This is the final installment in my series of ride reports from my vacation to Colorado during the first week of August, 2011. By the time this blog post goes live, it will probably be December. Man, how time flies.

In case you’ve missed them, you can check out my other ride reports here:

• Foothills Trail, Fort Collins
• Lower Loop, Crested Butte
• Evolution Bike Park, Crested Butte Mountain Resort
• Dyke Trail, Crested Butte
• Trail 401, Crested Butte
• Upper Loop, Snodgrass, Lupine, and more, Crested Butte

Strand Hill

We walked into a local bike shop at the beginning of our stay in Crested Butte and Strand Hill was one of the trails that all of the locals recommended. Most of their other recommendos were already on my hit list, but Strand Hill was something of a surprise.

On a map, this trail doesn’t really look like much. By the numbers, compared to all of our other rides, it wasn’t much either: it ended up being about 8 miles round trip (2-3 of those being gravel road miles) with only 1 hour of total ride time. In reality, though, it was the best way to end an already stellar mountain biking vacation!

The lead up to the actual Strand Hill loop was about a mile of gravel road grinding from the trailhead. After scaling a rickety fence crossing, the climbing began in earnest: straight up a rocky, rutted gravel road. The road ran out in a field with the sunlight burning down through the thin atmosphere: we could almost feel our increased proximity to the sun.

Eventually, the road led into the trees, but it kept on climbing.

Climbing up the washed-out road.

While the climb was steep and anaerobic, it ended much sooner than some of the long alpine climbs we had already ridden that week. Still, it was a welcome relief to drop into some smooth singletrack!

Dropping in to the Strand Hill trail.

This trail was such a fitting end to our long week of fat-tired bliss as it was simply one of the best little downhills that we rode in Crested Butte… and consequently it’s one of the best little downhills I’ve ridden in my entire life!

The trail is swoopy up top with beautiful turns sculpted over the years by thousands of tires. The dirt is amazingly tacky, refusing to let your wheels drift out.

As the trail descends Strand Hill the grade steepens, and the trail gets rockier and rootier with a few small drops thrown in. The turns stay wonderfully swoopy, and the added gnar only heightens the brake-burning bliss!

At the bottom of the Strand Hill trail there is a junction providing a number of different options. We elected to jump on the Canal Trail, and it proved to be a good choice as the flowy descent just kept going! The Canal trail was noticeably flatter and smoother, but it was still a delightful ride back down to the gravel road. A little more gravel grinding, and we were back at the truck.

Yeah, Strand Hill wasn’t a very serious ride: it wasn’t very long, and the descent was not exceedingly challenging or extended. But the upshot is, even if you’re a relative beginner and are willing to brave the initial climb, this ride is guaranteed to put a smile on your face! And even if you’re a grizzled master of the singletrack, the beautiful flow of Strand Hill will make this little out-of-the-way trail so worth your while. Strand Hill is a classic!

Your turn: Have you ever ridden a trail that truly shines despite its short length? What is it?

As the morning sunlight of our last day crested the mountain peaks near our campground outside of Crested Butte, CO, we knew that there were a ton of trails that we still wanted to ride, and that there was no possible way we could experience them all. Nevertheless, we had to try!

We decided to try to tackle a number of the trails closer to town, since our legs were way too beat to attempt another epic high-altitude alpine route.

We drove into town and parked at one of the large public parking lots. But then we realized something: instead of riding up the bike path to the town of Mount Crested Butte, we could hop the free shuttle bus and get ~700 vertical feet for free! As an added bonus, the bus showed up less than 5 minutes after we unloaded our bikes. Score!

We ended up riding the shuttle twice, hitting an entirely different set of trails each time. For riders coming from lower elevations that want to ease into the high-altitude riding, for those that just can’t handle the massive climbs, or for riders like us who are just running on fumes after an epic week of riding, I highly recommend utilizing this free shuttle bus to get some free vertical.

Upper Loop -> Upper Upper Loop -> Whetstone Vista -> New Deli

After unloading our bikes, we rode down through the mountain village and dropped into the singletrack of the Upper Loop trails. This trail system runs along the flanks of the backside of Mount Crested Butte. If you drive into town and look at the massive cliffs on the back of the mountain, drop your gaze just below the cliffs and scree field to the trees, and you’ve found this small network of gorgeous singletrack. With several different trails branching off of the main trunk that drop down into town, this area is super easy to access from anywhere in Crested Butte or the Village of Mount Crested Butte.

Unlike the Lower Loop, its easily-accessible singletrack counterpart to the west of Crested Butte, the Upper Loop has some pretty significant elevation changes and a number of rough, rocky sections. While the rocks were challenging at times, we didn’t come across any seriously gnarly features on the trails we rode. Still, the rough sections were delightfully rocky and were a great change of pace from the predominantly smooth singletrack in the area.

But don’t get the wrong idea: the Upper Loop is anything but a continuous rocky gnar-fest. Much of the trail still looked like this:

As you can see, this convenient trail system just east of Crested Butte offers up a true variety package of mountain biking delight. If I lived here in town, I could see this being a regular test loop whenever I got a new bike in for review.

Rider: Andrew K. Photo: Greg Heil.

Rider: Greg Heil. Photo: Andrew K.

We took the Whetstone Vista trail down from the main traverse, and if any cross-country trail that we rode this weekend was rocky, Whetstone Vista was it! It was a cascading chunder-field dropping all the way down to the bottom of the valley below. It was nothing that I couldn’t handle on my hardtail 29er, but it was definitely a rough ride!

Rocks on the side of the Whetstone Vista Trail. Just imagine how much rock had to be removed in order to build this trail!

After popping out on the gravel road, we pedaled back up towards the highway, and jumped on the New Deli Trail to head back into town. Surprisingly, New Deli was actually a nice singletrack trail that roughly parallels the highway and leads right back into the town of Crested Butte, dropping out behind the public school. From the map, I thought it would be a paved greenway-affair, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Thanks to the wonderful shuttle bus (did I mention it’s free?), our elevation profile ended up looking like this (not including the New Deli Trail):

Score!

Round 2: Snodgrass -> Lupine Trail

After our second ride up the shuttle bus, we still had a fair amount of climbing to reach our desired trail. While we didn’t really want to gain elevation on our own (yes, we were getting a litle bit lazy), our destination was so worthwhile!

Dropping into the Snodgrass trail.

Snodgrass is a close-to-town Crested Butte classic! The trail is very buff and just flows down through the thick aspen forest with perfectly-shaped turns and the tackiest black dirt you may ever set tire on!

After wrapping up the way-too-short descent on Snodgrass, we pedaled down the pavement for a few miles and hooked up with the brand-new Lupine Trail.

Lupine Trail

As of early August when we rode it, the Lupine Trail was so new that it wasn’t on any of the maps… even the most recently printed ones from earlier in the year. Instead of carved wood signs, Lupine featured sticks propped up between rocks with laminated computer paper taped to them for marking signs. If any trail was ever brand-spanking-new, it was Lupine this past August!

