Fruita: Grazing On BLM Land

Today we took a day trip to Fruita, Colorado. We got up early and took the drive down, maybe two hours or so, hitting the bike store there about 9:30. Got some stuff, maps etc, and were on the trails by 10:30.

The trails at Fruita are mostly on public grazing land run by the Bureau of Land Management, and are much more singletrack-oriented than here in Moab: buff and twisty with lots of ups and downs, and just the occasional rocky "physical challenge." Lots of cliffs and bluffs, as we rode along the canyons next to the Colorado River. The trails themselves are configured like at Fell Mountain, one big loop with several smaller loops shooting off the main one. Instead of a big single-loop meal, you graze on a bunch of smaller hors douvres.

So that's what we did. We started on Mary's Loop, took a spin on Rustler's Something Something, back on Mary's Loop to the Horse Thief Bench loop, then after some backing and filling we ended up on Steve's Loop aka "Handcuffs." Instead of completing Mary's loop -- the last section is supposedly lame -- we took it as an out-and back, and raced each other along the cliffs and down the hill. Everyone rode well, we were flying and it was an awesome, awesome day. I took about 33 pictures (stay tuned), but Brian brought his good camera and he was the one who got the best shots.

We had an early dinner in Fruita, at the place which used to be a sports bar but is now a really good Mexican restaurant. Too much food, and it was all good. (We also picked up some good beer while we were in Colorado, where there is no Utah-style "max 3.2% abv" restriction. The beer in Utah is tasty, but it really isn't potent so much as bloating.)

So that was today, another 22 fantastic miles. We're just hanging out at the house now, no idea what we're doing tomorrow.