Biking Grand Junction? Start online

For a growing number of Grand Valley residents, spring means the start of biking season.

If you’re a cyclist – especially an aspiring cyclist – you could just hop on two wheels and try to find your way to the best trails to suit your ability. Take that approach, and you’d get a good workout looking for trailheads and suitable rides.

A better approach would be to start on the computer with two excellent websites that contain detailed maps of mountain bike trails and road bike routes in the area.

The first site, Western Colorado Mountain Biking, is found at http://www.gjmountainbiking.com/. Joel Schaefer and Randy Gehl have assembled the site, which includes photos, trail descriptions, and high-resolution maps of the trails plotted on topographical maps. Schaefer and Gehl have ridden each trail listed on the site and have plotted key locations with distances, elevations, and GPS coordinates.

Gehl points out that you don’t have to be an expert mountain biker to ride in western Colorado. For easier trails, he suggests some of the trails in the Lunch Loops area, whose main trailhead is located just up the No Thoroughfare/Monument Road on the Redlands (on the way to the east entrance of Colorado National Monument). Some easier trails also can be found in the Kokopelli’s Trail area (Rustler’s Loop, http://www.gjmountainbiking.com/koko/rustler.html) and in the 18 Road area near Fruita (specifically, the Vegetarian Loop trail). Gehl says Highline Lake also has a nice three-mile loop.

If road biking is more your style (skinny tires instead of fat tires), the Tomorrow Hill Farm website at http://www.tomorrowhillfarm.com/JohnHodgebicycleMaps.html#Top contains a series of useful maps and trail descriptions focusing mainly on paved routes. The maps and descriptions were compiled by local resident John Hodge, an avid cyclist who writes on the website that “a good map brings confidence and an easier, safer, more fun bicycle ride.”

The maps on these websites are worth a thorough review before you start a ride. You’ll gain an idea of what to expect on the trail, and you can be better prepared for the relative difficulty or each ride. Check them out before you ride.

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