I spent 3 weeks on an MTB road trip to Utah and western Colorado last September and October but posted nothing. Ugh. Me bad. Which many people knew already.
We did something a little different and after Katya flew from San Jose to Moab and I picked her up there we drove south to old mining towns deep in the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado. We started with Telluride, no lift riding in late September except weekends, then over the next few days to Phil’s World at Cortez, CO and rode the fantastic Rib Cage Trail, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and up to Fruita and more MTB on trails we know well. After that, of course, Moab!
Katya flew home from Moab after a couple of weeks of traveling and riding in heaven but I remained in our van around Moab. I had increasing tooth pain so saw a dentist and was diagnosed with a cracked tooth. Definitely not from MTB. So I drove back home to California to figure out whether it needs a root canal and crown or just get pulled. While I was waiting for an oral surgeon it cracked and a third fell out. So the 2nd molar got pulled. Whatever. Damn tooth screwed up a couple more weeks of riding.
The MTB was rather uneventful except for the amazing Ribbon Trail near Grand Junction. There is a shuttle now available, finally, so Katya and I went up and rode The Ribbon. Jeez, you spend about 20 minutes on slick rock descents! You don’t even think about breaking, just max out the speed of your bike on huge rock ramps!
Along the way is the Toilet Bowl, a big steep slick rock descent that looks way less steep in photos and videos. I need to nail that drop but it is scary. Very scary.
The trail descends into an amazing deep red rock canyon and we ride the scenic wash down to a trail junction. From there it is up either way but we are in Lunch Loops! There is a maze of amazing trails to ride back to the trailhead on Monument Road.
By the way, I’m warming up to the Klonzo Trails near Moab finally. They aren’t as technical as I usually prefer but there is a lot of fast flow fun with some great technical in places. Video to come. I’m not publishing my Ribbon video. It was a cloudy day and the light too flat. I’ll shot it in sun in 2020. The same year I die in the Toilet Bowl…