Rattling the rocks in my head...

Oy!

I wanted to go riding today, but instead I decided to do home improvement projects and some basic personal hygiene. That's just the kind of stuff you want to read in a blog, eh? I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. ;)

I've often been accused of having rocks where my brain should be. When I rattle my head around, noises come out of my mouth. It is the closest thing I get to simulating thought (as opposed to stimulating thought). Last night Jason came over and we were working on the list of trails to be riddin on our trip out west in April. Lets just say that the rocks in my head were bouncing around like popcorn in a popper.

The hard part was picking trails that we didn't want to ride. Fruita is relatively easy. We've got a little more time there than in St. George and I know the area better. We're basically going to ride almost everything. It makes for a few epic days, but that is the fun of this, isn't it?

The day we arrive in Fruita, we'll do an aclimatization ride. That means we go out and do a short ride and have it kick our asses. Heat up the legs a little, blow out your lungs from lack of O2. Then go eat, sleep and generally recover from the drive out. You'll feel much better the next day. Its kind of like when Neo blows chungs after being removed from the Matrix. You gotta get all the crap out.

The next day will be a little tougher, but still doable. We'll start with a warm-up loop on Rustlers on the Kokopelli side of Fruita. We'll cut across and ride Moore Fun from east to west. Then we've got options. If we're feeling like some scenic riding to put miles in the legs, we can double back on Mary's loop and then hit Horsethief Bench. If we're feeling sadistic, we can just turn around and do Moore Fun in the opposite direction. That combination will cover most of the eastern end of the Kokopelli side of the trails.

After that, we'll spend a day on the west end of Kokopelli. Troybuilt to Lyons Loop to Mack Ridge to Mary's loop to Steve's loop to handcuffs to Lyons loop to Troybuilt ought to do the trick. :) That is an epic day with TONS of vertical. There are plenty of ways that we can shorten the loop up. The only tough part is that once we start the last section of Lyons loop, we really need to finish all the way out. Julian and I did this two years ago and it really kicked my ass. I rode a few miles at the end with a flat tire because I was too tired to change it.

After some serious food and a really long night of sleep, we'll hit Book Cliffs. This is the rollercoaster side of Fruita. This day isn't about miles, it is about steep drops and short blasts up. It is fun in a way that most people from this end of the Mississippi can't imagine.

The last day in Fruita will be in the Lunch Loop area. Gunny and Eagles Wings in some combo are on the plate for the day. I've seen videos of these and read a lot about them. It is a nother day of tough climbing and ear to ear grin inducing downhills.

At this point we'll find an airport and pick up Wayne. I don't know which airport yet. Hopefully Grand Junction. If so, we can get a short ride in on something to help Wayne get used to altitude and get rid of jetlag. Then it is off to Moab.

I wasn't going to go to Moab on this trip, but Jason likes the town and we're so close that we can't not go. Wayne and Chance need to ride there once... just to say they did. I'm guessing that a good ride will be Amasa Back since Jason hasn't ridden it before. We'll then shop and goof off in Moab and maybe spend the night there since it would suck to have to drive long and hard after a day of riding. We'll get up early and head for St. George in the morning.

St. George is a lot tougher to plan for. First off, there's a bigger variety of trails in the area. Within an hour of St. George, there is a mind boggling number of trails that all need to be ridden. We limited it to a few.

Gooseberry Mesa: This is one of those annoying rides that is just so good and so hyped that you have to ride it at least once. There's plenty to keep us entertained for a day there.

Green Valley: This is a smaller trail network that we'll spend part of a day on. I picked this because it is fabled to be quite technical. You can have a lot of fun goofing off on it. I thought Chance would enjoy that more than a bit.

Broken Mesa: Broken Mesa is a fun trail that has a bit of technical stuff and is also very scenic. It also isn't extremely long. Though there is a fair amount of elevation gain/loss, the trail is a good ride for the other half of the day when we're not in Green Valley.

Thunder Mountain: Here's where things start to get silly. Jason hadn't really read up much about Thunder Mountain. This is the ride that I've read about for years and really want to include in my next trip west. I've seen photos from this area and they are amazing. You can't imagine the jaw-dropping beauty that is there just waiting to be photographed. After this trip you'll be able to imagine it quite well. :) What's funny about this is that the trail guide says "Don't do this as an out and back unless you want a really brutal day of riding." Jason and I looked at it and said "COOL!"

Cassidy Loop: Did I mention that we're being silly on this part? Well we are. As long as we're out in the area east of St. George riding Thunder Mountain, Cassidy is right across the road. We might as well double up and do that one too. :) That is one of the epic days... 30+ miles with close to 4000 feet of vertical. It is just too pretty and too cool not to ride.

Learn more about these trails at this site: Utah Mountain Biking

Please pardon my lack of sarcasm or offensive language. I'll try and misbehave more in the near future.

Love,

Pete