The top of Lupine begins in a subdivision cul-de-sac, and as such there is no parking available at the top. There are a few spots marked out at the bottom of the trail, so you could possibly park there and ride it as an out-and-back, ride up the road and drop in from the top, ride from town (since it is only a mile or two from the main parking areas), or you could do a rough variation of our route.

One of the many views off of the Lupine Trail.

The majority of the trail rolls through the meadows on this ridge overlooking town and the Slate river. The singletrack is wonderfully designed with excellent flow, while also offering some serious exposure to keep you on your toes:

After this section of trail emerges from the trees on the other side, it feeds into an open meadow for the final descent, and the character of the trail completely changes! The flow is still there, but it’s provided by a series of massive, swooping turns with some serious berms to rail. There are numerous berms as the trail snakes down the ridge-side, allowing you to ride balls-out and shred as fast as you can!

The only complaint I could possibly have about Lupine is that the very end of the trail is a buzz-kill. Before you reach the bottom, the singletrack drops out onto an old gravel road, and as you finish the descent you have to dismount, open, and close (make sure you do this last part) three separate gates. Still, with everything that came before, it’s hard to fault this trail for having a lackluster ending.

Stay tuned for the final ride-report from my trip to Crested Butte: Strand Hill.

The start of the ascent to Georgia Pass on County Road 37, near Jefferson, CO.

Georgia Pass is a spectacular, high altitude (11,585′) mountain bike paradise with trailhead access from both US-285 (SW of Denver, CO) and the town of Breckenridge. It has spectacular close up views of Mount Guyot, the Breckenridge mountains and the South Park plains. The best season to ride there is late July through September – or anytime before the first snowfall.

Views while climbing through the forest up the Colorado Trail.

The most popular ascent route up to Georgia Pass is the 6 mile section of the Colorado trail that starts on County Road 37 at Beaver Ponds Picnic Area, near Jefferson, CO. Pedal onto the Colorado trail and go down, over a bridge, and then begin a long climb up some fairly steep, rocky and rooty – but still mostly rideable – tread. Pace yourself and keep truckin’ up, up, and up for approximately 4-5 miles until you break through the tree line… and continue up onto thin singletrack rolling through high altitude meadows. Above the tree line the trail is less technical and also less steep.

A view of Georgia Pass from the edge of the treeline.

There are a couple of options at the top of Georgia Pass. You can park your bike and hike over the grassy meadows for a spectacular, ultra-close view of Mount Guyout (13,297′) or just lay in the meadows, eat a Clif bar, soak in the sunshine and catch your breath – feeling high as the sky.

You can ride off the Colorado Trail and take the 4×4 Jeep roads just below the pass to spectacular cairn-marked vistas above the pass. However, the 4×4 roads can be extremely steep, rocky and loose in sections – and the altitude can really kick in, making these tracks a grueling technical skill test.

Mount Guyot, close enough to touch, from the top of Georgia Pass.

On the way down you can re-trace your route back to the Colorado trail. The ride down is an all-out scream, an exhilarating, fast descent through the rolling meadows of the High Country and the thick evergreen forests. Enjoy the ride (full suspension recommended) but be careful of other riders coming up as some of the turns and corners are pretty fast and fairly “blind.”

Colorado Trail marker pole at the top of Georgia Pass

You can also take an alternate route down at an obvious junction just below Georgia Pass. Take a left and go down the West Jefferson Trail which is a steeper, more technical, and less-traveled descent. The West Jefferson trail dumps you out in the middle of the Lodgepole campground. Make your way through the campsites and take a left onto County Road 37 and pedal up a bit until you rejoin the Colorado Trail at Beaver Ponds Picnic Area.

Above Georgia Pass, looking back towards Mt. Guyot

This ride is considered by many to be one of the very best in the Front Range of Colorado! It richly rewards all of the effort you’ve put into training during the early season. The beautiful scenery and high-altitude sunshine (on a good day) is well worth the driving and the cranking it takes to get up there.

Access from Denver: Drive approximately 69 miles SW on US-285 to the small town of Jefferson, CO. Turn onto County Road 35 and go about a mile, then make a right turn onto county road 37 towards Jefferson lake. Pay the $5 federal recreation area fee and go about another mile past Lodgepole & Aspen campground. Park at “Beaver Ponds Picnic Area” which is on the left hand side of the road, just past a Colorado Trail sign. From here it’s 6 miles UP to Georgia Pass. (Most people choose to take the 24 mile route from the top of Kenosha Pass – which is recommended for intermediate-to-advanced mountain bikers who are in shape.)

Access from Breckenridge: Drive up Tiger Road approximately 3 miles out of town until you see a dredge boat on the left side. You can get on the Colorado trail shortly past this point… but the climb is very long and gnarly. You can keep driving up Tiger Road and access the Colorado Trail at the “middle fork” and the “north fork” where the Colorado Trail crosses the road. Ride up the Colorado Trail to Georgia Pass.

About the Author: Brett Borders is a direct response copywriter, snowboarder and mountain biker living in Denver, CO… and loving every minute of it!

Trail 401 is one of the most renowned mountain bike trails in the nation and for good reason: it has all of the qualities that you could ever want in a classic singletrack ride:

• Delightfully narrow singletrack
• A long, tough climb with some serious elevation gain
• A long, fast descent!
• Beautiful views of the surrounding mountains
• Remoteness
• Tacky dirt
• Smooth sections of trail
• Rough, challenging sections (including rocks and roots)
• Stream crossings
• Serious exposure
• Switchbacks
• Berms
• Camping nearby
• A great mountain town with a mountain-bike friendly culture
• A place to get some beers and pizza afterwards
• The possibility of getting rained or snowed on at any time

I’ve been nervous about writing this ride report – how does one actually go about accurately describing one of the best trails in the nation in mere words? All of the standard metaphors, many of which now seem to border on the cliche, just don’t measure up to the grandeur of 401.

So instead of employing 5,000 words to describe this slender line of dirt, I’ll try to let the photographs do most of the talking.

Our Ride

We began our ride as most people do with the long climb up Gothic Road.

Rider: Andrew.

Despite the fact that we were slowly grinding up mile after mile of steep gravel roads, I was thoroughly enjoying myself because of the incredible views of the mountains all around us!

We spotted a mountain lake down below the road: it is one of the clearest blue lakes I have ever seen!

The most entertaining part of our entire climb up to the singletrack was crossing the snow. Yes, that’s right: snow. In the middle of August.

This mini-glacier lies at the very bottom of a steep-sided valley, protected from the warmth of the sun by the mountains and the elevation. I have no idea how deep that snow is, and I doubt anyone alive actually knows what the bottom of that ravine looks like.

Loving the mid-summer snow! Rider: Greg (me).

After much painful pedaling, we finally made Schofield pass!

