Thutrsday, October 19 - 18 Road

Jeff and Irv left early this morning, and will be gone all day. Jeff has a potential job interview in Denver, and Irv decided to take the day off from riding. Before rding, the rest of us visited the other bike shop in Fruita, Singletracks, and talked with Chris, one of the owners. He was very nice and had Marin bikes for us to rent, so we made arrangements to use them on Friday. We went over to picked up our bikes from Over the Edge, which we hoped would work better than the previous day, and informed them that we would not be renting them for another day as we had planned. They seemed nonplused by this. So be it. We then drove out to the trail system called 18 Road. It is located at the base of the Book Cliffs north of Fruita, and is supposed to offer less rocky trails than in than what we have been riding. We arrived in the parking area a little before 11:00. There were already a few cars there including one of the ladies from the Hot Tomato pizza parlor.

We jumped on Prime Cut trail, which goes up from the parking lot to the base of the cliffs. When I say up I mean it. There is very little down hill going north on Prime Cut. It is not steep for the most part, but it was a hard way to start riding especially after working so hard yesterday. We reached an intersection of three trails, Prime Cut, Cutes and Ladders, and Frontside. We decided to give Chutes and Ladders a try, which involved ascending a very steep hill followed by an abrupt drop into a valley. Chris B. rode ahead while Ed, Scott and I tried to negotiate these hills. A little while later, Chris came back reporting that the trail continued the same with steep climbs and descents. Some of us were not feeling particularly strong today, so we headed back to the intersection to take the Frontside trail instead.

Riding one of the 18 Road trials

Frontside is easier, but still no piece of cake. There are some challenging climbs and descents as you cut across the ravines that flow off of the base of the Book Cliffs. We rode Frontside to its western terminus at a dirt road, which makes up part of the Edge Loop. We headed northeast on this road to access an old doubletrack trail that wides up to the top of the ridge with a view over the valley. The old doubletrack trailhead lies about 2 miles up the Edge Loop road and is marked by rock cairns. Chris B. is the only one of us who felt strong enough to tackle the climb to the ridge top. He reported that it is not technically difficult, but is unrelenting in its steepness. He enjoyed the view while we enjoyed a leasurely ride back down the road and over the western part of the Frontside trail to the Western Zippity trail.

Making a plan along the trail

Scott, Ed, and I had a great time riding the fast and easy Western Zippity trail south away from the cliffs. If you ride this trail, be careful of the barbed wire fence/gate that stretches across the trail. It can catch you be surprise. The Western Zippity trail ends at a dirt roa, which you follow tot he east to return to the main access road and the parking lot. Chris B. took the Zippity Do Da trail south, which is more challenging because it is perched on the top of narrow ridges and has some very steep descents. Chris enjoyed it very much. We ended the day by dropping off our bikes, getting beer and appetizers at the brew pub, and then a soak in the hot tub at the hotel.

A well deserved soak after riding the 18 Road trails