Teocalli Ridge trail has been a favorite ride for me in the past. Due to various circumstances, I have not been able to ride it the past two summers. Reports from riders have conveyed that the trail has been beaten by the dirt bikers- nasty ruts on what used to be a fun, technical descent. Still, I’ve been wanting to ride it, as I’ve neglected it for over two years. Sunday was the day we were to check it out. Frank and I met our friend Adam at the trailhead on a beautiful morning dotted with low-hanging clouds.

Me riding up the road with Whetstone behind.

Teocalli in front.

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There are some trails here in Crested Butte that I can ride over and over again and rarely get bored. Those include trails like Doctor’s, 409.5, Strand, Green Lake trail, the classic 401, and even many of the ski area trails. One of the more popular rides in Crested Butte is Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman’s. People rave about this trail combo, but frankly, it’s just not something that gets me that excited. Too often, I dread the crowds and user conflicts that occur there- far too many dirt bikers on top of the already numerous mountain bikers. And I just don’t get the same feeling of satisfaction from riding these trails like I do the ones listed above…. not to mention that it’s a tad on the short side. I know others differ in this opinion. But, that’s just it- it’s an opinion.

The weather for the weekend was looking a little iffy. Forecasts called for 70-80% chance of rain for the entire weekend. . But, this is Crested Butte and forecasts rarely seem to actually apply here when it comes to rain. The worst rainstorm I’ve ever been caught in – poured for hours with huge lightning and thunder – happened on a day where the forecast called for 10% of rain. Riding in this kind of weather is just not the most enjoyable thing in the world. So, despite the fact that we believed the forecast to be vastly wrong, we decided to look for a ride that had “options”. If the weather looked like it was deteriorating, we could take a different trail than planned and end the ride early. Frank suggested heading to Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman’s, but putting a different twist into it. Instead of taking Flag, we would traverse along Old Italian Creek road from the top of Reno, and then follow this to the top of XX. We could descend XX to Spring Creek Reservoir, and then head up Bear from there. I’ve never ridden XX before and I’m always game to ride a new trail. As it turns out, I loved it.

From the top of Reno road, it’s a 30-45 minute fairly easy climb to the top of XX. Can you spot Frank?

The road near the top.

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Two weekends ago, my friends Jonathan and Jen came to visit Crested Butte from Salt Lake city. I’ve known Jen since before I was in high school. We were ski buddies in Ohio and traveled to Colorado and Utah a few times to enjoy the goods. But, it was only recently that Jen moved from the east coast to Utah. It was time to show her and Jonathan the goods that Crested Butte had to offer.

We took several pictures through the course of the weekend, but I have not had the time to actually get them up… until now. Life just gets hectic, you know?

The first day we rode from Harmel’s and did lower Flag to Bear to Rosebud to Doctor’s. Us taking a break on Spring Creek road.

Photo courtesy of Jen & Jon

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Trail 403 has always been a favorite of mine. With fantastic views and a fun, technical descent, what could be better? I only wish it was longer Sonya and I took the opportunity to ride this trail on a lovely weekday morning earlier this week. As we rode, I realized that, due to numerous reasons, I don’t think I’ve been on this trail since 2007. All the more reason to enjoy it. I’ll let the pictures do the talking….

Who doesn’t love this view?

Quite the climb.

Sonya smiles.

She rides pretty good too, especially through the fields of wildflowers.

Sonya, admiring the views.

Avery

No pics of the descent, since we were enjoying it so much we didn’t stop for pictures. But it was a great ride on a great trail with a great friend

I haven’t been riding my bike much this summer. Frankly, I’m finding it a bit boring. But that doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying to get the passion back. So when Pete and Jasper suggested an epic ride on some new trails, I decided to say “Yes”. How hard could it really be to go almost 100 miles all the way around the West Elks on my 7th ride of the year? Turns out, it’s pretty hard, thanks to literally hundreds of downed trees on the Raggeds trail. In fact, we needed a brief period of cell phone coverage on the West side of Kebler pass to get a call out to Brittany, asking her to pick us up as night fell upon us after 13+ hours of pedaling, 10k of vert, and more than 70 miles. Good fun, in a twisted kind of way. The pics:

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I’ve been riding a lot these last few weeks, and due to my crazy schedule, most of my rides have been solo. Really, I don’t mind too much though, as it gives me the opportunity to explore on my own. I’ve discovered I have a growing appreciation for what the ski area trails have to offer a rider like me:
1) It’s right across the street
2) It takes me 1-2 minutes to get on to single track
3) I can easily spend 2-3 hours riding single track trails at the ski area alone
4) If the weather looks threatening, it doesn’t keep me from venturing out since I can be down from nearly anywhere on the ski area in 5-10 minutes, and home a couple minutes later
5) The trails are actually pretty fun
6) It’s surprisingly not crowded.

I took time to enjoy my ride this week- My latest favorite loop: Go up Prospector, descend Painter Boy to service road, follow service road to top of Peachtree lift where it meets up with West Side, up West Side, descend upper Luge, take service road to top of Lower West Side, descend Lower West side. This loop takes about an hour and a half at a comfortable pace, making it perfect for when I can only get a short ride in for the day.

Anyway, this is not a great TR or anything. I just wanted to share a bit of trail stoke as I felt particularly inspired by the scenery that day. Please excuse the photos as they were “not planned”. I ended up using the camera on my cell phone. Hope you enjoy the pics anyway

Propector starts out in a field of skunk cabbage.

If you like wildflowers, you’ll enjoy yourself here.

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