Help arrived with the formation of Kokopeli Bike Club, a nonprofit trail advocacy group with one goal in mind: take care of the trails. The group coordinated leases of state land, which allowed the original trails to stay open. "If someone had got in there and leased that initial portion of land, we would have lost some of the access and beginning of the trail," said Jimbo Fairly, part owner of Kokopeli Bike and Board. From its inception, the bike club has maintained existing trails, explained Fairly, as well as locating areas of opportunity to create new ones. The work continues today, with the club asking very little in return.
At the Phil's World trailhead, located approximately three miles east of Cortez on Highway 160 across from the fairgrounds, the club does ask for a donation to help the bike club with its efforts, which includes negotiating land leases, communicating with private land owners, working with the neighboring Four Corners Rifle and Gun Range, and securing insurance as well as the trail building and route finding. "There is a minimum required to keep the trails open," Fairly explained. "The user fees help offset the costs of those things."

After slipping a few bucks each into the donation box, we headed in, cranking on buttery smooth singletrack through tunnels of piñon juniper and meadows of purple sage. The trail, often described as a 12-mile (plus!) loop with a few route options, contours up and down mesas and clings to hillsides and cliff edges, climbing to rims with scenic views. The trail is mostly hard-pack with the rare patch of sand, and nothing exceptionally technical to get puckered about. It's just fun, and for all levels of rider.

Past the midway point of the loop comes a back-and-forth descent of twists and turns through washes and deep-cut ravines.

This twisty section, affectionately known as the Rib Cage, is a highlight of the system for its whoops and spines and a thrilling series of jumps, banked turns and steep drops. It's an exercise of inertia and physics performed on a bicycle.

Slowing down to catch our breath - and settle our stomachs - we were elated to be on some of the best singletrack we had ever ridden. We end the ride with a mellow climb of the backside of a mesa and a fun, casual descent of its frontside to the parking lot.
Back in Cortez, the owners of Kokopeli Bike and Board are settling into a new shop, a spacious one devoted to bicycles and snowboarding. Fixing a bad wheel, hands covered in grease, Pete Eschilliar comments on the mountain biking community, "Everybody rides. Doctors, schoolteachers. There's not a lot of attitude. It's really cool."

 Fifty miles east in Durango, it's business as usual. At Second Avenue Sports, customers and employees shuffle around rows of bikes and accessories. With summer trails in prime condition, there is a buzz in the air. Owner Gary Provenchure is busy behind the counter wearing a grin while reflecting on Phil's World. "It's just fun, from the beginning of the ride all the way to the end. I really like the Rib Cage." Everyone agrees that Phil's World is a blast.

A few days later, we're back at Phil's World. We pull into the dusty parking lot and get ready for a ride, this time a little less energetic. Work, bills, the usual stuff, has us emotionally drained. We start off a bit quiet and grumpy, but the riding quickly does its magic. Up mesas, through groves of piñon, we catch our thrills along with amazing views of Mesa Verde National Park, the Ute Mountains, the La Plata Mountains and more. Keith Evans, operation's manager of Dunton Hot Springs and a Kokopeli Bike club member of five years, whom we bumped into in the parking lot, said it all: "At the end, I always end up smiling. That's the best thing about it."

The word is out on Phil's World. "We're not Durango, Fruita or Moab, but people from all over know about it and come for the trails," said Fairly with a hint of pride. As for Phil, who was instrumental in motivation and the building of many trails, says Fairly, "he's always got something in the works."
Thanks Phil, from everyone.