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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:26 am 
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On the drive out we made a stop at Rabbit Valley near the CO/UT border to check out a trail we might do on day 3. We managed to get the van stuck there momentarily, but we at least found the trailhead.

Maybe getting stuck turned us off that ride, maybe we were just tired after 2 days of hard riding, or maybe it was knowing what exploratory rides with GP_pilot can turn into :lol: but we instead decided to head for familiar dirt and an easy day at 18 Road trails in Fruita. This area has a number of loops that can make for a short ride or a long one, and the trails are relaxing as they're not technical and don't have too much climbing.

Parking at the main lot you can either ride up the road or ride up Prime Cut, a rolling singletrack that heads up to the base of the mountains.

Rolling over the drop in we ran into the extended family of our friends from Palm Canyon ride
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After reaching the top of Prime Cut we hung a left and headed over to Zippity do da. Aside from a couple brutal short climbs this trail has incredible flow.
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In fact, from certain vantage points the ribbon of trail seems to go on forever
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Sladnas cleans one of said brutal climbs, but well worth it as there is always a sweet descent on the other side.
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Looking back down the opening climb on Chutes & Ladders
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That was all the pics I took, but Sean had some nice ones:

Ben, Ben, and more Ben - Zippity
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Almost at the top - Stang on Zippity
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Stang enters the matrix - Chutes & Ladders
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The bottom of Chutes and Ladders spilled out onto the flats a long way from 18 road. With the wind and equine post holes that part of the ride pretty much sucked. Here, jabantik takes the lead after I somehow got stung twice on the tummy by a hornet.
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Impressive scenery
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I'm trying to count the laps in my head. Lap 1 took us up Prime Cut and down Zippity, after which we all climbed back up the road. At this point the group split - some did Kessel Run while the rest of us headed back over to the top of Prime Cut to ride Chutes and Ladders. Next, we conned Ben and then Mark into driving us back up for more runs. The ride up the road isn't that bad but no one felt like doing it a second time.

Joe's Ridge was the first shuttle lap on the menu. I think our group was down to 5 at this point. Joe's was pretty short itself and dumped us out 3/4 of the way down Kessel Run. While Kessel is normally a blast with high banked corners that meander back and forth down a ravine, the headwind we were riding into made it feel like we were riding uphill not down. After that we still had one lap in us. Back at the top again our smaller group split further with a few deciding to give Kessel another try while Sean and I hit up Prime Cut. This turned out to be a great move as it was protected from the wind and had equally good flow as Kessel.

Fun little air on Joe's Ridge
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In the end our short easy day turned into a respectable 25 miles I think? And with a drive to Moab still to come it was time to head out.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 12:52 am 
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Boy was I hating life that day...
The single speed sure kicked my ass the day before but Zippity sure was awesome.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 5:49 am 
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bjammin wrote:
Boy was I hating life that day...
The single speed sure kicked my ass the day before but Zippity sure was awesome.


You just picked the wrong day to ride the single. That stuff looks perfect for a SS.

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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:42 am 
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Nice Sequence pics. Outstanding TR. Looked like a killer time. :bang:

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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:33 am 
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EMFC wrote:
bjammin wrote:
Boy was I hating life that day...
The single speed sure kicked my ass the day before but Zippity sure was awesome.


You just picked the wrong day to ride the single. That stuff looks perfect for a SS.


Definitely.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:42 am 
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man that looks like a fun trail.

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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 10:23 am 
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Thanks for the pic's. I went to college in Grand Junction and rode out there at 18 rode just as much as I was in class. looking at those shots you took (nice by the way) took me back. Just imagin how sweet that area was before there were no parking lot or camp grounds and things were nice and virgin.
It's funny how things change.. when I was younger and out riding, I would see liscence plates from Cali and I'd think "poacher... tourist..." and now.... that's me....


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 10:40 am 
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Dude, epic report and pictures. Did you guys come across any other riders out there?


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:36 am 
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Phonger wrote:
Dude, epic report and pictures. Did you guys come across any other riders out there?


Yeah. 18 Road is a pretty popular spot for lunch rides I would imagine. There was a Specialized demo day going on while we were there, along with other random riders.

Our day 2 epic was a different story. I think we may have only passed a couple handfuls of other riders during the whole 27 mile ride. It was awesome.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:53 am 
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Wasn't 18 Rd where we saw the fashion twins? I can't recall.

What I do remember is we kept running into this guy who had the world's worst sunburn. I thought it was just my rose-tinted riding glasses but no, this guy was seriously fried.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 2:32 pm 
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Yep. Kitted out to the max with the baseball cap under the helmet (I think).

The dude who needed sunscreen made me want to cry. He's going to make someone rich with all those cancer treatments.


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:33 pm 
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i thought the trails here were particularly fun. nothing too outrageously dangerous or without an easy way, except for a bit of exposure on.. um... zippity?

kessel run was fairly absurd. no question this is a mountain bike trail. hikers and equestrians do not need such a heavily bermed trail, and being able to ride up the wall like that helps me overcome my acute vaginitis.

a few random pics:
zippity?
Image

easy route on the right for me
Image

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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:46 pm 
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Nice TR. Those trails look extremely fast and fun.

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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:59 pm 
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They are fun, but I liked them better last year. This year they seemed to be a bit of a let down and I think the consensus was some of the other days trails were much better. You'll have to wait for the pics and see for yourselves!


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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 11:42 pm 
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Here are a couple vids from the day...

Love this section


And another one from Joe's Ridge


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