunately, once back in Fruita, he was able to get it quickly repaired and were ready for Sunday's ride at the Bookcliffs.
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The desert heat was tough on all of us. The three of us went through 100 oz
Camelback bladders and an endurance drink on the bikes. Saturday night was spent re-hydrating and an excellent meal in Grand Junction.
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Sunday, September 28
Wow!
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A stupendous day of riding in the Bookcliffs! After a slightly later start than we were expecting, we hit the trail to warm up on Kessel Run, a 2.2 mile slalom run down a wash.
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Most trails require a 2 mile spin up 18 Road to many of the trailheads and the Kessel trail head is at the top of the road. The run is genuine fun and the fast turns, jumps and the drops into and out of the wash make the trail a blast to ride. The trail ends in the parking lot where the three of us re-grouped and hit 18 Road to the start of Joe's Ridge.
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Joe's runs the spine of a narrow f*!#ing ridge (thank Ivan for that quote) ending with a high consequence drop. No roller coaster could possibly offer the rush that running Joe's Ridge does.
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That is unless of course that roller coaster is Zippety-Do-Da the big brother of Joe's that we ran next. Zippety doesn't give you the one big drop that Joe's Ridge gives; no, there are 4 HUGE drops that include a pucker factor unequaled in our neck of the woods.
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We met up with Rebecca's gang from Denver, exchanged some laughs, said our goodbyes and after waiting for what seemed an eternity (Ivan finally fixed his flat rear tire) we took Prime Cut up to the Kessel Run trailhead and it was off on our final run of the afternoon.
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While we are proud of our photos they can do absolutely no justice to the beauty of the desert. With the roll of thunder and clouds approaching, we beat feet back to our hotel in preparation for a pizza and beer (ok, so Ivan gets a coke) dinner.
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Tomorrow we depart Fruita for a day of sightseeing in Telluride, before we head to Durango and some more riding.
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Monday, September 29
Monday saw the Three Amigos up and heading out of town to Telluride. The ride was unbelievable. In sharp contrast to the beauty of the desert we were introduced to the golden aspens.
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According to the locals, we couldn’t have arrived at a better time. And the views confirmed just that.
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Arriving in Telluride after our three hour journey, we were greeted by a quaint, cool town. Quite obviously the ski town was in off-season, but that didn’t mean they rolled up the sidewalks. After a walking tour, we settled in for a taco lunch, before hitting the gondola for a ride to the top of the slopes.
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It was here that I felt the first affects of the elevation. Getting off the gondola was a sign, stating we were at 10,520 feet. Bending over to pick up a map sent this old boy spinning, and a few more incidents made me wonder if I would be able to make a run down the mountain on the bike. Jim felt a few weird sensations too, but we decided to gut it out and headed for the van to assemble our gear.
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While we were changing from mild mannered tourists to cycling gods we met up with Captain Kirk, a radiologist from Phoenix. Kirk was heading to the gondola for a ride of his own so we decided to join him.
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The gondola rides are a story in themselves, affording vistas of the box canyon that is home to Telluride. Once off the lift, we headed down a rocky, Pisgah-ish ride on the switchback laden rock strewn Ridge Trail.
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Rolling through the aspens is a sight to behold. Magazine photos don’t do the aspens justice. We intersected blacktop for a mile long, downhill, 40+ mph ride to Ivan’s favorite, the Jurassic Trail. A new cut trail, it offered rolling terrain along a peat moss type of soil. Ivan was in heaven.
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Then it was off to the Meadows Trail for the ride back into town. Captain Kirk gave us a grand tour, it’s always good to hook up with the locals, as piecing the route together may have been difficult.
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We packed up our gear and started our journey to Durango, zigging and zagging through Ouray CO, proclaimed as the Switzerland of America, yet another box canyon, this one (unlike Telluride) and offering a mountain pass. We arrived in Durango at 9:00 PM local time, eat some dinner and hit the hay…
Tuesday September 30
On Tuesday morning we met up with Charlotte rider and owner of Heartwood Tree Service, Patrick George, his brothers, and friends.
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We packed our bikes in two vehicles and shuttled to the flip side of the Purgatory ski resort to ride Hermosa Creek.
