Chapter 3, The Lunch Loops

Last night as I was finishing a ride in near hypothermia after being sleeted, snowed and rained upon I was thinking how I could live in the desert and be happy. Probably not entirely true as I need trees and the alpine to be truly happy riding my bike but the west or Colorado specifically has taught me to enjoy all environments that has singletrack since that which is my most beloved form, the Alpine, is only open 4 to 5 months a year.


The final bit of our adventure last weekend ends at Tabeguache trail system in Grand Junction otherwise known as the, "Lunch Loops". Bad Andy's cousin Ashley owns, The Bike Shop in Grand Junction and we met him early Sunday Morning for a ride and a tour of the Lunch Loops. I had been here once before but local knowledge is an awesome asset and I relied on him for todays tour.

We set up a Shuttle to the top of the ribbon. A Slickrock slab some 2,000 ft above the parking lot for the Lunch loops and made a speedy descent from there to the Gunny loop.

The Blasphemy of the Misfit

The Blasphemy of the Misfit...Gears

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Descending the top of the Ribbon

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Mike the Giant

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Ken Woo

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The Mad Scientist with Bad Andy trailing in a wash

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Riding beneath the cliffs

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Ashley of the Bike Shop on his carbon Cannondale 69er with a leftie

At the bottom Ashley helped with the shuttle by taking Bad Andy back get the Mad Scientist truck and Sean I decided we needed a bit more. Specifically I couldn't pass on Holy Cross which is a fun section of trail within the lunch loops that has everything from rocky ledges, big rocks in the trail, small slot canyons and a lot of speed. The guys offered to get AV Boy's truck for him and bring it down so we could keep riding so we took the offer and went out for our second loop.

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Looking north from the climb up Pet-E-Kes

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AV Boy on a flat section of Eagle's Wing

This is the kind of riding where I excel and where I made it through Holy Cross with one dab to my name and AV Boy came out with bloody stumps for legs and some choice words for one of the funnest trails in the Lunch Loops system.



1 comments:

  the original big ring

April 26, 2010 at 7:50 AM

that bike is no longer a misfit in my books . . . you're just missing little girl streamers, a big fat horn and a basket on the front to make it complete. for shame . . . for shame.