Van Life: Cortez CO – 12 Hours of Mesa Verde – Phil’s World

This Week in Van Life was spent heading to Cortez CO for the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde mountain bike race.

On the way to Cortez CO

We stopped in Fredonia for a night before getting to the Montezuma Fairgrounds where the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde starts and finishes. They also provided free camping at the fairgrounds during the race festivities.

12 Hours of Mesa Verde

We absolutely wrecked ourselves during the race due to only riding our mountain bikes 8-10 times prior to the race. It turns out that being really generally fit doesn’t make you good at riding cross country mountain bike races against a bunch of people from Durango Colorado who ride all the time at elevations higher than Cortez. Oh well, we still had a blast! And there’s nothing wrong with wrecking yourself from time to time. In fact, we could talk about how that’s actually good for you.

Post Race

After the race we stayed an extra night at the campground where we got terrible sleep!! Then spent the next day working from the Kokopelli Bike Shop in downtown Cortez. Where they have blazing fast internet, and a coffee bar! So cool!!

We had our fill of the fairgrounds and snagged a great campsite on County Road 34 with views of the surrounding area.

Our final stop was a night and recovery ride up at the Boggy Draw trail system. After a restful night sleep we rode the fun and flowy Boggy Draw loop before starting our drive to Moab for more fun adventures. Including a shuttle ride of the Raptor Route!

Links from post

• Simple Life Campground: https://www.simplelifecampsites.com/
• Kanab City Library: https://www.kanablibrary.org/
• 12 Hours of Mesa Verde: https://www.12hoursofmesaverde.com/
• Trailforks Lap 1: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/38065474/
• Trailforks Lap 2: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/38116146/
• Trailforks Lap 3: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/38116186/
• Body Health Perfect Aminos: https://allaroundjoe.com/perfectamino
• Ucan Energy Fuel on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zXvGPc
• Tailwind Nutrition on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OgldCT
• Kokopelli Bike & Board: https://www.kokopellibike.com/
• County Road 34 Dispersed Camping https://goo.gl/maps/Kyd3wU4S3mm5EEkA6
• Boggy Draw Loop on Trailforks: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/38200158/

Missed our last Van Life post?

No worries! Click here to see what we did in Hurricane Utah. There was LOT of camping and mountain biking to entertain you. 🙂

Next up….

We are headed to Moab Utah for a lot more mountain bike riding for Emily’s Birthday. Stay tuned by subscribing to our YouTub channel!

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