Annual mountain bike celebration returning to Colorado desert
A mountain biker races through the rolling turns on Joe’s Ridge north of Fruita in this March 31, 2013.
CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, the gazette file
A destination mountain bike celebration is returning to the western Colorado desert.
Fruita’s three-day Fat Tire Festival is kicking off May 12 for a full weekend of live music, food, beer and, most importantly, gear and singletrack. Organizers call it “one of the nation’s longest-running, non-race mountain bike events,” where the focus is not on competition, but rather pure fun, camaraderie and test rides.
Festivities will commence across the 18 Road trail system. It caters to riders of varying abilities to demo the latest and greatest brands and models from makers who descend upon the little town for the weekend. That includes makers of e-bikes, which are allowed at 18 Road.
The festival promises: “You’ll run out of energy long before you run out of new bikes and fun trails.”
Mountain biking famously injected energy into Fruita at a time the farming hamlet was on the brink of economic collapse. In the 1990s, a ragtag bunch started carving trails in the dusty, rock-festooned surroundings.
“When you build trails, you kind of want people to ride them,” one of those builders, George Gatseos, recalled in a previous Gazette interview.
That’s why the Fat Tire Festival was born. In recent years, it’s been attended by more than 2,000 people, ranging the spectrum of the sport’s curious and serious.
Guided rides are a festival tradition, in which seasoned locals and pros lead beginners and intermediate and advanced types out on trails suited for them. Those are reserved for people with a full festival pass, priced at $95. For attendees wanting to test out bikes, the demo pass is $75.
More information: FruitaFatTireFestival.com
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