Mountain Biking Fruita – Prime Cut, Kessel Run and Joe’s Ridge

Another day, and yet another different riding experience.

We reluctantly left Moab as we really wanted to ride some of the Fruita/Grand Junction trails that had been rained out earlier in the week. We arrived in Fruita to a beautiful sunny day and a jammed 18 Road trail head parking lot. (We had arrived the day before the Fruita Fat Tire Festival. The parking lots reflected that. If only we’d planned better we’d have been able to partake in the festivities.)

What I found interesting is that in Moab the ratio of men to women was about 5:1. In Fruita men completely outnumbered the women – more like 25:1. I only saw two women in the parking lot, and only 1 on the trails when we were out. I’m sure there must be more women riders in Fruita.

We geared up and went over to the trail map to see how to proceed. The way many of the trails in this area are set up are out and back (or more aptly up and down.) Some of the local riders recommended that we take the Prime Cut trail up to the top as it’s a pretty singletrack that climbs gradually to the upper parking lot. Most people park in the lower lot and then ride up the trails. It is much nicer to end the day on a downhill than to have to slog up to the top to finish the ride.

Prime Cut was a nice warm-up, not too technical but had enough rocks and twists to keep me on my toes. The funny thing was I was laboring for breath with every twist and turn. I had to remember that I was 4500 ft above sea level (and still climbing), and my prairie-raised body is used to 800 ft. When we got to the top parking lot we stopped for a breath and a sip and a check at the map to see which trail we were going to take down. A bunch of riders came whipping into the parking lot and saw us consulting the trail map. They came over and asked if we wanted to ride with them. They were heading over to ride Zippety Do Dah. We’d read about it in one of the trail books and it was described as having an intense pucker factor (as much of it is along a ridge) with extremely steep downhills. One of the guys said that you ride many of the descents so far back on your bike that your seat is in your chest. We opted not.

We decided to have some fun and ride the Kessel Run down to the parking lot. It had been wildly endorsed by fellow riders from home who had ridden it last year. Like the famed Millenium Falcon that made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs you can make this run in less than 15 minutes . It’s a fast flowing trail that slaloms up and back through a dry creek bed. It’s full of twists and turns as it sweeps back and forth all the way down the hill. The first time down I got into the rhythm about half way down. Sadly it was over before I knew it.

The second grind up we decided to see if the road was any easier. I found it wasn’t, as it was a direct climb to the upper parking lot with no opportunity to rest. At least with Prime Cut there were spots you could rest and swoop to the other side before starting to pedal again. The road was straight, dusty and boring. You live and you learn.

Our second run down was Joe’s Ridge. Fittingly named, it runs along a ridge for most of the bottom half of the trail. I was able to ride most of this except for one steep descent. Normally it wouldn’t have fazed me, but this descent was along a gravelly ridge with the sides dropping off at a startlingly steep inclines. I did begin to ride the hill, but my rear tire was sliding back and forth so much in the gravel that I was afraid it was going to go over the edge. It wasn’t a “Death on the Left” kind of drop, but I could envision myself taking a long ugly gravel slide all the way down if I fell, and I wasn’t up for that. After that the rest of Joe’s was totally within my skill level. At the bottom it connected with the lower half of Kessel Run so I got the chance to give that one another go. This time I was quicker, smoother and much more coordinated than I was the first time down. Unfortunately, this was the last run of the day.

I will put this on my wish-list for the next time we come back. There are so many other trails that I still want to ride I think we need more than a week there. And I want to do Kessel again – What a blast!