Why did I wait so long to go here?

Fruita....Wow, what a mountain bikers paradise!  I've lived in Colorado for almost 5 years now and I had never made it out to Fruita until last weekend.  I can't believe how good the mountain biking is, and it is only 4 hours from Denver.

Team Adrenalin/EPC went out for a mountain bike training camp last weekend to hone our skills before the race season starts in Las Vegas next week.  The riding in Fruita is quite a bit different than the Front range.  I would say that there is less climbing to be done in Fruita, although I'm sure you can find it.  There are areas that are like Moab, with rocky, technical ledges, and then there is lots of fun flowing singletrack all over the place that is super fun to session. 

Friday we went out to the western rim trail.  Much of the trail looks out over the Colorado river and runs along the rim, above it, hence the name.  The scenery out here is beautiful.  I have always enjoyed the southwestern landscape, with the red rock and buttes and dramatic cliffs, all dotted by low bush and scrub.  When you add in the greenish Colorado river below, I'm not sure you can ask for much more.

Jaime riding up the ridge

On Saturday we met up with Lee McCormack who is the guru when it comes to teaching people how to really ride a bike.  We dialed in our new skills at the Fruita bike park, had some lunch, then headed out to the trails at 18 road for some seriously fun single track.  We rode up Prime Cut, then rode down Joe's Ridge, then back up the dirt road and did two laps on Kessel Run.  Here's a video of Joe's Ridge to give you an idea of just how much fun it is.

I could have sessioned these trails for many more hours, but we had to get back to town for a cookout, which was a great time.  It was fun to sit around a fire and talk about what we learned and our upcoming race season. 

The next morning we got up, got a quick ride in and headed back home to Denver.  All in all it was a great trip.  Jaime and I both learned a lot of skills.  Jaime had her first real mountain bike crashes, which is good because you've got to learn that falls don't really hurt that bad.  Although she did taco her front wheel pretty good!

I can't wait to get back here to ride some more.  In the meantime it is one more week of race prep training, then a taper week and then the Xterra West Championships!

Happy trails!

NS