Words by
Danielle Baker // Photos by
Paris Gore // Video by
Scott SeccoThe morning that I flew to Colorado to meet the Rocky Mountain crew I woke up in Portland; I had already been on the road for a week and part of me wished I was headed home to sleep in my own bed - but arriving to old friends, new bikes, and flowy trails quickly assuaged any regrets I might have had. The days that followed would be full of laughter, riding, bunnies, blue skies, creepy dolls, and haunted houses that would change my end-of-season-exhausted perspective - sending me home better for having gone.
Rocky Mountain was in Fruita, Colorado, to show off their newest trail bikes: the Pipeline and Instinct. I was there to check out a zone that I'd heard much about, but had never ridden. On our first day pedaling we rode the Kokopelli Trails, where locals have been riding for nearly three decades. Encompassing a wide variety of terrain, the trails here circle out and back along cliff edges high above the Colorado River and down below the towering and unique red rock formations. The reward-to-effort ratio was high and my ride was slowed down only by the friendly talkative locals and abundant wildlife I encountered - luckily mostly rabbits and owls, no snakes!
| I have to say Fruita is rad! Visitors feel like locals and locals play like visitors here. A partnership of the City, COPMOBA, Hot Tomato, Colorado Backcountry Biker, Over the Edge and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is focused on building new trails and recently built the new Hawkeye Trail and a re-route to Wrangler in the Kokopelli system. [Even] more singletrack trails are set to be constructed in the spring of 2018.—Mike Bennett, City Manager |
Kokopelli's Trail mountain biking trails | On the bike, my favorite part was the afternoon ride on the first day. It was super cool to have that steep technical climb that brought us up to the ridge where we could see all of the Kokopelli trail system down below – where we had ridden all morning – before descending that awesome Hawkeye trail. I really enjoyed the style of that trail and had a fun time jibbing off the boulder features.—Tyler Pratt |
I’m not usually a window shopper. Whether it’s bikes, trucks, cameras, or boyfriends, my attitude is that if I'm happy with what I have, I don't need to waste my time shopping. That said, throwing a leg over the new Pipeline – when I already had a bike I love at home – carried a certain amount of frivolous excitement. I stand at a towering 5'4 and have always ridden a small frame, so I demoed a medium Pipeline. The wide, monster truck Plus tires made me feel as though I could do no wrong on the off-camber and tiered rock that made up so much of the trails in the Kokopelli network.
| The riding in Fruita was incredible! The folks, the place, and the bikes were great for the soul!—Danielle Baker |
The next day we headed to 18 Road – another popular riding area with over 120 kilometers of trail. Driving up the long road in the back of open air shuttle we could see the steep elevation ahead of us, but quite unexpectedly there was an incredible amount of descending to be found on the trails at the base of the mountain. This is where we spent the day riding loops that were easily as much fun up as down. Most of the Rocky crew were on the Instinct. it was a good place for wagon wheels, but getting back on the Plus tires for the steep and narrow ridgelines in the afternoon felt more reassuring – especially while battling winds and my yet-to-be-conquered fear of heights.
18 Road mountain biking trails | My favorite part of this trip was chasing this high caliber group around my home turf. Super fun bikes and a crew that made ya step your game up to try to hang. I rode new lines on trails that I built, that says a lot about the speed we were carrying and the inspiration of the riders in front of my wheel.—Troy Rarick, Over the Edge |
| Those crazy big tires on the Pipeline were so fun to play with while cornering. I felt like I could just keep leaning deep into the turns.—Ben Marr |
Aside from the constant stoke of riding fun new bikes on beautiful and unique terrain, every person there, from media to athletes to Rocky Mountain employees, formed a tight crew. In all likelihood, our bond came from our eclectic accommodations at
Moon Farm – a property like no other. The expansive farm offered petting zoo opportunities that included llamas (who disappointingly were a little stand-off-ish), pigs, goats, ponies, horses, a donkey, and a pen full of bunnies that you could pick up and cuddle at will (beware of your inner Lenny). But the fun didn’t stop there. Moon farm also offers a pumpkin patch, multiple haunted houses, a snowboard museum, and one of North America’s largest collections of Barbie Dolls - I'm not even joking. Our final evening there was like something out of a B-rated horror movie as we sat around a fire and intermittently broke into small groups to wander through places like ‘the clown house,’ ‘the hay maze,’ and ‘the haunted castle.’ Having watched enough horror movies in my life I never left the fire saying, “I’ll be right back.”
By the time I left Fruita – after just two days – I felt like a new person. Some combination of the abundant laughter, great conversation, incredible flowy riding, breakfasts made by Gully, Poncho the rescue dog,
Hot Tomato pizza, ghosts stories, and blistering hot sunshine had been exactly what I needed. Or maybe it's just a change of pace - and bike - that put the biggest smile on my face.
Rocky Mountain: About the Bikes | Outwardly, the Pipeline and Instinct are similar, but they are completely different animals on the trail. The 29" Instinct is an incredibly fast bike that can hold its speed like none other but tends to get a little squirrelly in the rough stuff. The 27.5+ Pipeline is a more capable of simply plowing through rocky, rooty, loose trail segments, while still maintaining an extremely playful personality. —Max Ritter |
Instinct • 29” Wheels
• Runs a Zero Stack Lower Headset Cup, rather than an External Cup (Pipeline)
• Available in both Carbon and Alloy Models
• 140mm Front and Rear Travel (BC Edition is 160mm Front, 155mm Rear)
• Ride-9 adjustment system
• All models have a “size specific tune” on their shocks.
• Spirit Guide (RMB Chain guide) and 2-bolt ISCG Mount Option
• Fox Live Valve ready, Shimano Di2 Battery Carrier
Pipeline • 27.5+ Wheels
• Runs an External Lower Headset Cup, rather than a Zero Stack (Instinct)
• Available in both Carbon and Alloy Models
• 140mm Front and Rear Travel
• Ride-9 adjustment system.
• All models have a “size specific tune” on their shocks.
• Spirit Guide (RMB Chain guide) and 2-bolt ISCG Mount Option
• Fox Live Valve ready, Shimano Di2 Battery Carrier
You can find a great comparison of the Instinct vs. the Pipeline written by Mike Levy
here.)
| The main goal of heading down to Fruita with our new platforms – Instinct and Pipeline – was to do something different than the traditional media launch. We’d already had a first look on these bikes back in August, and so this was an opportunity to bring along more than just bike industry employees. It was a chance to incorporate some of our US Ambassadors and friends of the brand that we don’t see as often. Rather than just a roll out of spec’s and tech information, we wanted to give people a chance to get to know Rocky Mountain Bicycles. We say it in our slogan, but we really do love the ride.—Stephen Matthews, Brand Manager |
MENTIONS: @rockymountain /
@parisgore /
@scottsecco
For the price of a foregone beer you can support an organization that's been building and maintaining trails for over 2 decades and been groundbreaking in showing land managers (the BLM) how to coordinate trailwork with mountain-bikers
Fake Moab is basically a stupid phrase we coined while drinking around the campfire at 18 Road.
Don't get me wrong,we all like Fruita and GJ, no disrespect to the place and the people. Essentially we were calling ourselves out for being to old to drive another 1.5hrs to Moab.
Ad makers and PB should take note however, some of us think videos with such "epic, over the top" sound tracks are a bit much. I mean, after all, it is just a few kids and uptight-white-guys pedaling bikes in the dirt, with silly outfits - not storming the beaches at Normandy.