The climbing wasn’t done, though: we still had at least a mile of ascending on the singletrack before we reached the summit of our ride. After already having climbed about 6 miles of gravel road at high elevation, the last steep push to the summit was a challenge, both mentally and physically.

After climbing a ways through the woods, the trail broke out into a high alpine meadow:

Looking back down through the meadow.

Finally, all of our hard work paid off, and we gained the high point:

Andrew and Greg at the Summit.

While all of the trails in Crested Butte are at high elevation, Trail 401 stands out as one of the highest with the summit of the route resting at about 11,400 feet above see level! For two Georgia boys, the oxygen molecules are way too few and far between up there!

The high point of the route afforded incredible views in almost every direction. We enjoyed the especially stunning view to the north, looking into the Maroon Bells Wilderness:

Everything up to this point had been the prelude to the main event, just the opening act: now it was really time to ride… it was time to descend! And descend we did: fast and furiously as we shredded the snot out of that singletrack, dropping as quickly as possible back down into the valley below.

Andrew descending Trail 401.

We were treated to incredible views all along the way. Riding through these high alpine meadows is so different from the deep forests of North Georgia… I found it hard to keep my eyes on the trail!

In the bottom of the valley you can see Gothic Road, which we rode up.

I hope all of these photos help portray how immense an experience riding Trail 401 is, because words just cannot do it justice. But still I must try…

Downhill

“So what about the downhill? What was it like, how did you enjoy it?”

Yeah, I only touched on it briefly above, but as I mentioned, it was just phenomenal! The descent featured several extended straightaways where you could just let ‘er rip, sections with swoopy turns, and even a section of fast, bermed switchbacks in the meadow. It was a glorious descent, and yet I wasn’t able to shred most of it as I would have liked to.

Negatives

In many of the reviews for Trail 401, people have mentioned the beautiful wildflowers right next to the trail that grow to head height. Sure, the flowers are pretty, but how does that affect the riding?

Personally, the wildflowers really harshed my flow. Not only was I getting whipped by the brush as I flew past, but the tall undergrowth made it absolutely impossible to see through the turns. As most of us are aware, the key to riding well is being able to look far down the trail so that you know what’s coming and can set up your line. This is especially important at high speed, which a descent like this is sure to offer. Instead of being able to truly revel in the speed of this mountain descent, I found myself either riding the brakes, or almost flying off of the many switchbacks hidden in the deep grasses. This tacky line of dirt will straight line through a meadow and then without warning feed straight into a series of switchbacks. I’m not complaining about the trail design in the least… it’s just that trail visibility in front of you is severely lacking.

On another negative note, the entire climb is on a gravel road. For many epic Rocky Mountain rides, that’s par for the course, but I can imagine how much more sublime this ride would have been if it was 100% singletrack instead of just about 60%.

Bottom Line

Small quibbles aside, this was probably my favorite ride from my recent trip to Colorado! The grandeur and remoteness of this route coupled with the excellent singletrack will make this a winner in almost anyone’s book!

Trail 401 is definitely on my “Top 10 Trails of All Time” list… though maybe not at the top of it.

Your Turn: Have you ridden Trail 401 before? What did you think?

While technically part of the Colorado Trail, the section from CO Highway 285 to Georgia Pass is commonly referred to simply as the Kenosha Pass Trail, and is typically ridden as an out and back. It features 24 miles of signature Colorado Singletrack and includes roots, rocks, creek crossings, stunning scenery, a long, death march climb going in, some fast, twisty downhill and a steep, soul crushing climb on the way back out. Add in the likelihood of rain or hail, the chance to see some fall foliage, and the fact that there are no feasible bailout points, and it has everything required for an epic day on the bike.

Photo by Bamboo

There are a couple of moderately technical rocky sections, with the rest of the trail being totally rideable; the main challenge here is the altitude and sustained climbing. Total climbing is around 4,000 feet, and almost all of the trail is above 10,000 feet elevation, only dropping to 9,800 for about 2 miles. As an out and back, beginners can have a go at it and just turn around when they run out of steam. Solid intermediate or expert riders should have no problem making it all the way to Georgia Pass.

Navigation is easy: when you come to a fireroad, cross it, and there are only three trail intersections. In each case, make the turn that keeps you on the Colorado Trail and leads to Georgia Pass. All three intersections are well marked. Two of them are close together and about one third of the way in, the last is almost at the top, within sight of the Pass.

Once at the top, put on a jacket, take some photos, eat some snacks and then decide how you want to descend. You can retrace your steps, or take a left at the intersection and come down Jefferson Creek Trail. Jefferson starts out as extremely narrow singletrack across an alpine meadow, some of it with stone blocks placed similarly to trails in the UK. Once you drop into the trees, it is rooty, rocky, and has some tight switchbacks. The terrain from here to where it rejoins the main trail sort of reminds me of Golden Gate Canyon. Personally, I prefer coming down the main trail, but Jefferson is fun and should be tried at least once.

Getting there

From Denver, take CO Highway 285 to Kenosha Pass. There’s a sign on the right, and parking on both sides of the highway. There is a bathroom across the highway about a quarter mile in on the dirt road. The bathroom just in from the trailhead is technically for the campground residents, not for day use.

What to bring

Plan on 3 – 5 hours in the saddle, and count on the weather changing dramatically. You will want warm clothing, lots of water and enough food to keep you going over extensive climbing at high altitude. With all the roots and rocks, bring flat repair stuff as well as tools and miscellaneous items for common trailside repairs.

Precautions

Cell service in this area is very spotty, so tell someone where you are going! Ride smart, pay attention, and know your limits. A Flight for Life helicopter ride is expensive, and they leave your bike by the side of the trail.

The Kenosha Pass section of the Colorado trail is long, rugged and beautiful. If it’s on your wishlist, now is the time to ride it before the snow sets in next month!

After an mellow morning ride on the Lower Loop in Crested Butte, we returned to our campsite at the Oh-Be-Joyful campground for some lunch and a well-deserved break. Since it was our first full day in Crested Butte, I wasn’t about to let a full afternoon go by without getting at least one more ride in! We perused the guidebook, and settled on a ride that came highly recommended by Singletracks.com, the book, and the locals: the Dyke Trail.

We parked the truck at a junction in the forest service roads, and as we were preparing to hop on and start grinding up the gravel road, Andrew spotted a small group of riders pedaling through a grassy meadow just up the hill from us. They were heading in the direction we wanted to go, and they weren’t on the road… but there was no trail marked on our map.

What the heck. We decided to pedal up the opposite direction to see if we could find this mystery trail, hopefully increasing the singletrack-to-gravel ratio of our ride.

Mission accomplished! We picked up this narrow trail in less than a mile, turned, and started following it through the meadow. Marked as the “Kebler Wagon Trail” and clearly signed as bike-legal, this narrow strip of dirt obviously didn’t get much traffic. The thin slot of soil in the grass was rough and  bumpy in places as if it lacked the traffic to create real flow. Nevertheless, it was easy to follow.

