Guiding the "Guides"

I had to start our two days of riding with a trip down the Ribbon Trail. The moonscape like rock is unique to Grand Junction and for people who have never been here before it is an amazing experience. Dave Gove and Jaques Hadler are professional guides and do this for a living. Its a treat to get to show them trails they haven't done. Mr. Gove and Mr. Hadler pose 3000 ft above GJ.Gove hucks his Foes.Below, Gove cleans the "Toilet Bowl." Actually he dabbed a foot above this point, right in the center of the toilet. Gross!This was my first ride on my Rock Shox Lyrik fork since it lost all rebound damping on Gooseberry Mesa. I had installed a warranty rebound damper a few days prior. The rebound worked great, unfortunately the compression side blew up near the bottom of the Ribbon leaving me with about an inch of travel for the rest of the day. NOT HAPPY WITH SRAM'S QUALITY CONTROL! Mr. Hadler nearly twisted his derailure off and Mr. Gove was whining about his bald rear tire so we called it a day early and went back home to wrench and then go out to dinner. (thanks for dinner guys)Day two's weather looked rainy, but the temp was perfect. Having two bikes allowed me to continue riding. Mr. Tim Walsh came over from Moab and met us in Rabbit Valley.The Eastern Rim was great, lots of ledgy stuff and technical moves.The lighting was really cool as rain would fall from the sky but not hit the ground. After the Eastern Rim we ate some lunch and headed down Trail 2 to the Western Rim, a completely different type of ride, smooth fast and flowy with great views of the golden cottonwoods in the river valley.On the edge is the best way to describe the Western Rim trail. Pictured above, our bikes on the very edge. We ended the day tuckered out, putting in about 28 miles off-road. Good Stuff!