Looking at some of the comments, I guess I’m not totally clear about the lag in time between my days and when I post about them- in the interest of my own personal safety, I make it a habit to not post about being somewhere while I’m still there… so right now, I’m NOT actually in Fruita. Ryan and I left yesterday afternoon to head back to Breck so we’d be closer to the airport (he flew out today). I’m in a different location now that’s convenient to most parts of the Breck 100 course. So… that being said…

The Edge Loop
One thing I’ve learned to appreciate since I’ve been on this trip is birds (except for the Magpie, of course, which is the Vuvuzela of the bird world). Birds wake up every morning about the same time I do, and, since everywhere I’ve stayed on this trip has been either a tent or a building with no air conditioning, I have woken up every single morning to the sound of birds singing. I’m going to miss that when I get home…

Ryan and I were up with the birds Tuesday morning to get an early start on the Edge Loop at Bookcliffs. It was listed as 5/5 on the “coolness” factor and is apparently one of the first IMBA “Epic” rides. So, of course, we had to do it.

We headed out of camp onto the Frontside loop, which eventually led us to a long haul on a gravel road. It wound through an awesome canyon then started to climb up the ridge. It climbs a pretty long way- from around 5300ft up to more than 7300 feet. Along the top, there were a few more miles of rolling (steep) hills followed by a descent.

Remember in my last post how I said that when in Fruita, going over the top of a hill or around an unfamiliar corner can be precarious because the trail is likely to do something unexpected? Well, the jeep roads on the Edge Loop are no exception… in three different spots, the road was not much more than a bench-cut strip of rocks that plunged downward at an insane grade. I’m not ashamed to admit, I walked down the first two. I decided to take a chance on the last one, and, with my ass nearly on my rear wheel and my saddle in my stomach, I inched my way down, mentally screaming at myself to keep looking ahead and NOT over the edge of the cliff that was to my right.

It was terrifying.

We finally made it to some singletrack which soon gave way to something that was more like what you’d see in an adventure race than a mountain bike trail… a ~30ft rock race that’s occasionally a waterfall. There were several ropes to help you get you and your bike to the bottom (see gallery photos and photos on Ryan’s Blog)

Once we were down that, we picked though occasional rock gardens our way through a dry creek bed. That eventually led us back to the “normal” Bookcliff trail system, where Ryan managed to endo, twist an ankle, and start to bonk. With a little encouraging and some fig newtons, we eventually made it back to the 18 road trailhead and up to camp.

I really wanted to ride more trails in the area, but my legs were still destroyed from Sunday’s race. So, we packed up and headed back to Breck so we’d be a bit more rested/closer to Denver for Ryan’s flight out the following day. That was some nice singletrack (though I still like Arkansas better)…