Andrew on the narrow Wagon Trail.

If it received more traffic, this trail would have ridden much better.

This section of the Kebler Wagon Trail only lasted for about a mile, and then it was back to the gravel road as we ground up towards Lake Irwin.

Navigation had already been difficult up to this point, but figuring out where exactly the Dyke Trail began wasn’t easy. It didn’t help that my map and my guidebook didn’t agree. And this wasn’t the only ride that I had conflicting messages coming from my navigational materials. We ended up climbing even more to the high point of our route at over 10,400 feet before we finally picked up the singletrack that was to be the focus of all of our efforts.

Singletrack Time!

With such a gorgeous view and the singletrack disappearing in the distance somewhere down the mountain, I was stoked to let ‘er rip!

The trail busted down through the meadow, and I was surprised to find that it was fairly rough and technical. None of the obstacles were very big as I was still able to bomb through pretty quickly on my hardtail 29er, but I found myself wishing I was riding a dualie so that I could coax a little more speed out of my rig. The entirety of the Dyke trail turned out to be rather rough and more technical than most of the other trails that we eventually rode in the area. At the end of the ride, though, we realized that the trail dumps out at a popular “horse camp.” That explained all the hoof prints, fecal matter, and general trail deterioration…

When we had reached the top and were preparing to drop in to the singletrack, we thought that most of the climbing was over. Oh, how wrong we were!

The rough, initial descent through the meadow ended fairly quickly as the trail crossed a steep-sided stream and shot straight up the hill on the other side. This was the way it was going to be for the next 4-6 miles: steep, rather technical descents feeding into steep climbs with more climbing and descending to follow. The up-down-up-down, especially at this elevation, was grueling. After a couple miles of this, we resorted to hike-a-bike on most of the steep ascents.

The downhills were well-worth the uphill effort, though!

Me, on the tail end of a rocky section. Note the sweet Singletracks jersey.

The Aspens

Colorado is famous for its aspen trees, and one of the largest aspen groves in the world lies outside of Crested Butte near Kebler Pass. Aspen trees grow from an interconnected root system, with each tree sharing identical genetic markers. As a result, all of the trees change colors at the exact same time. So, this grove of aspens is considered one giant organism, and as such it is one of the largest organisms in the world.

The Dyke Trail is one of the few (if not the only) bike-legal trails that runs through this massive aspen grove. It is truly an awe-inspiring experience to ride through tightly-clustered aspens that go on for miles, and to think that you are riding through one of the largest living things on the planet. This fact alone is reason enough to make the Dyke Trail a must-ride destination!

Since much of the trail is under heavy tree cover, the relatively thick vegetation (for Colorado) has created a bed of dark, tacky dirt that is just phenomenal to pedal on!

Singletrack Summit

After miles of grueling hike-a-bike followed by forearm-pumping descents, we finally reached the singletrack summit of the ride. We rewarded ourselves with a much-needed breather and a little snack as we absorbed the expansive views of the Colorado Rockies.

Finally, we were in for some real, uninterrupted downhill. Enough with the climbing: it was time to shred. It was time to enjoy some gravity-fueled speed. This is what I mountain bike for: and it was glorious!

The trail plummeted straight down the side of the mountain. There were no pretensions of undulating flow–this was a brake-burning race to the finish filled with plenty of rocks, washouts, drops, switchbacks, and more gnar and elevation loss than you can shake a rigid rear end at! After thoroughly pumping both my forearms and my heart to the max,  it was over.

The Climb

Here’s what we didn’t realize when we began this ride: we did not park at the low point of the route. After finishing with the singletrack and hitting the Kebler Pass road (much of which was paved), we knew we would have to climb a bit to the top of the pass and descend back down to the truck… we just didn’t know that this climb to the top of the pass would be the biggest climb of the ride!

By this point, we were already thoroughly buried in the pain cave. That climb back up to the top of the pass is probably one of the top 5 most painful things I’ve done on a mountain bike this summer. And for me, being an avid mountain biker with a lot of miles in my legs, that’s saying something. For Andrew, who was only riding a mountain bike for the third time ever, this was something else entirely.

I think it is safe to say that he acquired a new appreciation of the words “pain” and “misery” on that long mountain climb. Not only was he in the pain cave, but a rock slide had covered the entrance and he was buried alive.

To make things even more fun, a couple miles up the road it started to rain. And by the time I reached the pass, it was down-right pouring.

I sat on the pass for almost half an hour waiting for Andrew to appear. Finally, I spotted him in the distance as he slowly made his way up the road. I felt truly sorry that this had to be one of his first mountain bike experiences, but I was seriously impressed with how he had persevered. By the time we finished this ride on the Dyke Trail, we had ridden almost 30 miles at over 9,000 feet of elevation that day.

Finally, we were descending down the backside of the pass, on the homestretch to our truck. But as I mentioned above, we were really surprised to only descend for about one mile before reaching the vehicle and finally getting out of the saddle.

Elevation Profile

This ride provides a true example of a brutal elevation profile:

Let me break it down for you:

It would have been much a much easier ride if we had driven over the pass and parked at the bottom of the singletrack, but it would still have been a brutal mountain biking foray. Anything with this much elevation change this quickly, and repeatedly throughout the ride, is bound to be difficult!

As we loaded the bikes onto the rack, I was glad that we had ridden that trail, but if we didn’t have to face anything that challenging the rest of the week, I’d be totally fine with it!

Crested Butte is legendary as one of the birth places of mountain biking. While Marin, California may receive most of the fame (infamy?), Crested Butte was also one of the places that the earliest mountain bike pioneers called home. Unlike Marin, Crested Butte has maintained its legendary status with the oldest mountain bike club in the world, CBMBA, and the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. The quality of the trails in the area back up this rich history: the greater Crested Butte area may boast one of the highest concentrations of singletrack anywhere in the United States, perhaps in the world!

Traditionally, Crested Butte has been strictly known for massive cross-country rides at lung-taxing altitudes on singletrack that sports truly epic views. However, that may be slowly changing.

Enter Evolution Bike Park.

Christian Robertson on the Timeline trail.

Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR) has been running their lifts for mountain bikers for 8 or 9 years now, but up until just 3 years ago, the runs consisted of old hiking trails and cattle paths – they were anything but mountain bike-friendly. In 2008 CBMR made the decision to hire on a crew of full-time workers to build and maintain a park designed specifically for downhill mountain biking, and Evolution Bike Park was born.

Since that time, the bike park has grown at an astounding rate! It now boasts 25 miles of trails that are open to mountain bikes, and five of those trails have been purpose-built for downhill mountain biking and are closed to uphill riders and all other trail users. In 2009, CBMR logged 3,500 rider days; in 2010, that number jumped to 8,000. According to Christian Robertson, the bike park manager, they hope to log at least 10,000 rider days this year.

Over the past couple of years, CBMR has been a popular stop on the Mountain States Cup race series, and just this year they got certified with USA Cycling. As a result, CBMR has been added as a stop on the international-caliber Pro GRT race series.

