BikeParts.com team rider Jesse Swift mapped the Fruita Rabbit Valley Mountain Bike Race Cross Country Course with his Garmin Edge 205 and posted it here for everyone to view. Check it out!
MAP: MSC #1- Rabbit Valley XC | Mountain Biking | Fruita, Mesa, Colorado, United States
Alien Run is a 25+- MTB single-track and oil-field road mountain bike ride in Aztec, New Mexico.
The ride is named after the fabled Hart Canyon UFO Crash site. Little green men - or women, whomever you prefer.
The ride / race course is accessed through Aztec New Mexico. We started at the Aztec Motocross track for about 8 miles of Mountain View trail before we got to the Alien run trailhead. From there it was an 8 mile loop. Sandy, twisty singletrack with some slickrock then back to the moto track via Mtn View. Total ride time about 2.75 hrs easy with breaks.
So Tyler and I spent 5 days of our spring break riding in the Fruita/Grand Junction area. We rode Rabbit Valley, 18Road, Ribbon Trail, Free Lunch, Moore Fun, Horsethief and Gunny Loop. Check out some of the photos here and some of the video too! Props to Ross Schnell for letting us invade his house during the trip!
It’s finally spring time, at least in AZ. After 3 months of cold weather riding I headed down to Fountain Hills, AZ for a week of MTB. McDowell Mountain Park is a great local trail system, and former home of the Cactus Cup. In fact, the last time I had ridden there was the 1998 Cactus Cup. Ride you bike to the park from Rio Verde or Fountain Hills and pay $1 to get into the park. Drive and pay $6 for a car.
I vividly remember my buddy Will making monkey sounds at Gert-Jan Theunisse during the crit. We all use to think that Gert hit the sauce a little too hard in his career and ended up with a Neanderthal forehead. At the time Gert was coaching Bart Brentjens and Filip Meirhaeghe. Filip was later popped for epo.
I rode a new Giant 2007 Anthem 0, stock OTB with mavic crossmax wheelset XTR pedals and Ron Andrews custom Titanium King Cages.
McDowell has a sweet trail system, directional and clearly marked. The “competitive track” area is composed of three main loops, the long loop ,sport loop and technical loop. All are fairly wide open and fast. The sandy, gravelly trail surface is slippery at high speeds. Drifting corners while navigating cactus is a necessary skill. I ran about 160lb in my Fox front and rp23 rear shox. A little high but ok due to high speed, rocky conditions.
Corners can be very slippery.
So, the closest “mountain bike” race to Denver is the Battle of the Bear in Lakewood at Bear Creek Reservoir. This course is flat and fast with 7-8 laps. One year it snowed 6″ the day before the race, only to have 90 degree temperatures the next year. I always enjoy the race because its a good time for the family and friends to come out and cheer at a course that doesn’t send me 30 miles into the lonely wilderness. I was excited to see that this year they have lengthen the course so you dont get dizzy racing it! 
Check out the map of the new course and the race website! See you on the dirt! - swift 
Garmin Edge 205 GPS Unit - used to make this map!
So, Matt, Tate, Colin, Josh and I headed west for the weekend and spent a relaxing weekend riding some new trails in Moab. On Saturday, we climbed Amasa Back and looked for the RockStacker trail. After Josh slipped on the sandstone, we found the killer trail. Click here for more photos of the days adventure!
Then, while it was snowing 12″ inches in Denver, we went for a ride up Porcupine and down the Portal Trail! It was a little chilly but much better then the Front Range! Click here for some photos of Sundays ride!