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On the way the lead vehicle that Patrick and company were in encountered a huge black bear attempting to cross Hwy 550. It probably looked closer than it was from our vantage point, but exciting none-the-less.
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Eight riders made for a fun filled 23 mile trip along the creek. Beautiful vistas would distract us at every turn, making the dusty, rock strewn trail more interesting to negotiate.
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We started at approximately 8,200 feet and descended to 6,200 feet over the course of the ride.
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On the ride, Michael (one of Patrick’s brothers) and Jim took spills, each landing on a hip, Jim possibly bruising his ribs. But they soldiered on without further incident.
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The trail petered out and we rolled onto a gravel road that gave way to blacktop and a 40 mph descent into the town of Hermosa.
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Cold Fat Tire Ale and pizza awaited us at the bottom, then it was off for a soak in a hot spring.
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Wednesday, October 1
(From Jim)
Not having any fun! Wish Tom would stop taking pictures ...it"s always "Let's stop and take a photo-op", Blah, Blah Blah! Weather stinks, and can't find any tasty beer. Scenery schmenery!
Damn, should be home working. Sure wish I could find a good trail to ride.
(From Ivan)
I've been waiting to take a trip like this for years.....I still have the pictures from bike magazines of guys riding through the golden aspens. Those pages were torn out of magazines 10 years ago and have fueled my desire to take a journey like this. This trip is the best thing I have ever done on a bicycle, and one of the best trips of my life. Jim and Tom are great to travel with, the trails are excellent, the views are amazing. I think that a multi-day bike trip just became part of my plan for every year from now on. We all know that we work too much and don't take the time to play enough.....hopefully the pictures and stories about our rides will help people make the leap and get away with their bikes and some friends.
Back to Tom
And on the 5th day, they rested. We cleaned and tuned the bikes, then set off to wander the town…Durango is a happenin’ place, with something for everyone…
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There was lunch at the Irish Embassy Pub…
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Of course, your club president was enjoying his favorite beverages, double fisted…
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Our duck enthusiast was diggin’ the outfitters…
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And me, I was tipped off about a killer show at the Henry Strater Theatre (lovingly referred to as “The Hank”) where we saw Sonny Landreth, “World’s Greatest Slide Guitarist, 2008” and he didn’t disappoint…
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Thursday, October 2
Thursday morning we were at the trailhead at 7:45 for a local ride, hitting some of the Rim trail around Fort Lewis College, then connected to Powerline Trail before catching Telegraph.
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Historic telegraph poles from the days of Morse Code are still standing.
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These are the same trails that John Tomac, Ned Overend, Julie Furtado and company raced on in the early days of mountain biking. The local race scene continues to this day.
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The early morning vistas of Durango were spectacular to say the least…
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Fort Lewis keeps the memories alive with a race series of their own, Neal Boyd would be proud...
Then it was off in the direction of Moab…We stopped in Cortez, CO to ride “Phil’s World" a local trail in the town of Johnny T…We bumped into Patrick George and company this morning (Durango ain’t that big), and he flashed us a quick battle scar from his ride on Phil’s, so we were looking forward to a fun ride…
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Phil’s was a 15-mile, IMBA perfect roller coaster of buff singletrack, swooping through desert brush, as we were lead by birthday boy, Jim (can you say double nickel?)…
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What a fun time, with interesting rock outcroppings, dips and switchbacks…
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We trundled on down to Moab, an interesting ride through miles and miles of farm land, featuring hundreds of acres of sun flowers.
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Friday we catch the Coyote Shuttle to Porcupine Rim and our last big ride of the trip…
Friday, October 3
(From Ivan)
Today, I’ll write the report and give Tom a break……he deserves one after keeping the log for so many days.
(But before he does, just let me show you a pic of our esteemed club president following birthday dinner at Buck’s, where he celebrated with a Ribeye, a Dewers on the rocks and a few of Moab’s finest micro-brews…Everyone knows that Jim enjoys a nice after dinner toothpick…Well folks, he’s met his match – tom)
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(now, back to Ivan…)
We got an early start at a local place called the Jailhouse Café. After a killer breakfast, we packed up and met our shuttle to the trailhead. The shuttle was a 1962 Army 2 ½ ton truck that had part of a schoolbus welded on to hold passengers.
