Grand Junction Riding

[gtdrew]

I'll be in camping / riding (if it stops raining) in the Grand Junction area for at least the next 3 days. Hoping to ride Rabbit Valley tomorrow and then hit up lunch loops and Mary's later in the week. Would love to shred with some fellow mags. Lunch loops looks like a fun but complicated trail network.

[rideit]

Do the Ribbon Shuttle to Moore Fun, and back over to lower lot. All you need to know!

[Catch22]

Do the Ribbon Shuttle to Moore Fun, and back over to lower lot. All you need to know!

Ribbon to Holy Cross correct? Ribbon to Moore Fun would be a hell of a long haul with more of I70 than I'd like. But yeah, Ribbon shuttle is fun so long as you add the good stuff at the end.

Without shuttle from the Tabeguache trailhead I'd recommend up Pet-e-Kes to Pre-nup, over the road to Gunny Loop, back over the road and back down Prenup, hang a right on Holy Cross, stay left out of the canyon, left on Coyote Ridge to AliAlley to Curt's Lane down to the lot. Pretty much endless awesome riding over there and off the Loma exit Kokopelli trails. Navigating Lunch Loops isn't really as bad as it looks on the map and usually there are enough other riders and trail runners around that you shouldn't have much trouble getting directions or advice if needed.

If it's your first time riding the Loma stuff you can't go wrong with Marys to Horsetheif, to Steves to whatever else you've got legs for. Moore Fun, Mack Ridge, Troy's, Lions and all the eastern Koko stuff makes for some pretty incredible tech riding and trails are normally empty. Don't be fooled by the Moore Fun name though, it's some brutal tech, steep stuff that you've got to have the right mindset for.

If things look wet, be prepared with a plan B whether it's back to Rabbit Valley or a trip down to Moab. Too much moisture on those trails destroys them and will do things to your bike that will have you hating life.

Oh, and eat at Hot Tomato in Fruita like there's no tomorrow.

I think I'll be down there riding Sat and Sun if I can get a blown rear shock sorted out. Forecast is looking fantastic for the weekend.

[skinipenem]

Headed to Moab this weekend. PM if u wanna ride.
We r thinking about riding LPS, Porc...(if not muddy mess), amasa/ahab, some newer technical stuff at klondike (so my friend says.)

Basically want to ride technical descent oriented dirt.

[F#*k you cat]

Second the Mack Ridge as an alternate to Mary's - Horse-thief. If it is dry on 18 road go try zippy do dah, chutes and ladders , or Joe's ridge. It is easy to do 2 or all three of them in one outing.

at Grand Junction I'd pass on free lunch unless you have a 8 inch bike and balls to the wall. lets just say I survived a free lunch on a cross country bike. The other lunch loops are a blast though... string together what you can.

cheers

CAT

[LaBelle23]

The most complicated part about the lunch loops area is making sure you hit the right trail at the bottom to take you back to the lot. Make sure you know your turn unless you want a nice little out and back. We always shuttle a ribbon to holy cross to start then go back up for another shuttle to a short climb to free lunch. It is signed better then it used to be and there are some better links to replace tougher hike a bikes. Unlike the previous poster, I have never felt the need for a bike bigger then my 6 in trail bike on free lunch, but also don't do the biggest hits (2 of them). I have seen them done on dh bikes, but never wanted to bring my big bike out for all the pedalling there.Plenty to have fun on other then then the biggest of hits and the alternate lines are challenging too. The first time I saw all the choose your own adventure playground area it was quite impressive - worth your while to check it out. There is a filter feature for free lunch, but it only requires a small rock drop (you can do it as small as about 18 in.) and after doing ribbon etc it is just a fun floater.

[rideit]

Agreed, Free Lunch was fine for me with 130/150, no worries.

[Temagami]

Shuttling Ribbon/LLs w/ buddy tomorrow morning. Shoot me a PM if you want to join.

Plan:

Ribbon-->Andy's-->Road-->Lunch Line-->Free Lunch-->Pucker up-->Lemon Squeezer back up-->Holy Cross-->back to Tabeguache TH.

Back up for Free Lunch and Pucker up and out.

[Percy Rideout]

Newer klondike is not technical descent oriented shit, but a good xc ride. EKG, UFO, little salty, and dino-flow are the new school mtb trails he is talking about. 4x4 road on and off to get to these.

[joetron]

Newer klondike is not technical descent oriented shit, but a good xc ride. EKG, UFO, little salty, and dino-flow are the new school mtb trails he is talking about. 4x4 road on and off to get to these.

Yup. Also , Mega Steps is awesome up or down, and the new north Klondike stuff: Alaska, Homer, Nome and North Dino Flow are great too. I did a quickie on the way out of town on Sunday, up Mega and down Alaska/Homer. So fun.

[gtdrew]

How was the riding Temagami? I ended up bailing down to Durango after listening to it rain all Wednesday night long at Rabbit's. Hung out in Fruita for a bit on Thursday but the sun wasn't even out. I'm going to try and hit it up on my way back through.

As for Moab, go ride Captain Ahab off of Amasa back. I would go check out the arch then ride Jackson or Rockstacker back to Amasa then pick up Ahab on the way back in. Super fun new school desert tech. Fun ledge drop on the left side most of the way down.

Mega to Alaska in the klondike bluffs area was rad. Went down pretty hard pushing through a berm that was more like a pile of loose sand. Dino Flow is worth riding as well. We skipped Homer but will hit it up next time.

[Catch22]

Super nice night in Fruita right now, trails should be fantastic tomorrow. Thinking about Palasade Rim morning, Hot Tomato lunch, something Mack Ridgeish afternoon and back to HT for dinner.

[Temagami]

How was the riding Temagami?

A bit more moisture than desirable in spots; however, FL and the top of PU (lower was greasy) were prime. With this afternoon's temperatures, the weekend should be great.

[Lindahl]

I always thought the Ribbon was kinda meh. Gunny Loop is a must, imo. Really fast fun, a couple optional hits too. Holy Cross was interesting, but wasn't really built to go fast on, unfortunately. More slow tech than rippin fun. I thought Eagles Wing was fun, and it has a pretty wild steep section on it thats a blast.

A 6in bike is plenty for even the bigger stuff on Free Lunch (a bit smaller than drops at the top of Amasa). A DH bike is complete overkill. If you're backing down, its because of balls, not bike.

Zion Curtain was really fun and has a great drop at the end, but in the beginning was easy to lose the trail.

Marys and Horsethief is a must. The first part of Moore Fun is meh. Lots of stupidly large ledges to climb, looked like more fun on the way down - but was twisty enough to make some of them annoying, if I remember right (switchback corner to ledge drop/roll type of bullshit). The descent once you got up there was really fun though. They should make a second mellow cruise climb up there. I also enjoyed the Mack Ridge descent.

18 road is 18 road is 18 road. Fun for a little bit, but gets boring fast. I have no clue why people like Kessel Run so much. It's built for medium speed when it should have been built for mega speed. I always get annoyed when I ride it. I like the new jumpy trail they put in though, and Zippity/Joes is always fun.

I want to try Flight of the Icarus and check out the Grand Mesa trails.