One of the highlights from the summer of 2010 was our trip to Grand Junction, Colorado to attend the Ranchstyle Grass Roots slopestyle put on by Grassroots Cycles. When we weren’t hanging out at the private bikepark, we were a few miles away having a blast on the local trails.
Moab, Utah, and now Fruita, Colorado are two major mountain bike destinations in the Southwest. Grand Junction, a mere 40 minute drive away has been gearing itself up to become the next contender for to make your must-ride list. With one of the best single track networks around, it is high on my spots to return to. The highlight of the Grand Junction riding experience are the Lunch Loop Trails. Located just outside of town, the trails are close enough to ride to, and close enough to ride during your lunch break, earning its moniker. Like Moab, there are incredible views and vistas to be found. Unlike Moab’s trails, which are for the most part slick rock and rock strew jeep roads, there is single track here- and jumps. The trails and routes are clearly put together by mountain bikers that understand flow, and they utilize local features well. Even better, there are several DH specific shuttle trails, which completely made our week.
Loading up for the shuttle up
The Ribbon Trail Head
The first section of trail we hit is known as the Ribbon. One of the highlights of the Ribbon is rolling down a gi-normous rock slab at speed.
Cory Tepper rolls down a section of slickrock on the Ribbon Trail
The view of where we were on the Ribbon, on the way to Free Lunch.
As you can see from the photos, there were plenty of epic views to be had. After we finished up the Ribbon Trail, we pushed our bikes up to the start of Free Lunch and got ready for an even more epic descent. Free Lunch is a purpose built DH trail, and features both Black Diamond and double black diamond level sections, some with some serious exposure. There were plenty of rock waterfalls, drops and even a rock step up.
Start of sweet FR goodness: the Free Lunch trail head.
Dylan takes his dirt jumping steeze to his approach on the trail.
Hitting up a rock wall ride while Dylan watches. Photo by Cory Tepper.
Cory and Dylan train through a fun, feature-filled flowy section further down.
Cory gets up on a rock wall ride.
da shit be epic up in here.
The Lunch Loop Trails even became that much more sweet this year with the addition of the Lunch Loop Bike Park.
Local resources
Next time you’re in town check out Grassroots Cycles. Tell them we sent ya. Not only do they provide shuttles, but they are the trail builders behind the bulk of the DH/ Gravity goodness. Not only that, the private bike park the Ranch is their baby, and you’ll need to sign wavers there as well as get the directions.