My Experience Riding Evolution Bike Park

I was fortunate enough to be shown around the mountain by none other than Christian himself, and he was kind enough to let me pick his brain on the chairlift rides up the mountain. CBMR also hooked me up with a free pass, one of their Specialized Demo 8 rental bikes, and some body armor so I could get a true bike-park experience.

The Demo 8 performed superbly!

All kitted up, and ready to rip!

All of the mountain bike trails are serviced by a detachable high-speed quad, which means less time on the chairlift and more time on the mountain bike!

I was impressed by the number of groms tearing around the resort. Turns out there’s an organization in town called Gravity Groms.

Like everywhere else in Crested Butte, the views from the top of the lift are surreal!

Without further ado, here’s a breakdown of several of the trails that we rode:

Avery

Christian pinning it through one of the rock gardens.

Avery is Evolution Bike Park’s race course, and as such there is a little bit of everything incorporated into this top-to-bottom black diamond trail. You’ll find plenty of drops (including a 12-foot cliff), technical rock gardens, bridges, table-top jumps, big berms, off-camber turns, slick mud, a step down, and tons of roots. Basically anything you can imagine, Avery will throw at you!

After just one run down this trail, I knew it was my favorite run on the entire mountain. I absolutely love the variety and technical nature. And while it is challenging, I didn’t feel like I was going to die every time I rounded a turn.

Check out some of my GoPro footage from Avery:

Timeline

According to Christian, Timeline is the most popular trail on the mountain. Its design embodies what many people have come to expect in a fast, flowy jump trail. If you want to catch air and find your flow, Timeline is the place to do it! Almost every corner is bermed, rocks are few and far between, and the jumps vary from small kickers to table tops to massive cheese-wedge booters.

Christian Robertson.

Christian Robertson.

Wood’s

Wood’s Trail is far out on the rider’s right-hand side of the resort and it takes a little pedal to get there and back – but it’s well worth the effort! The top of the trail starts off with a quick barrage of small jumps and berms, but lower down the trail straightens out and speeds up as it feeds into a massive pair of back-to-back wooden wall rides. The lower section of Wood’s is currently under construction, but it looks like it holds a fast line of medium-size jumps.

Be sure to check out the wall rides at 1:07-1:25:

Luge

Luge is the classic intermediate trail at CBMR, and it flows quickly down the mountain. True to its rating, it isn’t very difficult: this is a great warm-up run for advanced riders. Check out the video to get an idea of what it’s like:

Psycho Rocks

The only double-black trail at CBMR, Psycho Rocks is full of (you guessed it) rocks and drops. If you are looking for gnar, a real test of your suspension, or are possibly suicidal, drop into this technical whirlwind!

Check out this video (not mine) to get an idea of what kind of challenges this trail holds:

Final Thoughts

While the Evolution Bike Park is quickly turning Crested Butte into a downhill mountain biker’s paradise, the lifts can also be of use to those who are of a more cross-country persuasion. There are many trails at CBMR that are not downhill-specific, meaning they require more pedaling and are much smoother. Cross country riders can ride the lift up, and then hop on one of these less-challenging trails for a fun ride without nearly as much climbing! Since CBMR is adjacent to many of the other area trails lying outside of the resort boundary, you can truly build an epic XC ride with a fraction of the normal effort. While this might sound lazy to some, this can be a great benefit to riders coming from much lower elevation, and to those who just aren’t used to climbing very much. Epic trails like 401 still require a serious aerobic effort, though!

While they already have 25 miles of trails, Christian and the crew are not done building: Wood’s Trail is currently under construction, and they are hoping to break ground soon on another intermediate trail with mid-sized jumps to help riders progress their levitation abilities.

After I sprayed my bike off and returned it to the shop, I wondered to myself, “What is the most fun I’ve ever had on a mountain bike in a single day?” I’m not sure, but this day of shredding might have been it!

If you’re worried about the price of admission, well, you shouldn’t be. I was amazed at how affordable the riding is! A full-day lift ticket is only $35, and if you’re a beginner, you can get a package deal with a bike rental, lift ticket, and lesson for only $70! How sweet is that?

Many thanks to Christian Robertson, Erica Reiter, and Crested Butte Mountain Resort for the royal treatment!

I recently wrote that I’m in the middle of testing out Ibex’s full suspension trail bike, the Asta Pro. When I was talking with Ibex about the possibility of doing a bike review, they asked which bike I was interested in trying out, and the one I requested, the bike I was most eager to ride, was the Maroc 29er. The Asta Pro was sort of an “opening act,” if you will. The Maroc 29er is the headliner!

Ibex Maroc above the Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins, CO

What had me so excited about this rig? Here are the highlights:

• 29er
• Carbon fiber frame
• SRAM X9 build
• 2×10 drivetrain
• 100mm fork
• $2,479.99

I knew this bike was light, but I was uncertain of its actual weight until after I put it on the scale myself.

Real weight (with pedals) = 24.82 pounds. Nice!

Unboxing

The Maroc came well protected in its shipping box:

Like the Asta Pro, the Maroc came with a number of thoughtful “extras” that many companies wouldn’t normally include:

Since this frame is naked carbon fiber, there wasn’t any frame paint, but Ibex still included a nice multi tool, pedal wrench, and pedals. However, I did find it interesting that the $2,500 Maroc came with a pair of plastic flat pedals while the $1,900 Asta Pro came with Wellgo clipless pedals.

Just finished with the build.

I totally dig all of the red X9 accents!

A Couple of Issues

Chain Stays

Right away I noticed the rear tire clearance between the chain stays is very tight. The Maroc is currently spec’ed with WTB Wolverine 2.2″ tires front and back, but the trouble is this tire rubs in the chain stays, right out of the box. Ibex is aware of this, however, and threw in a WTB Nano 2.1″ tire for the rear. These photos will show you how tight the clearance is even with this lower-profile tire:

While the clearance is very low, I haven’t had any issues since I installed the Nano. I left the 2.2″ Wolverine on up front for maximum grip, and this tire combination has worked superbly everywhere I’ve ridden.

Fork

Secondly, right after I finished assembling the bike I gave the fork the standard push test, just to feel the delicious slide of the Reba. However, this standard “test” that we all “perform” just because suspension feels cool actually revealed an issue this time, as the seal on the left side of the fork slid all the way up the stanchion. I pressed it firmly back into place, and just crossed my fingers, hoping everything would be OK… but it wasn’t.

Just a couple minutes after I got it out on the trail I discovered that the fork was not performing properly when the stanchions compressed all the way into the main fork body and refused to rebound, and I was riding metal-on-metal.  Yes, it really did take someone with my exceedingly gifted mechanical expertise to realize that there was a problem here.

The beauty of buying a bicycle from a company the size of Ibex is that they are very easy to contact and work with, despite the fact that distribution is internet-only. Ibex is only a phone call or email away, so I got on the horn with them right away to straighten out the issue. Since they are based out of nearby Atlanta, I was able to meet up with them the next day and get a new fork–excellent!

