Editors Note; We here at FRMB do allow anonymous writers, however, depending on content, we do reserve the right to create a poll in our FB group and let the users vote on your pseudonym. Be warned! In all seriousness, FRMB visited the Fruita Fat Tire Festival this year with our group for the fourth time (Senior McEarbuds may, or may not be in that group), we totally feel what this reader is getting at. Preach on Admiral, preach on!
Fruita Fat Tire Festival Experience (Review)
" its not much of an actual festival"
- First off, lets get this out there… the riding was a 10 out of 10. Drop something and go there immediately. Unless its hot outside… because hanging there in the dead of summer would suck big time. We rode everything we could muster… and our group of almost 20 riders conquered and ripped everything Nate Hills’ videos have ever suggested as something cool to check out.
- Secondly, its not much of an actual festival… the vendor tents and overall feel of the event, although interesting, suggested to many of us that the industry doesn’t take this one very seriously. The nightly bonfire gave it a nice feel, but reinforced the “where the hell is everyone” vibe. They must have been burned out from the Sea Otter thing…
"Stay at the “stabbiest” motel you can find"
- Third, could the county send a guy out on a side by side with a few more signs for the trails? Numerous times, the signage had the group(s) confused at which one of the 5 way intersection options was the continuation of the loop chosen or something else altogether. I mean, besides paleontology, the mountain bike industry must be a pretty big one for the area… you’d think that would motivate them to cater to the riders who are visiting.
- Stay at the “stabbiest” motel you can find. There are plenty. Or, be the envied member of the group and book an airbnb at a cool house in town.
- Soak in the main street coffee place and restaurants.
- There are 796 churches in a town of 600 people… yeah, try to get your head around that. On a serious note… imagine if they all interpreted their different bibles more closely… 1 church, or two could do it.
"Forget about demoing a bike"
- Push yourself and your skill and fear levels in Grand Junction at Lunch Loops. There are moments on Free Lunch make Dakota Ridge feel like a cyclocross course.
- We heard a rumor from Transition Bikes Owner Kevin, that they have something extremely cool in the works for the fall. He convinced us not to share, but also had us pretty psyched. An extremely cool and approachable guy… has us rooting for Transition to knock this secret project out of the park.
- Forget about demoing a bike… see number 2. The overall feel of the festival included a sense that some manufacturers were not sure as to how to best hand out demo bikes… Our group had a frustrating time getting what they wanted… or anything at all. In fact, most gave up and just rode their own bikes throughout rather than deal with the confusion.
- 18 road is near flawless for fun and high speed flow magic. Consider shuttling and getting laps upon laps in on this experience.
Conclusion… Fruita’s Fat Tire Festival could be the absolute premier MTB event of the early season. It delivers on an excellent riding destination and super great town… but fails as a resource for anything other than honing your skills and bonding with your riding buddies…. which is why we’ll be back again and again.
Editors note part two; Want to help out the awesome people building, advocating for and maintaining the great trails on the western slope? Visit our Links we Love tab or go to the Grand Valley Trails Alliance page or COPMOBA for a start!
