Gone to Fruita, CO

Our trip to Fruita was a success. It normally takes 4 hours to get there...but 4 cars, 16 people and 6 hours later we finally made it. That's what you get when going with the school I guess. Random stops at gas stations and fruit stands made our trip longer. The closer we got to Fruita, the more we saw bikes on cars. Seriously, almost every car had a bike rack with 2 or more bikes on it. Most or all of the people who visit Fruita are mountain bikers going for the great trails - there isn't much else around.

We were supposed to get an afternoon ride in but because we got there so late we didn't get the chance, we barely even found a place for all 16 of us to pitch our tents (it was so nice some slept under the stars, we opted for the tents and brought our air mattress so we can have a good night sleep). After breakfast the next morning we got on our bikes for our first ride in Fruita. A full Camelbak, a few Cliff bars and we were off!

Here we are...the only girls on the trip, me, Jen and Laura. Laura and I stuck together most of the trip and let our boys go ahead of us. We're at the top of the first trail of the day, Kessel's. It was by far my favorite trail...it curved up and down the side of the hill which made it a lot of fun to ride. It was just the right trail for me, not too hard but still challenging enough to push me. Eric was in front of me and stopped to get a couple action shots.

Right after we finished Kessel's, we headed toward Zippity Do Da. I was looking forward to this trail because I saw the coolest video online when doing my research on Fruita (before we went I had to see what I was up against). Here's the link to the video I saw if you're curious, 1st picture is the video (half is a slideshow of pictures and the rest is a video, its cool because the person filming had a camera on their helmet): http://www.sirbikesalot.com/entry.php?fid=142

Here we are just getting into the zippity trail.

Every now and then the class waits for everyone to catch up, here was a good spot to stop, have a snack break, and take a group photo.

Zippity Do Da is a double diamond for experts only! It began with fun up and downs on dry dessert hardpack then it turned into steep climbs and drop offs. Didn't look too scary on video and in the pictures, but when you're there its a bit more intimidating (for the beginner anyway). I'm a little scared of heights so I walked my bike on the steep, narrow parts, especially where the trail turns around the mountain and is only a foot wide or so.

Zippity didn't phase Eric at all, ok maybe just a little. After we finished the trial we were all exhausted and ready for a break. Now we're off to the other side of town for more riding and LUNCH! Here we are, exhausted and starving!

For lunch we all ate at the Hot Tomato Cafe. The cutest little pizza joint (hottomatocafe.com), the pizza was delicious, especially after hours of riding. We ordered the "Thai me up" - one of the best pizza's I've ever tasted, mmm. This is where all the bikers (local and out-of-towners) hang out after a long day of riding.

After lunch, we headed back on the road for another ride. I didn't get any action shots of Eric because he had the camera but he tore it up! Here's one of him looking hardcore and tough.

Here we are at Rouldy's loop, it went along the Colorado River, so pretty.

There were only 2 spills on our trip (surprisingly enough it wasn't me - a couple almost's but never fell), only one spill included blood. Here our teacher is cleaning up a kid's cut...look how prepared he was, gloves and everything. Looking forward to our next trip out there.

mountain biking

Eric and I are taking a pretty hard core mountain biking class this semester at UVU. Every class I'm going out of my comfort zone because during the 2 years we've had our mountain bikes, I've never taken it off road (and that's all we do in this class)! Eric has taken it off road a bit, so he's intermediate/advanced, I'm a beginner. In our class I'm usually towards the end of the line (I'm not the only one, there is a girl at my same level, I'm glad I'm not the only slow poke) so Eric stays in the back and keeps us company. Someone has to hold the end of the line, so Eric lets the T.A. go in front and he takes care of everyone at the end (the teacher rarely makes it to class on time so the T.A. really is the one in charge). Eric is so sweet and lets us go in front of him so he can make sure we are doing well, using the skills we've learned, and don't fall. He is patient when I'm slow and have to walk my bike up a hill (there are times when everyone has to walk their bike b/c the hill is so steep) and motivates me to keep going...that's what I need. Sometimes I feel like I'm holding him back, but I've already seen a lot of improvement since the first day...one day I'll catch up with him.

For class we have to do 1.5 hours of riding on our own time. In this picture we're riding the Provo trail starting at Vivian's Park, for our labs only 2 out of 7 can be on paved trails...we tried to go to Sundance to take the lift and ride down but since it had rained the day before we couldn't go down...so we resorted to the Provo trail. Not as tough but still a lot of fun. The colors of the leaves are gorgeous. This picture doesn't do it justice, they were vibrant red, orange and yellow. It was almost breathtaking riding through the tunnel of trees. Too bad winter has already started, they won't stay that color for long. It's been a lot of fun to take this class together. I don't even mind all my scrapes and bruises. Tomorrow we are leaving for Fruita, Colorado to go on a mountain bike excursion with our class (we have to go on a mandatory overnight camping trip). We'll be going on some tough terrain, I'm excited for the challenge. We'll see how I keep up...I may even come back as an intermediate...