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| Day 1, England - Denver |
| Day 2, Denver - Grand Junction |
| Day 3, Fruita |
| Day 4, Fruita |
| Day 5, Fruita |
| Day 6, Fruita |
| Day 7, Grand Junction - St George |
| Day 8, St George |
| Day 9, St George |
| Day 10, St George - Flagstaff |
| Day 11, Flagstaff |
| Day 12, Prescott |
| Day 13, Sedona |
| Day 14, Phoenix |
| Day 15, Phoenix |
| Day 16, England |
| Colorado - Utah - Arizona 2006 |
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Kokopelli Trails -> Marys -> Horsethief Bench -> Steves -> Marys MTB Ride / Lunch Loops -> The Ribbon MTB Ride
I decided to do the Flight of the Icarus ride, so I plotted the co-ordinates for the start of the ride in my GPS and set off to the trail head at the top of Douglass pass. Unfortunately for me I had forgotten to bring any maps with me !!!, and there was no way I was going to try to guess the way down from the highpoint of 8000 ft. As it was almost mid-day anyway I decided to drive to the Loma car lot, and re-ride some of the Kokopelli trails.
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I Parked and then set off on Mary's Loop, It was really Hot about 85f with no wind. I rode up to Horse Thief bench loop and then went down to Horse Thief Bench. |
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Even though it was baking hot, I still enjoyed the trail and second time around I knew the best lines to take on the trail. |
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I then continued to ride along Mary's and then rode Steve's Loop, and then rode back along Mary's to the car , as I was feeling quite tired in the heat, and didn't feel up to doing a very long ride like I did a couple of days ago. |
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I headed back to Grand Junction , and stopped at the natural ice cream shop next to the REI, and bought a really Good cinnamon Malt. I then drove up to the Lunch Loops intending to ride the lemon squeezer trail. When I arrived at the car lot , I bumped into Mike from Edge Sports and he kindly invited me to do a shuttle ride of the Ribbon with him and two other visitors Bobby and Peter. |
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Going down the Ribbon trail with company made a big difference, with other people to race down the slick rock sections they were much more fun. Also not having to ride up it made it a better trail, as I was not as tired. |
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The temperature was much better than earlier in the day, and the sun was not that harsh as it was starting to set. I discovered that the previous day I had almost rode all the way to the top of the ribbon as we came to the Bowl. |
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Mike Tried to show us the right way to ride the Bowl, but he was riding his new Salsa 29'er and was not used to how it rode so was unable to clear the bowl. I just walked it from the very start. |
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We finished the Ribbon trail which was so much better to ride with a group of people, and headed up Andy's Trail |
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It suddenly got very dark as we hit Eagles Trail, and my chain decided to get in between the spokes and my rear cassette. We fixed this and headed on to the Eagles loop trail. |
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The trail was much harder to ride in the twilight, but it was great fun. |
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We got back to the car lot, and then Bobby of Salsa Kindly gave me a Salsa T-Shirt to remember the ride by, we then said our goodbyes and me and Mike drove on up to get his truck. I nearly ran out of gas on the way up, so I had to coast back down the hill with Mike behind in case I ran out gas. We got to a garage without running out of gas,and Mike zoomed off to go to the Fat Tire festival drinks evening.
As it was my last day in Fruita I decided to head over to 18 road to get one last ride in, and do a real night ride, when I got there it was very windy, but not that cold. I rode up Prime Cut, along to Joe's Ridge and then down Joe's , and back along Kessel. The only hazards i encountered where these cute gerbil like animals with long busy tails which kept on getting in the way on the trail.
It was pretty incredible riding at night as there were so many starts showing in the sky, way more than you see in England.
I then headed back to my hotel getting there at mid-night, having ridden around 25 miles that day.
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DAY 7
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