Grand Junction's Backyard Trail System Hosts Its Toughest Weekend of the Year

The Grand Enduro takes over the Lunch Loops trail system this Saturday and Sunday, September 12-13, with up to 300 riders racing three timed stages — including the Ribbon, a trail that starts on an open slab of rock and hits speeds over 30 mph before dropping into singletrack.

What gets me about this race isn't just the difficulty, though by all accounts it's real — chunky desert terrain, mandatory pre-rides on two of the three stages, and a stage called Free Lunch that was the first BLM-sanctioned freeride trail in the country. It's that the whole thing happens a few minutes from downtown. Lunch Loops isn't a destination you drive an hour to reach; it's the trail system locals ride on a random Tuesday after work. The Grand Enduro just puts a stopwatch on what's already sitting at the edge of town.

Packet pickup and a racers' meeting happen Saturday evening at Handlebar Tap House, with live music both nights. Sunday's the real event — pros rolling out at 9 a.m., amateur and intermediate riders staggered behind them, with results and an awards ceremony back at Handlebar that afternoon. You don't need to race to get something out of it. Toilet Bowl, on the Ribbon, is one of the few easily accessed spots to just stand and watch, and Gunny Loop has a reputation among locals as the best descent in the valley regardless of what the clock says.

I think about this kind of thing a lot when I'm showing houses. A listing sheet tells you square footage and lot size; it doesn't tell you that from a lot of Grand Junction neighborhoods, a "trail system" isn't a weekend project — it's part of the weekly rotation. Whether you ride or just like knowing serious singletrack is five minutes away, that's the kind of proximity that's easy to undervalue until you've lived without it.

If you're new to the area or still deciding where to land, this weekend is a good excuse to drive out to Little Park Road and watch for a while. You'll get a much better sense of what "close to trails" actually means here than any listing photo could give you.

— Scott Cotton - Realtor® @ The Christi Reece Group and Your Real Estate Trail Guide

Sources:

Grand Enduro - official race site, course info and schedule: http://www.grandenduro.com/

Lunch Loops Community Rec Area - Bureau of Land Management: https://www.blm.gov/visit/lunch-loops-community-rec-area