Day 3 - Fruita 18 Road trails

Another fun day in Fruita. A little more mellow today since we were getting pretty tired. Hit up the 18 Road trails which we'd heard were fast, flowy and not too technical. Turned out to be kind of like Hulda Crooks on Crack with better dirt and better scenery. The first trail we did was up Prime Cut and down Kessell's run, which is, according to the book we bought, one of Matt Hunters favorite trails. The climb was entertaining, lots of little ups and downs and winding through trees, and the downhill was delightful. Lots of banked turns and quick ups and downs. Russell compared it to a 2.5 mile long Jedi trail, and I agreed.

When we were done that, we went and talked to this cool old dude who appeared to just be living out of his van at the trailhead. We'd heard him giving some other people advice on trails, so we thought we'd hit him up. He suggested Zippity Do Da. We had heard of this trail, but heard that it was pretty crazy so we wanted to know if it was something we should try or not. He let us know that they took out the big rock drops that our book had described and now it was just fun and fast along a ridge. Sounded good to us!

Did I mention it was freezing out today? I was very glad that I made the trip to the store before I left Redlands to purchase warm gloves. I thought about how cold it was just now because we had to make a pit stop to change a tire halfway up zippety and it was definitley nippy out. Thought it might turn out to be a less fun ride after that since a descent down a fire road turned my fingers to icicles and I had sat on my camelbak nozzle while Russell was changing his tire, so I had a wet butt to deal with... but... all turned out well in the end.

Zippety is not so zippety on the way up. Not to say it isn't fun, but it's a pretty decent climb and there are some switchbacks near the top that are darn near impossible to ride, so needless to say, I walked, and did not feel very zippy. On the way down however... Zippety do-da!! The guy in the van had suggested I whistle zippety do da on the way down when it got sketchy, which reminded me of Gene Hamiltons circus song advice, so I did it. Funny how this really does help.

This trail was fast! And exposed! I was pretty happy it wasn't more windy than it was. My favorite parts were the crazy steep sections. It was pretty nutty balancing along the ridges with nothing on either side of this skinny little trail and then all of a sudden making a turn onto a crazy steep downhill which by the way was also super skinny. The adrenaline certainly shoots through the veins on these sections. We likened this trail to the Ridges at Hulda Crooks on speed... Steep ups and downs and g-outs but with no giant moto ruts and way cooler views! Hooray!

Got some pics for ya!

Winding our way up the downhill by mistake. Still fun though! Terrain unlike anything I'd really ridden before.

Made it up the switchbacks!! Just kidding I walked. But the scenery sure is pretty

Scenery from the top

Looking down the start of Zippety... gets much more exposed than this.

Russell on a steep section - this is why Russell takes most of the photos, mine turn out like this

Me on a steep section

Me coming into another steep section

The day was a success but we were anxious to get moving to Moab, so we shared a quick beer in the parking lot and got in the truck. 1.5 hours later, here we are in Moab. So far, beautiful. Can't wait to get out on the dirt tomorrow. Time for a little brew pub action and a comfy bed. Glad for an in-room shower and real heat.