Ridin' along the Kokopelli Trail

Well, with winter coming to an end its time to break out the bike, clean off last years mud, and head to the desert. Being new to Ashland, I am finding out that you don't have to go much further than the watershed to get quality riding in this time of year. In fact we just rode up there last night and it was great, but coming from Colorado I am used to traveling to the desert in the spring to escape the confines of mud and snow.

Even though you can ride in Ashland it is still fun to ride elsewhere and it helps keep the home turf fresh throughout the year. It is also the perfect time to visit the desert as the temperatures are moderate and the ground is still firm from the winters precipitation. Moab is a great place to visit, but I think most of us have either been there or heard of it so I'm going to recommend the Grand Valley in Colorado. This is the Valley that encompasses Grand Junction and Fruita. There are three excellent areas for riding here including Road 18, Kokopelli loops, and Lunch loops.

Road 18 is BLM land accessed through Fruita. This area has numerous singltrack trails emanating from the camping area that range from easy 4 mile loops to technical 30 milers. Joes ridge and Prime cut are easier 4 milers, Chutes and ladders and Zippitey Doo Da are both closer to 10 miles and difficult with Zippety rated as expert only. Do not ride this one unless you are totally comfotable riding very steep, narrow ridgelines (I have seen good riders turn around at the top). Over the Edge loop is 30 miles (a road climb for ten, singltrack descent with a rope climb down a watefall, and singltrack back to camp). This is self supported camping, bring lots of water, food, and a good bucket. You have to pack out you own waste (Its a fragile desert enviroment with alot of visitors, please don't turn it into a sewage pit).

Slickrock in Colorado? The Ribbon trail is an excellent source of slickrock for every mtn bikers diet.

Kokopelli loops start in Loma,Co. and extend to Moab,Ut. some people make the self supported 4 day trip but there are many good loops back to your car also. Mary's loop is where it all began and is a great 25 miles of moderate mix of singletrack and jeep roads. Lions loop can be added on as an extension of Mary's or can be done as a solo loop of 10 miles, it consists of moderate to difficult singletrack. Adding to the complete loop is Troybuilt which extends another 5 miles of difficult singltrack onto the end of Lion's loop.

Finally, we have the Lunch loops (close downtown Grand Junction). A broad mix of loops include Lemon squeezer, Eagles nest, Eagles wing, and the Ribbon trail. The first three are steep and technical with some slick rock here and there. Of note would be Eagles wing and nest having multiple 2+ foot drops on a steep descent. The Ribbon is probably the most rider friendly of the bunch consisting almost soley of slickrock. It's approximately 5 miles to the top where you turn around and start your descent. I recommend that you have fun riding back and forth on the way down to lengthen the ride and save your brake pads. If you ride straight down it's just one long even grade of rock, but if you carve there many water channels that form whoops from side to side.

The weather in this region is fairly dry, though wet weather can sneak in (usually in the afternoon) so be prepared for all conditions. A common saying in Colorado is "if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes". This is a large valley that weather tends to travel around in and on many occassions if it is raining you can go to the other side of the valley for a dry ride.

Overall the Grand Valley is a sweet destination for mtn biking and with close proximity to Moab (1 1/2 hours) it can make an extended vacation well worth the time. Stopping at Over the Edge Sports in downtown Fruita and picking up a trail guide can be very helpful. You can also print maps from the COPMOBA website that can be linked to in the Colorado section of IMBA's website.

Good luck in your quest for new terrain and keep the knobbies in the dirt.

-- Jeff Knez