Wednesday, October 18 - Kokopelli / Mary's Loop Trails

It is now 8:30 and I am in a coffee shop on that same corner (Mulberry and Aspen) in Fruita.  I got here at 7:00 am, had a great cup of hot chocolate, and have been working on this blog since then. We are takin a late morning today because it is cold (low 30s) and we are giving the trails a chance to dry out a little after the rain yesterday. While I have been here all of the gang has come in to get coffee and some have gone on to eat breakast at a place called Judy's.

We picked up our bikes, and drove out to the Mary's Loop and Kokopeli Trail area located about four miles west of Fruita. In the parking lot we met a 71 year old French man named Jaques who decided, without any input from us, to be our guide. We started riding Mary's Loop at the eastern end of the trail complex. Our "guide" was quite fit for a 70 year-old, but was still a lot slower than the rest of us. This led to some frustration on our part as he insisted on leading our group. We took the first turn off of Mary's loop to ride the Rustler's Loop. This is a fun ride along the canyon rim above the Colorado River, which returns to Mary's Loop, and provided a good warm-up for the day's riding.

The group on Mary's Loop

After finishing Rustler's Loop, we continued along Mary's Loop until we reached the portage down to Horsethief Loop. The ride along May's Loop to this poit is great fun with some technical stuff, but mostly fast single track over sandy soil and rock outcrops. We decided to carry our bikes down the trail to ride Horsethief Loop. At the bottom of the trail, Jeff accidentally road off of the path to avoid crashing and Jaques yelled at him about staying on the trail. Jeff told him not to yell at him, that he knew singletrack etiquette, and did not need him to tell him. Although jaques meant well, he was really starting to get on our nerves. At this point he decided to wait for some other folks to ride with and we continued on along Horsethief Loop without our "guide."

The portage down to Horsethief Loop

The ride along Horsethief is also great fun with some steep descents and climbs, but mostly very rideable. This is a loop one a lower sandstone bench above the Colorado River, and the trail pretty much sticks to the edge. The riding here was definitley worth the portage down from and then back up to Mary's Loop.

Riding along the rim on Horsethief Loop

Irv trying to find his mojo again

Our only problems up to this point were with the bikes we had rented from Over the Edge Sports in Fruita. None of the bikes was in good condition. The shifting was poorly adjusted, leading to fantom shifting, dropped shains, and an assortment of other issues. In addition, the seat of my bike would stay at my height, and would drop down to the point that it felt like I was riding a childs bike. Every time we stopped, I would raise the seat again, and a short time later it would be right back down. It is very hard to generate enough power to climb well when your seat is too low, so I did most of my riding while standing. Chirs B.'s seatpost was also loose. It was not dropping, but would turn from side to side as he road. We were all a little frustrated by the poor condition of the bikes, and the fact that no flat fixing materials or water bottles were supplied witht the rentals. This was in stark contrast to the fine condition of the bikes and friendly service we received from the Chille Pepper bike shop in Moab.

The portage back up to Mary's Loop from Horsethief

We continued riding along Mary's Loop until we reached an intersection of trails at the top of a steep climb. Irv fell while climbing the steep hill, and was feeling like he had done enough riding for the day. Ed was also eager to talk to the folks at the bike shop about the problems we were having with the bikes. So Irv and Ed headed back to the van, while the rest of us decided to ride up the Mack Ridge Trail and loop back to the parking lot, an approximately 10 mile loop.

Pausing for the view along Mary's Loop

The climb up Mack Ridge from the east side is very hard. The trial wides steeply up over outcrops of sedimentary quartzite, which is a very hard silica-cemented sandstone that breaks into sharp, angular chunks, and was strewn across the trail both as loose chunks and large stones projecting out of the ground. Chris B. and Jeff did an incredible job of riding this climb while Scott and I ended up walking several of the steeper sections.

At the top of the eastern climb up Mack Ridge

The climb was worth it though because Mack Ridge is the highest part of the Mary's Loop area, and the views are outstanding. The ride along the top of the ridge follows a double track road and is quite fast. After a short ride across the top of the ridge, the road drops steeply down the back (northwest) side of Mack Ridge. At first, the road runs over shale outcrops that were mostly dry, but had some wet, slippery spots from the rain the day before. The road then becomes steeper and the surface changes from clay to loose rock. Descending this portion of the trail is a little scarry beacuse you are going fast over loose rock that would hurt big time if you lost control.

We reached the bottom without incident and continued east along the main dirt road that accesses the parking lots for this trail area. It was a four mile ride back to the parking lot where we started where Ed was to meet us. Ed and Irv arrived just as we were about reachthe parking lot, and, exhausted yet thrilled with our day's riding, we returned to town. We dropped off the bikes at the shop with instructions on what needed to be fixed, and spoke briefly to the owner. His excuse for the poor condition of the bikes is that it is the end of the season, and we get what we get when we rent bikes at this time of year. We let him know that this was not our expirence in Moab, and that the level of service provided by his shop left a lot to be desired. He did not seem to care. Very disappointing.

We had to drive to Grand Junction so that Jeff could pick up a rental car for his drive to Denver in t he morning for a job interview. We ate diner there at an Italian restaurant called Mancusos or something like that. It was good food at a reasonable price. While out driving around we decided that we would check out the other bike shop in Fruita as a source of rental bikes in the morning as an alternative to Over the Edge.