IMBA Epic Ride: The Edge Loop, Fruita, CO

IMBA designates a small number of trails as Epics. These are the trails that require a full-blown saga to describe them. They are the cream of the crop, the elite of mountain biking rides. A few weekends ago, I was lucky enough to ride one of them.
The Edge Loop in Fruita, Colorado was the very first IMBA Epic ride. It starts and ends in the Book Cliff trail system, which in itself is a treasure trove of sweet, flowing trails. My co-worker Joel and I headed to the Book Cliff lot early one Saturday morning, donned our hydration packs, and hit the singletrack.

Joel and I at the start of our ride

We cruised our way through the well-travelled lower trails, seeing not only a few famous female mountain bikers, but also, one of the guys I graduated college with! This may not seem to amazing to you, but consider that I was in the middle of nowhere, Colorado, when up rides a guy that I’d gone dirt jumping with in Michigan. Crazy!
After a few hugs and catching up with my buddy, I pointed the bike uphill for the long fire road climb to the top of the Book Cliffs. Joel was hurting by the end of the climb, but when we gained the ridge, it was worth the slog. The view from the top was knock-you-off-your-feet good, and we both knew that what goes up, must come down—on righteous singletrack. The descent started out with a couple of seriously dicey (awesome) steep and loose drops, and then turned into some of the sweetest ripping semi-tight turns I’d had in a long time. It was heads-up territory, as I squinted through the scrubby trees to try and discern which direction the trail turned as I was tearing through each corner. Flat rocks that fractured like shale into thin slabs had accumulated in multiple layers on the trail so that the topmost rocks could slide along on the lower layers like a snowboard on the slopes. Riding on this was like walking on marbles on a concrete floor—I was loving it!
Eventually we ended up in a sandy wash that sapped the strength out of both of us. Joel was a trooper, but I could tell he was flagging. Time to break out the secret weapon: caffeinated Gu! Mmmm, one of those apiece, and we were ready to fly to the moon. We wound our way down the dry streambed, finally emerging on the outer reaches of the Book Cliff system. At this point I was ready to rip. The trail was flat, windy, and beautiful. I big-ringed it until I was about ready to throw up, and then waited for Joel so we could snap a few pictures of the heifers on the trail.

Joel works it with the ladies

Six hours after we started, Joel and I triumphantly rode into the trailhead, drank some celebratory recovery drink (yeah, I know, recovery drink isn’t as good as beer, but you feel better the next day), headed back to our campsite, ate some pasta, and hit the hay. Goodnight!