After a 5 year break, which started when I was on the on the wrong side of a collision with a high school soccer player while refereeing a game in Glenwood Springs, and continued with an obsession with my motorcycle (which ended badly) I have rediscoverd the enjoyment of riding my bike. It helps that Grand Junction has a well developed system of bike trails and lanes, good, paved county roads and no fracking trucks. It also helps that the valley is generally flat, which means that there is no long, miserable hill at the end of every ride as there was in Rifle. My favorite rides are along the farm roads north of our house to Fruita.
I took a ride on Saturday with two friends – a retired state parole officer and a retired sergeant with the Grand Junction police department – north and west, over the dreaded 16 Road Hill to Fruita, and everybody’s favorite lunch stop in Fruita, the Hot Tomato. The weather was overcast with storms coming through, and we had a headwind going west, which shifted to a headwind coming back. We were robbed! But the scenery was beautiful and the traffic mild. I discovered that it didn’t take long to remember how to ride longer distances, but I also discovered that it takes more than two weeks to get back in enough shape to keep up with more experienced riders. Fortunately, they waited patiently for me to make my way to where they stopped.
Here’s the route. If you click on the link to view the whole route, you’ll see some photos also.