The new fork has performed perfectly–I haven’t had a single issue with it.

I think the most important takeaway from this experience is to realize that while you may be buying your bike off of the internet, Ibex is serious about providing a quality product as well as quality customer service.

Upper Loop, Crested Butte, CO

On the Trail

I have put almost 150 miles on the Maroc already, most of them in the mountains around Crested Butte, CO. While I want to put about 300-400 miles on this bike before I write my final review, I do have a couple of quick thoughts from my experience on the Maroc so far:

• This bike is fast! I definitely appreciate the weight savings from the carbon fiber frame and all of the other lightweight components such as the carbon bars and seat post. If you have money to upgrade, a tubeless conversion (such as dgaddis’s Ghetto Tubeless setup) could drop a pound or so, and a high-end wheelset could drop 1 – 1.5 pounds. All of that weight loss would be rotational weight, which we all know is the best place to shed weight on a bicycle. Pretty quickly you could be looking at a 22 pound mountain bike. And if you continued to upgrade… who knows!
• It feels pretty nimble for a big-wheeled bike. I love to just jam this rig in and out of corners as I mach through the singletrack. For my build, the cockpit is a very comfortable balance between a relaxed posture and an aggressive XC racing stance.
• I can truly feel the damping effect of the carbon frame, especially when pounding through a bunch of small obstacles such as breaking bumps.
• I really appreciate the forgiveness of a 100mm fork versus an 80mm fork. It seems like many manufacturers of 29er hardtails are divided on whether they should spec an 80 or a 100. My vote is definitely the 100. I got into many hairy situations during my trip to the Rockies where a shorter-travel fork may have meant a nasty trip over the handlebars.
• I’m a big 2×10 fan, but the combination of the lack of oxygen in Crested Butte and the lack of a few gears on the lower end of my drivetrain forced me to get off and walk at times. But on my home turf at least, 2×10 is the way to go!

Dyke Trail, Crested Butte, CO

In summary, the Maroc has many of the factors that I think make for an amazing hardtail 29er. The carbon fiber frame, 2×10 drivetrain, 100 mm fork, and other components all combine to create a mountain bike that I am having a hard time putting down! I don’t want to think about the sad day when I’m supposed to give this bike back… I may have to pack the truck, grab the Maroc, and head for the border!

Many thanks to Ibex Bicycles for providing the Maroc 29er for review.

I’m not sure if you know this, but Crested Butte is a long way from the Front Range of Colorado. It took us hours of driving (with a few stops thrown in) to make it to Crested Butte and we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening running various errands in town, finding a campsite, and setting up camp. We weren’t able to hit singletrack again until the next morning.

The Goblin at the campsite, just itching to get out and shred!

The next morning, the ladies were interested in hitting the singletrack too, so I picked out a nice, easy ride that would hopefully still be fun for all: The Lower Loop. This would be my sister-in-law’s first mountain bike ride ever, and my wife only rides once in a great while, so I wasn’t really sure how things would go. This ride did have several convenient bailout options in case they weren’t up to the challenge.

According to the map, the trails started on the opposite side of the Slate River from the access road. It was a pretty serious mountain river, so I was a little worried that our posse would get deterred from our singletrack goal before we ever actually saw it. Fortunately, when we reached the trailhead we saw a sturdy wooden bridge spanning the river that would keep us well above the snowmelt.

Getting ready to ride!

According to the guidebook I was using, this route would be 9.9 miles long with only 475 feet of climbing. That’s flat – most rides in Georgia have more climbing than that! We decided to get most of the elevation out of the way early with a quick climb up the Gunsight Pass Road to the Upper Lower Loop trail. Despite the confusing names, we ended up on the right piece of singletrack.

Andrew on the Upper Lower Loop trail.

Finally, we were riding singletrack! Our camp was set up, we had 4 full days ahead of us with no more serious driving to do, and it was time to enjoy the trails that we had driven over 1,500 miles to ride! And these trails were so worth the effort, too. The dirt was perfectly tacky and the singletrack undulated along the side of the mountain like a gently flowing stream. It wasn’t gentle enough to completely turn the brain off, though: rocky sections would crop up unexpectedly, ensuring that we paid sufficient attention to where we were going. But of course, they just served to make things more interesting! I rocketed along this true singletrack roller coaster with utter reckless abandon!

Despite the great trail, I was a little distracted. I’m used to riding singletrack in the deep forests of North Georgia where scenic views are a rarity. My entire local trail system has maybe 2 or 3 spots that are worth a pause. Riding in Crested Butte was entirely different! Save for the occasional stand of aspen trees, the trail ran through lush, green mountain meadows. The entire valley around the sinuous blue strand of the Slate River was colored in various shades of green and ringing it in were gray rocky peaks towering majestically over us small creatures and our wheels. The scene was truly phenomenal!

I stopped for a minute to take in the grandeur and shoot a couple photos when I realized that I had dropped everyone long ago. But in a minute, Andrew came pedaling up.

Sometimes I think that as advanced mountain bikers we sometimes take our skills for granted. I know I forget how challenging even relatively smooth singletrack can be to a beginner. As I waited for everyone else to catch up, I reminded myself to dial it back a little bit and just enjoy the trail and the company!

Mount Crested Butte in the distance.

As we approached the junction with the Lower Lower Loop trail, I spotted an option with a berm running into a little jump.

Despite the fact that I was riding a hardtail 29er, I had to at least give it a shot:

I couldn’t get the kind of pop I wanted off of such a small lip with such big wheels, but it was fun to try!

When we reached the big junction near the Lower Lower Loop trail, we realized that we had a number of different options. We found a wide, graveled doubletrack leading to town as well as a narrower, rockier section of singletrack. Naturally, I chose the singletrack.

After another mile or so of riding, we reached Peanut Lake Road, which would have taken us straight into town, but again we spotted another singletrack option off to the right. After a little more pedaling we had almost reached the town of Crested Butte, and trails began to branch off in all directions!

Crested Butte has its own little singletrack trail system attached directly to the west side of town with most every branch of trail dumping out on a different street. We dropped right off of the singletrack into a neat little neighborhood. I turned around and asked my wife, “Can we please buy that house?” as I pointed to a home that was literally 5 feet away from the beginning of the trail. How awesome would it be to have singletrack literally out your front door? Well, many of these houses do, and even if you live on the other side of town, you’re still less than 5 minutes of pedaling from the beginning of a trail. How cool is that?

Since we had pedaled all the way there, we decided to take a couple of minutes to cruise through downtown and check out some of the sights. I don’t want to go into it in too much detail in this post, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen as many bicycles in one town as I saw in Crested Butte.

A couple of the more interesting bikes we found.

After cruising around for a little while, we decided to hit the trail back to the truck so we could get some lunch. The first section on the way back was a repeat of what we had just ridden, and the ladies decided to stick to the smoother, easier trail while we men busted down the singletrack.

