Fruita Fat Tire Mountain Bike Festival

So the annual bash in Fruita took place April 29 through May 2.  Events like these have always been on the back burner for me.  Partially it's been confidence...am I really a mountain biker or similarly am I really a triathlete?  It's quite silly given the accepting, encouraging nature of both groups, but anxiety is illogical.  We often fear things and underestimate our abilities.  Bottom line my wife really wanted to go and since she is gracious enough to entertain my Ironman endeavors, I try to return the favor where ever possible.

We headed up for the 4 hour drive to Fruita, Thursday evening after work.  I received a Domino's email for 2 medium 2 toppings for 5.99 each.  So I tried the online ordering system, very slick Java implementation and easy to order for a 5:35 pickup time at 12 noon.  We ate the pizzas on the road, 2 thin crusts that were quite tasty.  Not our typical diet but very fulfilling for a drive.  The drive was peaceful and uneventful, though weather was expected around Vail Pass.  Thankfully our weather was sunny.

We arrived at my cousin Brad's just before 10pm, happily before we kept him up to late.  We chatted briefly and all got headed off to bed.  Brad offered us breakfast at 6 if we were willing to get up, but we smiled and said we'd go for sleep instead.  I slept like a rock and we woke up around 9:30am Friday.  Brad and his wife Brenda have a beautiful house that they designed and built with minimal assistance.  It is built like a fort, I never heard a sound the whole time we were there.  We sat at the counter and ate some fruit and a couple biscuits from Brad's early morning feast.  How cool is it that he cooks breakfast for anybody and everybody each and every morning?  I don't mean cereal and toast, I mean real American style, old school on the farm, breakfasts that will fuel Ironman training or long days of mountain biking.  His reputation is of the stellar, irrepressible host.  He is and so much more.  We felt welcome and comfortable every moment.

We chatted with Brad for a bit while we mapped the days plan.  He has the enviable luxury of working a real, paying job from home.  We got all our bike gear on and headed out with the bikes firmly mounted on the 4-runner.  Downtown Fruita is about 10 minutes from our abode.  We quickly found a close parking spot, thankful to be there for the first full day Friday.  It was unremarkably, uncrowded.  We headed over and it really appeared to be still setting up.  We decided to get some food.  Yes we just ate but not much.  We split a pulled pork sandwich, an italian sausage and a pulled pork platter.  Wow, this after pizza.  If this were fiction, I would be foreshadowing my liberal eating for the bulk of the weekend.

After eating we began to walk around.  Dana quickly determined that all bikes were free to try out.  She asked me if I wanted to partake and I quickly obliged.  This was a shock to both of us.  I am logistically inflexible for the most part.  I hate headaches.  Thank Brad's uncle, my Grandpa Don for that.  But I thought heck free, I am down let's try some fancy bikes.  I got a Titus Rockstar 29'er (big 29 inch wheels) and Dana got a Santa Cruz Blur.

We headed to the Kokapelli Trail for our first day out and rode Mary's Loop, Horse Thief, Steve's Cutoff and the short part of Steve's Loop.  The 29'er took a little getting used to and some oomph to get over the big wheel inertia.  Wow that thing rolled over stuff like a giant.  My chops are definitely better on a mountain bike than ever before.  I definitely don't lack confidence anymore.  It's amazing what an Ironman and a handful of half IMs can do for both your confidence and ability to endure.  Dana loved her Santa Cruz.

After we wrapped up our ride we went out to dinner with Brad and Brenda at Naggy McGees (yes Naggy not Maggy).  Awesome new restaurant in  Grand Junction.  Generous portion sizes, a little fusion with India (curry added to some traditional Irish dishes), and just right ambiance.  We shared our food and great conversation.  I learned my grandfather was in Time magazine in the 70s for figuring out away to crystallize steel to eliminate weak points (totally bastardized that but for me and the other laymen out there you get the idea).  Funny, he is so humble still in his 70s and living the American Dream.  After dinner we headed to a local brew pub that had some Dark Walnut Stout (I think if memory serves me).  Delicious.  After one of those it was time to head home, watch the Nuggets get eliminated and head to bed.

Saturday, I woke up at 8:30 with no alarm.  I headed downstairs and Brad was raring to go on the stove.  Omelettes and pancakes for the rise and shine day.  Incredible!  He could give Naggy a run for her money.  We got showered and headed over to the Festival.  This time we decided on aggressive downhill rides.  I got a Kona Stinky, 30 pounder I am guessing (that's heavy for the non-bikers out there).  Dana got a Pivot with similar aggressive build though it was not as heavy but had a lot of travel and no lockout.  We headed to area 18 to ride.  In general huge mistake on bike choice.  They were brutal on the uphill.  Most folks were getting rides to the top and then just downhilling it.  I have become a bit of a purist in that sense.  You need to ride up it to ride down it.  We gutted it out.  Dana took a doosy of a spill and her big gear snagged some ankle meat.  But we got back to the car and she found some antiseptic and said she could cleanup and continue.  STUD!  I love her!  So we grinded out some more essentially strength training workouts on these bikes.  I will say that I could not find anything big enough to jump off or ride over that my bike would notice.  Silky smooth.

After a solid day of riding we headed back to Brad's.  We grabbed some Guinness and Corona for the cookout he planned.  I decided to bang out a 7 mile run when we got back to stay on top of my training.  Brad grilled some perfect pork chops with a salad and baked beans.  My cleanest meal of the trip with unbreaded, nicely seasoned pork.  I did have a few chocolate chip cookies afterwards while we watched Old Guys.  Surprisingly funny movie, though I had a ton of endorphins with my long ride and run.  Early to bed again.

Sunday we woke up at 8:30 again.  Brad had us set to go with biscuits, eggs, gravy and bacon.  I tell you, maybe B and B for his retirement life???  I will have to suggest.  We decided today to ride our own bikes.  My wife says better the devil you know.  But we headed back to Kokapelli and headed out straight from Mary's Loop to the big part of Steve's Loop.  Wow spectacular scenery.  And our bikes were spot on.  I keep the shifting dialed in like butter.  That is the one thing a shop never gets right so I am happy to have basically a bike shop in my garage.

We enjoyed the ride and headed back to Brad and Brenda's to clean up.  We quickly showered, grabbed our stuff and made our way out of their hair.  A little trying time on the drive back, with a 20 car pileup near Vail Pass, but we were home within an hour of our projected time.  To summarize, we got it just under 10 hours of mountain biking.  I threw in an hour of running.  Brad and Brenda are awesome hosts!!!  Fruita is world class for mountain biking.  The opportunity to test ride bikes for free is unreal.  See you in 2011!

Happy Training!