After leaving Moab and Arches, we headed on into Colorado. This was Adrian’s first time ever being there after many people recommending the state. It did not disappoint, and Grand Junction and Fruita were a good introduction. 

On our way into town, we stopped in Fruita first to grab a bite to eat at the Hot Tomato pizza place in the quaint downtown area. We had seen the Hot Tomato in a Banff Mountain Film Fest film that highlighted the restaurant, the owners, the town, and mountain biking.  It was neat to eat at a place we heard about months before on the other side of the country.  While in downtown, we stopped in a local bike shop and bought some trail maps. These maps are excellent and extremely helpful, with detailed directions and descriptions of the trails. 

From downtown, we checked out the famous 18 Road trails. These are fantastic, and a good “intro to Colorado mountain biking”.

The city of Grand Junction wasn’t very impressive, but the surrounding areas are magnificent and it is a mountain biker’s dream town, mostly thanks to the hard working folks at the Colorado Plateau Mountain Biking Association.