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Tom and Jim remembered why they were putting up with my cranky self when I volunteered to pass bikes up to the loadmaster on top. Luckily, most of the other 22 passengers already had loaded their rides.
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After about an hour’s ride though some amazing canyons, we reached the Hazard Country trailhead just below 9,500 feet.
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The wind was blowing and everyone was reaching for cold weather gear. After a short uphill, we were rolling through Aspens...
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...and past grazing cows and horses.
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The shuttle bus driver had warned the group that a fire had recently burned through 4,500 acres, and that part of Kokopelli Trail has been turned into a firebreak.
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We kept riding down and once we got below 7500 feet, the light rain that had hit us just below the top finally stopped.
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We got on the Upper Porcupine Rim and enjoyed the rolling ridgeline trail. There were several places where the trail passed within a few feet of a huge cliff. Luckily, we had no issues there. The views were amazing….
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After some short breaks to eat, take pictures and fix minor technical issues, we ran into a new section of the trail that required a pretty serious hike-a-bike.
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The trail plunged down through a cut in the ridgeline, and we carefully picked our way down and across. Here we started hitting the rockier sections of the Lower Porcupine Rim. We all worked on keeping the speed up, our weight back, and picking the best line through the loose rock and sand on the ridge. Luckily, we all only had a few minor crashes and no major issues.
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The sun started to peek through the clouds and the trail became a gradually descending contour trail, with plenty of small rock ledges and technical turns. The group really was getting into the groove and was having a great time as we paralleled Negro Bill Canyon on our way towards the Colorado River. We had a few exposed sections of trail that carried a high penalty for straying too far to the right. Tom was clearly feeling great and was riding really well, often leaving Jim and I on some really fast and technical descents.
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On one of those sections, Jim was riding in the middle and was attempting a narrow section on a small rock ledge when our luck ran out. I was riding up behind him and saw him slide off the right slide of the ridge.
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Tom watched from ahead, as he had stopped to grab some pictures of us, but instead had a first row seat to a crash test party for one. I jumped off my bike and crawled down to Jim as Tom ran up the trail to help. Jim was quickly back on his feet and saying that he had hurt one of his fingers (he had….it was pointing sideways). We got him and his gear back up to the rock ledge as some other riders approached. Tom asked if they were doctors and one replied “yes – in fact I’m an emergency room doctor”……our luck was running deep.
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Doctor Dave set Jim’s finger and helped us get a grip on the situation. We still had about 2 miles to the trailhead and Jim was feeling much better since the swelling was going down. He continued to ride most of the trail, but we all had a renewed respect for gravity and pain.
Once at the bottom the good doctor gave Jim and I a ride into town, while Tom continued his mojo and rode back to the hotel. After a good shower, some medicinal beer and dinner, we hit the beds early.
Saturday, October 4
This will be our last report from the Western Slope, as we start our journey home (and back to reality) in the next few hours…
On Friday night we patched Jim up and helped him to start his search for a new ride…
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Moab is a great spot to check out all the latest rides. We looked at several new models and whittled it down to these two:
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Saturday morning arrived with overcast skies and a forecast for rain. We bagged riding and headed over the Arches National Park. The threatening skies did indeed open and we were relegated to short hikes and less that perfect lighting for our photos…
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This last photo is that of the remains of historic Dewey Bridge, a beautiful suspension bridge along Scenic Highway 128 from Moab to Fruita. We crossed it on our Kokopelli ride in 2006. A 7 year old from Grand Junction, playing with matches destroyed it in April. What a shame….
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We hope that you enjoyed our little travel log, it was nice to have y'all along for the ride!
See you on a trail, soon!
-Jim, Ivan and Tom
Wednesday, October 15
It seems that Doctor Dave likes to follow up with his patients...Jim was contacted by Dave yesterday to see how how finger was progressing...He also was good enough to send along these trail side first aid photos...Don't try this at home folks!
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Before - the carnage...Note the offset at the middle finger joint...
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During - Jim bites the bullet as Dr. Dave "pulls his finger"...
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Ahhhh, success! Good as new!
(actions photos by Tom)
