A lot of my blog posts are dedicated to racing. I thought that I would switch it up a little bit and give you a little taste of an epic Crested Butte weekend. Race season is winding down which frees up some time to check out new trails, ride dirt bikes, hangout with friends, and spend the evenings sitting on the porch.
We managed to accomplish all of these things in one long weekend! Saturday morning started early with heading out on the dirt bikes at 9 a.m. Our goal was to check out some of the high alpine single track! This was super exciting for me as I have only ridden single track down at Hartman Rocks which is desert like. We rode from our house up the Cement Creek drainage and went up the Hunter Creek single track. One of the things I love about Crested Butte is a lot of the trails are multipurpose, open to both mountain biking and dirt biking! I had already ridden down Hunter Creek on a mountain bike so somewhat knew what to expect when we went to dirt bike up it. We got to the top and were having SO much fun! We decided to continue across on Double Top, and then down Block and Tackle, again trails I had ridden on a MTB before riding on a dirt bike. It still blows my mind how tired I get dirt biking! 2 hours of single track on the dirt bike and I was ready for some lemonade and lunch! When we got back to the house, Phil quickly changed into MTB clothes and headed out to ride Doctors Park with our friend Alex who was visiting, while I stayed home and organized the new kitchen! Usually I would be bummed to not go ride Doctors park but not this time! We recently had our kitchen remodeled and it was time to organize and put everything back in order! I had a BLAST! I also made a peach pie while I was at it... YUMMM
On Sunday we packed our hydration packs full of water and food and headed out for an all day adventure. We started with an 8 mile climb to the top of Star Pass, before descending down trail 400 to the East side of Block and Tackle, back up and over on Double Top to Waterfall Creek. The ride was full of ups and downs but mentally and physically. The climbs were brutal but fortunately I had Phil and Alex with me to keep my mind off of it. The views were absolutely breathtaking and it is still hard to believe that we live in a place like this. The descents were AMAZING! I had never ridden trail 400 before and it just kept getting better and better the further down the trail you went! By the time we got to the top of Waterfall Creek for the final descent I had gotten a second wind and was pumped to have made it! We started down the trail, Phil following with the GoPro and before I knew what happened I was on the ground (laughing). I had caught my front tire on a ledge on the trail and went down. Phil quickly asked me if I was okay, then immediately informed me that he had gotten it on camera... great... lol... We finished out the ride stoked and tired. After a big dinner we hit the hay early to get ready for the next day.
Monday morning came quickly, we crushed some waffles and bacon and headed out for the third adventure in a row! Today's mission was Reno, Flag, Bear, Deadmans. This is a ride that we do a few times a year and always leaves me saying WOW! Although the climbs can be tough the descents are some of the best in the area. If I was only going to ride one loop while in Crested Butte this would have to be it. So. much. fun. The sweet descents make you forget the pain of the climbs. 4 hours later we made it back to the truck, and headed back home reminiscing of the amazing weekend of shredding we had.