Vacation Fruita! OUCH! {Long warning}

[tzvia]

I'm on vacation now and am sitting in a hotel in Grand Junction. The rides out here go from intermediate to outrageous. I'm no shredding expert but figured I would push myself a bit. My brother found out about my trip and begged to 'tag-along' so he is here too.

I went out to 'Kokopelli trails' and took the easiest trail, 'Rustler's loop'. Lots of rock and some rim trail overlooking the Colorado River. Beautiful. Kinda hard for me but I did it. My brother then suggested 'Horse Thief Bench'. Ok, I'm game. We had to scramble down a cliff face of boulders, dropping our bikes down ahead of us a 'step' at a time just to get to the trailhead. Tough trail, more cliff edge singletrack and we then had to push/lift our bikes out up the cliff face.

We then went to 'the Bookcliffs' the next day, Tuesday. Great twisty singletrack up Prime Cut- rocky parts, short steep climbs and twisty. Then we took Kessel run down. It was great at first, like a slalom sorta. I misjudged a fast uphill turn with a steep dip that bounced my front tire into the brush. I tried to correct and get back on the trail but my front tire hit something that kicked it out and down I went on my right side and I slid in the weeds. Thankfully I wear 661 EVO elbow pads and Fox knee/shin guards so I lost no skin. Chest hurt a bit on the right side, the last few ribs, but I rode down the rest of Kessel. Something was wrong, my right side chest felt like someone was stabbing me when I moved or took a deep breath. I have a scrape that looks like my handlebar had bashed into my ribs. Crap, bruised ribs! So we took Wednesday off, and went shopping.

Thursday brought a painfull ride in Rabbit Valley, and today, a less painfull ride back at the Bookcliffs, this time taking Joes Ridge down instead of Kessel. Rain is coming, so tomorrow we pull up stakes and move on to Boise ID for some more trail riding next week. I'm gonna hate going home...

[eofelis]

Too bad your leaving town so soon! I haven't been mtn biking much lately, but it would have been fun to meet up.

I'm probably less than a mile from where you are in a motel (I assume you are on Horizon Drive).

[jessmarimba]

I'm jealous! I've been wanting to get out there. Hope you're enjoying it

[yellow]

Fruita is one of my favorite places in the world to mountain bike ride. Rabbit Valley is really a gem. You can spend hours out there on trails that aren't on any map...

[tzvia]

Too bad your leaving town so soon! I haven't been mtn biking much lately, but it would have been fun to meet up.

I'm probably less than a mile from where you are in a motel (I *** ume you are on Horizon Drive).

Yes I'm on Horizon Dr. but am going this am due to the weather forecast. Seems rain is coming to the whole area. If anyone who reads this had a twisted chain on Horsethief that two strangers helped-we were the two with the quicklinks and did the adjustments.