Jun 4, 2023

Mountain Biking in Fruita, CO - Flow Trails, Car Trouble and Search & Rescue

Road trips and mountain biking are two of my favorite things to do in Colorado. Fruita, CO is one of my top destinations because it is perfectly warm and sunny in the Spring, has near endless mountain biking trails for all levels, and is an easy 4 hour drive from Denver. Except this time it turned into a 10+ hour ordeal!

Heading west from Denver via I-70 on Friday of a holiday weekend is always risky. We thought we were in the clear after we made it through some heavy traffic, a hail storm, and navigated around a highway closure in Avon. With about 2 hours of driving to go, my friend's Honda Pilot started smelling and steaming causing us to pull over in Dotsero, CO. As we struggled to problem solve and get a cell signal, a dozen or so people stopped to ask if we needed help. With the help of some car savvy strangers, we eventually got the car to Gypsum, CO and consulted with the very helpful people at Down Valley Tire Pros. The conclusion was not good - the transmission was not happy, the car was not drivable and there was no hope for fixing it for at least 3 days. Luckily, our friend and his F150 came to the rescue. After some Tetris skills, we were able to get 6 people, plus gear, and 5 bikes into the truck to get us all to Fruita!

Once in Fruita, we were ready to bike! The weather was 85 degrees, sunny and perfect. The trails were in amazing condition and the biking community was excited and full of good vibes. Those good vibes were needed when our group came up on a biker that had just crashed and was screaming out in pain. Luckily, a lot of mountain bikers are also healthcare providers and/or problem solvers. In less than 90 minutes, the injured biker was calmed and stabilized, search and rescue was called and arrived on foot, and a helicopter landed to air lift the biker to the hospital. The unconfirmed trail side diagnosis was: no head or spine injury, broken clavicle and ribs, and a collapsed lung. All painful injuries, but luckily nothing life threatening or permanently debilitating, especially with some good physical therapy rehabilitation!

A few more days of biking, including part of Kokopelli trail and Zippity Do Dah, some backyard yoga, and a stop of Iron Mountain Hot Springs wrapped up the rest of the weekend. Luckily, the drive back home to Denver was uneventful!