Kokopelli Ride

KTR Redo. After our miserable muddy effort at the KTR on May 15th Shawn Gregory and I decided to give it a go again and ride from Fruita to Moab. This was my 4th Kokopelli effort and now have done it both directions twice. The weather was supremely perfect and the creeks had just enough water to filter from. Laura dropped us off at the Loma trailhead and we started pedaling at midnight on Saturday night. No mechanicals and just great riding.
Stats: 142 (GPS stated 137) miles, 16,300 elevation gain. 18 hours 49 minutes to finish. Bike ridden; single speed 29 with 32x20 gear ratio. Filtered water from 3 creeks.


The morning sun finally after being in the dark for 6 hours.

Shawn refilling his water bottle.

The mighty Colorado.

Where is the trail???

Shawn cruising along the Colorado early in the morning.

Great views in the Yellow Jacket Canyon area on our way to Dewey Bridge.

Yellow Jacket Canyon area.

Dewey Bridge. Gone after a young kid burned it down.

This is the creek we filtered from in Entrada Bluffs.

Entrada Bluffs.

Shawn grinding up the monster climb from Dewey Bridge into the Entrada Bluffs.

The daunting climb out on the Cottonwood Canyon RD area after descending the techy Rose Garden Hill area.

Far away from our goal. La Sal Mountains.

The descent from Rose Garden Hill onto Cottonwood Canyon Rd.

Great views atop the Beaver Mesa area.

Shawn filtering water from Fischer Creek. We still had some monster climbs in front of us before the 20 mile descent into Sand Flats.

Shawn grinding up Castleton Gateway Rd. The climbing seemed to never stop.

View from Castleton Gateway Rd.

Finally downhill to Sandflats Rd. The La Sals now in the background.

Shawn happy to be going downhill for once after the hard effort up the La Sal Loop Road which we both hammered up without stopping at all. Hard on the knees on the singlespeeds.

Two happy riders to see Laura at the Slickrock Trailhead with cold beers and some nice finishing prizes from Gearheads. Thanks honey!!!! Next stop was Moab Brewery.

The bike setup....AY Up lighting system. Garmin 705 GPS system. External battery charger to recharge the GPS. Dual feed bag to make eating easier on the trail. I have this system down to a science and works well on the long enduro stuff.

THE bike....Airborne 29er Titanium single speed. 32x20 gearing.

First time I tried this but McDonald's hamburgers seem to work great for on the trail feeding. Thanks Shawn for the suggestion. We both chowed down three of them during the ride. Could of ate more. The funny thing is I rarely eat fast food but it does seem to have a place in the world; endurance riding.

Garmin Edge 705

Received a Garmin 705 for my birthday. Looking forward to using it. I certainly could have used the assistance of a GPS unit in the past.

Mountain Flyer Palisade Classic Race Report

A great write-up of the Palisade Classic bike race here with great pics..................http://www.mountainflyer.com/news.cfm?itemid=388

Rico Locals Loop

The snow cleared out and the sun shined so it was time to ride the Rico Locals loop on Monday afternoon. It is a nice loop that a few of us locals have put together over time and it has evolved nicely with 1180 feet of climbing and more if you want it. It is about 8-10 miles long and you can always add more mileage along with more climbing. Takes less than an hour if you are moving quick. It is comprised of mostly old mining roads, some private land and some sweet single track through the aspen and spruce. The nice thing about it is it it right outside my door and I hit single track coming back to my house.

The new White Brothers Rock Solid carbon fork rode sweet on its maiden voyage.

Some nice mining roads with casual climbing grades.

The overlook above Rico. To this point I have climbed 820 feet from the house.

Sweet single track going back to my house.

Palisade Race Pics-Finish

Coming in to the finish line after a hard battle to take 1st in the single speed class.




A little road rash on my arm and my hip took a good beating when I hit the asphalt hard in the pea gravel going hot into a corner.

Will, 2nd place, and I chatting about the race.

Will and I happy to be done battling.

Thank you to Jim for the photos.

White Brothers Rock Solid

Here is a pic of my prize for 1st in the Palisade Bike Classic.

Palisade Bike Classic River Crossing

A pic of our river crossing after our big climb. This years crossing wasn't as big but definitely woke you up.