Singlespeedster

Dateline 11.10.03
End of trip, LoDo Denver. Wynkoop Brewery.
Late afternoon sun setting red brick buildings ablaze with colour.
Burgers and a variety of pale ales.
It’s Two O’clock on a Monday afternoon. Someone has to keep this brewpub in business…

“It was me and my sidekick,
He was drunk and I was sick”
~~Tom Petty

So about all that's left to do is to drop my best friend off at the airport, he’s headed back to Austin. Between now and the next visit lies the holidays…an Antarctic Field Season…Winter.

We had another good run; a surgical strike on the high deserts of Western Colorado/Eastern Utah. 4 days, 70 miles of trail, 3 miles of pavement. Countless beers. We left the Denver area at about 8 on a fine, promising morning, and within a few hours found ourselves in a snowstorm atop Vail Pass. Undeterred we forged on to the Fruita area. A few beers, some Mexi-lunch and we were ready to ride. Destination: Mary’s Loop and environs. Dave was shaking off a quite nasty cold, I had recovered from same, but had been off the bike for a few weeks - so we hardly brought our A-game to these lovely trails. Still and all we had a fine ride. T’was a layover ride en route to Moab, and a darn fine way to break up the drive. A coupla hours wasn’t nearly enough time to hit all the good stuff, but we had a nice Horsethief/Mary’s/Handcuff loop.



https://www.anthonysloan.com/marys.html

Thence into Moab; Castle Valley by dark. Pulled in, found accommodations and more beer.

Saturday broke fine and clear. Much better than the weather reports had predicted. This was the something old/something new day. The morning’s ride consisted of the legendary Slickrock Trail and in the afternoon we hit the relatively new Soveriegn Trail. Slickrock was Slickrock. Excellent fun, thigh bursting climbs, dazzling scenery. The fresh layer of snow on the La Sals made for good backdrops. We even managed to make new friends and then wheedle them into a Porcupine Rim shuttle for the morrow.



https://www.anthonysloan.com/slickrock.html

The Sovereign Trail was recently constructed North of Moab, but I think it will quickly gain fame commensurate to it’s more notorious brethren (Amasa Back, Poison Spider, Porky’s, et ales) While perhaps not as “epic” or “gonzo” feeling as Porky’s and the like, Sovereign is able to sit at the same table because it smugly, quietly offers up singletrack. Like the bespectacled geek at the poker table who primly lays down a royal flush over everyone else's hand. These are not old jeep roads, but true singletrack. And quite tasty, techy singletrack at that. We put in at Willow Springs road, did a six mile out to a huge slickrock playground, goofed there for a bit, and rode the same fun singletrack backwards to the truck. We shut down the parking area with a few celebratory brews and as an added bonus got a fine view of the lunar eclipse. Moab, two rides, celestial phenomenae: Perfect day.



https://www.anthonysloan.com/sovereign.html

Sunday broke cold and threatening. We breakfasted quite nicely at the Jailhouse Café and then, after a bit of basic bike maintenance and upkeep at Poison Spider’s public works station, we hooked up with our new friends for Porcupine Rim. Some say this ride is overrated, but I quite like it. The package is hard to argue with.



https://www.anthonysloan.com/porcupinerim.html

The rain started just as we got the truck packed, so after strategically placing a Bike Mojo decal on the Poison Spider Bike Shop environs, we headed out of town, back over the cordillera of the Rockies, through a few snowstorms and thence into Denver.

Monday we had a nice little serving of flowy, Colorado singletrack out at Lair O’ the Bear. The day was glorious. Quoth the girl in the parking lot: “Not too bad for November!” Considering the last few days, I must agree, babe. Not too bad.

bac

Sweet pix, and dare I state; perhaps, a sweeter story. Great stuff, Singlespedster!

bikeCOLORADO

Very nice pics...what type of camera are you using?

rockstar

singlespeeder i have to say your pics and write ups are some of the best on the net. and also it was after i saw your blur i knew what my next bike would be

Singlespeedster

I alternate between two different cameras. the Mary's, Slickrock and Sovereign were all shot with my aged but much loved Canon powershot G1. It's an "almost small" camera that can fit in a camelbak pocket.

The Pork rim pics were taken with a Canon EOS d60. A much bigger camera that lives in a lowepro bag which has to ride on my chest, which doesn't allow me to get behind the saddle...which makes the porcupine descent "interesting" But it does take nice pictures. It is much better at sucking available light out of a grey day.

Thanks for the kind words.

Rockstar, I just calls it like I sees it. How's that Blur doing?

bikeCOLORADO

The G1...fantastic toy (I've "borrowed" one on many occaisions)...

rockstar

SS, the blurs doing great, enjoying every second on it

Shannon-UT

Awesome pics! I can't wait for my trip now.

I'll be in Moab in T minus 13 days! (Turkey day break)

BigHit-Maniac

SUPER Nice Singlespeeder.


I've been on those trails 3 times now, and have to agree with every word you said man. That place is an absolute heaven.

I rode Slickrock & Porcupine Rim on my BigHit Comp last time I was there (this summer, I was there twice... it was awesome).
I got stared at rather funny... as I made the climbs on a 42LB HOG.

I wound up riding Slickrock the first time several years ago, and have been trying to make a contious effort to go there every summer. I just love it.

Riding a 42LB bike in a group of weight-weenies gets you looked at awefully funny, but good lord is it a fun experience! hehehe.

Great "article" dude..


-Matt

ColoradoB5

Sorry to revive a long gone thread, but thanks for the writeup, Singlespeedster. It was very helpful...I'm making the same trip with a couple of buddies and some beers in a couple weeks.

:thumbsup:

isotopesope

i just rode fruita for the first time last weekend. it was amazing riding! the first day we road the bookcliffs area, doing four loops starting and ending in the main parking lot. we rode out of the parking lot on prime cut for every loop, then connected to the other trails from there, combining trails for our loops. we rode prime cut, joe's ridge, front side, zippity, and kessel run. all of it was so much fun i couldn't help from laughing.

the second day we rode in loma. we took mary's loop out to moore fun. loma is a lot different than the bookcliff's. lots of rocky tech stuff. moore fun has a pretty gnarly ascent section, but once you get to the top, the descent is so great. we needed to get back to town within a reasonable hour, so we didn't get to ride loma as much.

i can't wait to get back there!!