Audio By Carbonatix
Troy Rarick, owner of Over the Edge Sports in Fruita, used to laugh as mountain bikers blazed through town with their bikes on top of their cars, on their way to better-known destinations like Moab, oblivious to the singletrack paradise they were passing by.
Sixteen years ago, he decided to put his town on the map, so to speak, and now you’ll need a map if you want to wrap your handle-bars around all the trails that Rarick helped popularize and develop in the Bookcliffs, Kokopelli, Tabeguache and Rabbit Valley areas. Pick one up at the store, 202 East Aspen Avenue, on your way into town for the sixteenth annual Fruita Fat Tire Festival, which gets under way tonight with a VIP party at 6 p.m. and runs through Sunday (festival VIP passes are $35).
“People just come here to have fun and ride their bikes, so we’ve been keeping it simple: Go ride all day, and we’ll throw some big parties for you when you’re done,” says Rarick, who is also the event’s organizer. For a full schedule and other information, go to www.fruitamountainbike.com. The festival runs through May 1.
April 28-May 1, 2011