As we reached the junction with the split off onto the Lower Lower Loop trail which we hadn’t ridden yet, I thought we would have to continue on doubletrack for a ways until I spotted a singletrack splitting off to the left. Andrew followed me and we rode down it for a ways, until I heard some yelling behind me. I turned around to see my wife yelling that we had gone the wrong way, despite the fact that I was pretty sure we were riding in the right direction. However, they revolted, and continued on down the doubletrack while Andrew and I headed up into the woods on the singletrack. Since we were all heading the same direction, I was pretty sure we could meet up quickly.

This amazing section of trail must not have been the a part of the main loop, as it was much narrower and a little more technical than anything we had ridden so far. The singletrack dove into a tight aspen grove, threading through narrow gaps in the trees. The dirt was wonderfully dark and tacky. Yes, dark is an understatement: this was absolutely gorgeous black dirt. Georgia has nothing approaching the blissful tackiness of the black dirt hidden amongst Colorado’s gray aspen trees!

After a little bit of climbing through the aspens, the trail popped out into an open field and turned back down towards the doubletrack, losing what elevation we’d gained in a wonderful rush of wildflowers and bermed turns. All too suddenly, it was over.

In a couple of minutes we were reunited with our wonderfully strong-headed women and we picked up the last section of singletrack. The remainder of the Lower Lower Loop trail was just as swoopy as the Upper Lower Loop, if not even more so, with fewer rocks to navigate. It was also much closer to the Slate River, offering up even more breathtaking scenery that kept our eyes off the trail where they should have been.

We were almost done with our ride when I led us the wrong direction up an unwanted detour on the “Boy Scout Trail,” which climbed steeply along the side of a waterfall. After having already ridden 10 miles at 9,000 feet , my sister in law had put in a respectable effort for her first mountain bike ride ever, and she was very ready to be done! When the trail got seriously steep I was pretty sure that this climb wasn’t a part of the plan, and with the help of the map and my GPS I guided us back down the mountain and out to our truck… the right way this time.

Our first ride in Crested Butte had been quite an adventure, and it was just the first of many!

This summer I was blessed enough to take a week-long vacation to Colorado with my wife and a couple of our friends. Over the next few weeks I will be writing about all of the amazing singletrack I got to shred while I was out there.

We spent a couple of days in Loveland while hanging out with some friends that live there, but unfortunately I was only able to hit one trail in the area. I chose the Foothills Trail just outside of Fort Collins as my sole bike ride for a couple of reasons:

1. It was only a few miles away from Loveland.
2. I had already ridden Devil’s Backbone and Coyote Ridge the previous year.
3. It was my friend Andrew’s first time on a mountain bike, so I didn’t want to totally destroy him on the Front Range’s endless rocks.
4. There’s no parking fee.

Now, while it was Andrew’s first time jumping on a mountain bike, I wasn’t too worried about him. Andrew is an amazing athlete who spends a lot of time running, swimming, playing soccer, ultimate frisbee, football, and most importantly, road biking. I was pretty sure that he would be up to the physical challenge and that the technical challenge of riding a mountain bike would be the biggest obstacle he would have to overcome.

So, I chose the Foothills trail. According to all of the information I could gather here on Singletracks, this would be the easiest introduction to singletrack riding in the region.

Right at the beginning of the trail, it was about as easy of a singletrack introduction as you could hope for: hard, smooth dirt out in the middle of a grassy field… yeah, it doesn’t get much easier than that.

There were even signs along the trail at crucial intervals that gave you tips on how to mountain bike. This is really intended to be a true beginner trail.

But pretty quickly, the trail steepened and started climbing in earnest. As soon as it tilted upward, the trail filled up with rocks of all shapes and sizes.

I found that none of these rocks were very difficult to negotiate, though. The Foothills trail obviously receives a lot of tender, loving care and many of the rocks had been used to transform the trail into a cobblestone climb. Others were easy to ride over or avoid.

Andrew didn’t find them so easy, however. Trail obstacles that I found rather entertaining but not challenging, he found dangerous and painful. Fortunately for him, as soon as we finished with the steepest portion of the climb the rocks mostly disappeared and the trail smoothed out again.

We topped out on a paved road lying right on top of the ridge, but when we crossed over we were struck by a sight that neither of us really was prepared for, despite all of the reviews that I had read:

The view of the Horsetooth Reservoir was absolutely breathtaking! The trail even turned and began to parallel the reservoir, quickly dropping into a rocky descent along its bank. It was so hard to keep my eyes on the trail with a view like this distracting me!

Shortly after we made the turn to parallel the reservoir, we decided to turn around and head back to the car. Our stomachs were both ready for a serious dinner, and we could see and feel foul weather enshrouding us from over the mountains to the west.

On our way back down to the car, we caught one of several spurs leading to an overlook. From our vantage point we could see rain falling in a dark curtain from what looked like a very innocent, lonely cloud floating out over the plains. There are some things you just don’t see anywhere but the Rockies!

Right after we turned off the first short downhill stretch from the lookout, I heard my rear tire begin to buzz in the chainstays and just as I looked down my rear end began to wash around all over the trail. First ride of the trip, rain closing in, dinner waiting, and I had a flat…

5 to 10 minutes later and I was back on the trail, ready to shred down the side of the hogback, and hoping against hope I wouldn’t flat again in the series of rock gardens coming up!

Fortunately, everything went according to plan and I shredded the snot out o that rocky downhill! It felt so good to be on the bike, feeling the tires gripping the tacky dirt in the corners and hearing the chain slap as I pounded over the rocks.

The excellent trail construction was readily apparent.

This trail receives a fair amount of traffic from riders, runners, and hikers, and this was especially evident during my downhill ride. Still, despite all of the traffic, the descent off of the hogback reminded me why we had traveled all the way out to Colorado to ride… and the best was still to come!

Coming up: 4 days of mountain biking in Crested Butte!

photo courtesy vail.com.

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USAPCC) hits Vail for Stage 3 with an uphill individual time trial that should be super spectator friendly. Riders will climb almost 1,800 feet from the resort town of Vail up Vail Pass to the finish. If you’ve never watched a professional cycling race in person, this could be a fun stage because riders will be constantly streaming through the course for more than 2 hours (instead of the 2 minute whoosh! you can expect when viewing the peloton).

Stage 4 of the USAPCC takes riders from the town of Avon north to Steamboat Springs. This stage is only about 82 miles long (only!) with just over of 5,000 feet of climbing which is pretty mellow compared to previous stages. The official USAPCC description says “(w)ithout significant climbs or high-speed descents, cyclists have numerous opportunities for breakaways” which means this should also be an exciting stage to watch.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, the USAPCC is being covered by the Versus channel so even if you can’t make it out to watch the race you can still keep track at home. On Sunday, portions of the race’s final stage will even be broadcast on regular old NBC.

