Highlights of the trip are, well, riding the legendary trails of Crested Butte.... trail 401, Teocalli Ridge, Snodgrass, and so many more. We purposely arranged the trip to be there in the heart of the wildflower season, as well as hitting the Mountain State Cup race, and the beginning half of the Crested Butte Fat Tire Festival (from what I hear, the original, biggest, baddest, oldest bike festival in the world). We were staying at just under 10,000 feet, with most of the trails pointing upwards from there.
I'll cover the trip through the pics...
The view off our back patio. This is the village of Crested Butte Mountain, not to be confused with the town, which is about 2 miles down into the valley below(obviously, sweet singletrack in between the two). This was the only storm to hit during our trip, which wiped out the 1st days DH practice for the race.
Absolutely beautiful views everywhere you look here.
Beginning of Snodgrass Trail
I think this trail is called Upper Upper Loop. Down the road from our condo.
This is on the Trail 401. I'm sure at least someone has heard of this trail. Absolutely legendary ride. This is around 12,000 feet as well, above Shoffield Pass. Pic is taken shortly after we hiked up through snow to get to the top.
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The town had a dirt jump park put in. Nothing huge, but good for some fun. Everything starts off of a 20ft+ mound they built.
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The bloody race. This was by far and away the hardest DH race I've ever done. For one, going from living in Greensboro at 700ft to the top of the DH start at like 12,000ft is just ridiculous. Second, it was somehow one of the most pedally courses I've done as well. We had to descend 1/2 way down the mtn just to get to the start. That in itself was a battle, with a mammoth kamikaze-esq run down with huge exposed cliffs and tight fast rocky swithbacks to get down.
Finally on course, it was a blast. I took my Enduro SL out because I heard it was gonna be a pedal fest. Still the 5 minute course managed to drop a lot of vert. After crossing the line, I was coughing up blood, and eventually barfed....twice. Never done that before.
"loose" is a good term for describing the course.
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Coming from the east coast, a few things stood out to me...
Only 2 sets of Industry Nine wheels were present that I saw, and one of them was on my buddy's bike.
Only a handful of Sundays were there, out of what, like 300-400 racers. Giant Glorys seemed to dominate.
Yeti. Know the name well. They were friggin everywhere.
This is the only Morewood I saw.
Its interesting how different it is out there.
~Mike
I'll cover the trip through the pics...
The view off our back patio. This is the village of Crested Butte Mountain, not to be confused with the town, which is about 2 miles down into the valley below(obviously, sweet singletrack in between the two). This was the only storm to hit during our trip, which wiped out the 1st days DH practice for the race.
Absolutely beautiful views everywhere you look here.
Beginning of Snodgrass Trail
I think this trail is called Upper Upper Loop. Down the road from our condo.
This is on the Trail 401. I'm sure at least someone has heard of this trail. Absolutely legendary ride. This is around 12,000 feet as well, above Shoffield Pass. Pic is taken shortly after we hiked up through snow to get to the top.
________________________________________
The town had a dirt jump park put in. Nothing huge, but good for some fun. Everything starts off of a 20ft+ mound they built.
________________________________________________
The bloody race. This was by far and away the hardest DH race I've ever done. For one, going from living in Greensboro at 700ft to the top of the DH start at like 12,000ft is just ridiculous. Second, it was somehow one of the most pedally courses I've done as well. We had to descend 1/2 way down the mtn just to get to the start. That in itself was a battle, with a mammoth kamikaze-esq run down with huge exposed cliffs and tight fast rocky swithbacks to get down.
Finally on course, it was a blast. I took my Enduro SL out because I heard it was gonna be a pedal fest. Still the 5 minute course managed to drop a lot of vert. After crossing the line, I was coughing up blood, and eventually barfed....twice. Never done that before.
"loose" is a good term for describing the course.
____________________________________
Coming from the east coast, a few things stood out to me...
Only 2 sets of Industry Nine wheels were present that I saw, and one of them was on my buddy's bike.
Only a handful of Sundays were there, out of what, like 300-400 racers. Giant Glorys seemed to dominate.
Yeti. Know the name well. They were friggin everywhere.
This is the only Morewood I saw.
Its interesting how different it is out there.
~Mike