Mountain biking Stages 3&4

The mountain biking opportunities along this stage lean heavily toward the “lift-serviced” variety. Beaver Creek (in Avon) operates a summer lift as does Vail and the Steamboat resort. Leadville is sorta “just over the hill” from Vail – but not really. It’s still a 40 mile drive or so and the singletrack opportunities there are limited. Along the Stage 4 route on Highway 131 itself there just aren’t many trails (at least according to our trail database). Just the excuse you needed to rent a sick DH bike and leave your climbing legs at home!

Where to stay

Since Stages 3 and 4 start and end in resort towns there should be no shortage of great places to stay. The good news is summer rates are usually less than half what you’d pay during prime ski season so live it up and stay somewhere nice!

Get ready for our final USAPCC preview covering Stages 5 and 6 later this week.

On Tuesday, August 23 the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (USAPCC) will kick off stage 1 where the racers will get their first real taste of the mountains.The folks in Salida are clearly excited about the race start and they’ve even set up their own website, SalidaStageStart.com, to fill visitors in on the race and surrounding activities and events. As the smallest host city in this year’s race, Salida should be a great spot to get up close to pro riders while experiencing all the amazing mountain bike trails in the area (more on that later).

The view of Salida from the trail on S Mountain.

After an opening circuit around the town of Salida, the cyclists will head up to the top of Monarch Pass to duke it out for the first of the King of the Mountains (KOM) points. If you’ve mountain biked the Monarch Crest trail you probably drove up most of the roughly 13-mile ascent to Monarch Pass on US 50. The climb appeared less steep than I remembered during my drive-by last week; officially, it’s 3,200 feet over 13 miles which isn’t exactly Tour de France steep but still it’s higher than Alp d’Huez. And over the next stages the racers will be forced to ride even higher!

From Monarch Pass it’s a quick descent down to the town of Gunnison where the riders will head north to the finish at Mount Crested Butte. Along the way there’s a sprint line in Gunnison and another in the town of Crested Butte just a couple miles from the finish. Speaking of the finish, the line at Mount Crested Butte represents the race’s only uphill finish where the top riders will pick up more KOM points.

Race day in Crested Butte promises to be an all day party, starting with a Townie Criterium at 11:45 (the same time racers will be leaving Salida). At 1pm the US Handcycling Federation is putting on a handcycle criterium in town while up in Mount Crested Butte kids will get a chance to race in a strider bike competition. Oh, and there will be plenty of live music, food and beer at the Finish Festival just steps from the finish line where the first riders are expected to roll in around 3:30pm.

Mountain Biking Stage 1 (Salida)

Ok, so the cycling race promises to be exciting but depending on where you stake your spot, you’ll probably only get to see the riders for a few moments before they buzz past. Which leaves plenty of time for mountain biking!

Salida is best known for its epic mountain bike route known as the Monarch Crest trail. This 30+ mile singletrack ride starts at the top of Monarch Pass (right on the USAPCC Stage 1 course) and (mostly) descends via the Continental Divide/Colorado Trail, Silver Creek Trail, and Rainbow Trail back to the town of Salida. Maddslacker wrote about this ride a few weeks ago and last week I got my second chance to ride the trail. Still as epic and beautiful as usual but this month there’s a world-class bike race happening there too!

Salida sits at a bit of a mountain bike trail crossroads with the Continental Divide Trail (~ 3,000 miles), Colorado Trail (~500 miles), and Rainbow Trails (~100 miles) all within just a few miles of town. While I was there I spoke with riders from New Zealand, a group in the middle of riding from Canada to Mexico via the Continental Divide trail, and dozens of day-trippers from around the state. And if Salida is the hub of mountain biking in Central Colorado, Absolute Bikes is the grease that keeps mountain bikers running smoothly. I spent a good bit of time in the shop with owner Shawn Gillis and was excited about the stories I overheard: epic day trips on Monarch Crest, Leadville training rides, and top Divide Trail race finishes.

Mountain biking around Salida isn’t just about big miles – there’s also a world-class trail system right in town that offers everything from machine-cut beginner fare to advanced, technical singletrack cut into the hills. Shawn from Absolute Bikes has been instrumental in getting the Salida Mountain Trails built and maintained and last week he gave me a quick tour of the network. The cool thing is the trails are sited and designed to maximize the riding season so even when other local trails are socked in with snow, the “S Mountain” trails are usually ready to ride. The parts I rode reminded me of classic “desert” rides like Bootleg Canyon and Chutes and Ladders in Fruita. Absolute Bikes has great maps and their folks are always happy to point riders to the best singletrack.

Mountain Biking Stage 1 (Crested Butte)

As a mountain biker I couldn’t have been more excited about Stage 1 of the USAPCC with a start in Salida and a finish in Crested Butte. For many years if you had asked me to name my favorite mountain bike trail the answer would have been (and might still be) Trail 401 in Crested Butte. And the crazy thing is when I asked the locals for their next favorite ride, most of them had a really hard time choosing from the dozens of classic trail rides in the area.

Crested Butte is also home to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Mount Crested Butte features lift-serviced downhill runs for gravity-oriented riders (more on that from mtbgreg1 soon). Some have even argued that Crested Butte, along with Marin County, CA, is the birthplace of modern mountain biking.

And it’s not just that the trails in and around Crested Butte are well designed and fun to ride – the scenery turns great rides into world-beating epics. In summer the wildflowers along the trail are unbelievable and the soaring mountains make every view photo-worthy. If only trails like 401 weren’t so flowy – it’s damn hard to force yourself to stop to admire the views!

Where to Eat

For such small, remote mountain towns, both Salida and Crested Butte have some amazing dining options. After an epic ride along the Monarch Crest trail, I recommend treating yourself to a big steak dinner with a poblano relleno stuffed with grits at the Laughing Ladies Restaurant in Salida. And in Crested Butte, head to the Brick Oven for pizza (natch) and Colorado beers on tap while hobnobbing with local super-athletes on the outdoor patio. The Brick Oven patio also happens to be located just feet from the sprint line in Crested Butte so get your table early!

Where to Stay

Salida has a number of chain hotels including the Hampton Inn, Comfort Inn, and Super 8. I spent a night at the Hampton Inn and it was great – close to downtown plus there’s an indoor pool/hot tub and free breakfast.

Since Crested Butte is more of a resort town and ski destination, there are a number of options for lodging as well. The Elevation Hotel & Spa is super swanky and is located at Mount Crested Butte with lobby-level access to the bike lifts and mountain bike rentals. Not only that, it’s just steps from the stage 1 finish. You can also find plenty of condos for rent in the ski area through web sites like VRBO.com.

Fun Facts

This area of Colorado is so massively amazing for mountain biking that I haven’t even mentioned Gunnison (site of the first sprint line of Stage 1) or the ride I did while I was in Crested Butte last week (it’s actually along the Stage 2 course). So stay tuned for info on the next stage – who would’ve thought mountain bikers would have so much to get excited about for a cycling stage race?