Four days of mountain biking in southwest Colorado
Adam flew in to Montrose for a week of mountain biking. I had already ridden at Maryland Mountain near Nederland and at 10,000 feet on Grand Mesa, so I felt ready for high altitude riding. Adam has skied in CO plenty of times, so I figured he’d be good and we ought to just go for it after surviving the Million Dollar Highway and do a quick out and back on the Colorado Trail near Silverton. One of these days I’m going to finally ride the whole section of the CT from Silverton to Durango.
The views are stunning and the singletrack is sweet. Ride #2 was at Hermosa Creek near Durango. Karen dropped us off and we rode through a valley that was recovering from a massive wildfire a few years ago. This pic was taken shortly after the only real mechanical issue we had the whole week: a rock knocked my derailleur backwards, but we figured it out. Hermosa Creek’s scenery was different from our short ride above treeline the day before but no less incredible. Next time, I’m bringing a fishing pole, though. Wim Hoff made an appearance. We would be riding the next two days near Creede, and that involved a three-hour drive through Pagosa Springs and up to a yurt we had reserved near Lake City. By the end of the day, we were all getting a bit weary, and when we finally found the access road the yurt, I about shit my pants: the forest service road was steep and filled with deep water bars, but the manager of the yurt had told me that we’d be okay with a four-wheel drive truck, so I grabbed the steering wheel tightly, threw it into four wheel low, and hoped for the best. The first time up was harrowing, but totally worth it. We were serenaded by Hermit Thrushes (my favorite bird, which reminded me of Northern Michigan) and were treated to jaw-dropping views. The Jon Wilson yurt has a story behind it, and we were grateful for having the chance to stay there. The next day was the big one. I had told Adam a couple of weeks earlier that if we pulled it off, it would really be something else. The plan was to ride up to Segment 22 of the Colorado Trail from the yurt and then continue on Segment 23 to Pole Creek and descend to the Rio Grande Reservoir where Karen would pick us up. A big day: nearly 40 miles with almost 6,000 feet of ascending, all above treeline at around 11,000 feet at the beginning of monsoon season. It was incredible. Amazingly, the altitude never seemed to play a big factor. It was probably the matching shirts. A couple of days later, Lael Wilcox (look her up) had her pic taken at this spot. The gameplan was to message Karen with my Garmin InReach at noon to let her know how things were going. Unfortunately, she didn’t get the message until later in the afternoon that we were going to stick to the plan and complete the original route, which caused us a bit of concern. Adam kept saying he was “going to fucking kill me” because I made one tiny navigation error and didn’t realize we needed to climb/push Carson Saddle before descending Pole Creek. Brutal. Not a lot of pics from the second half of the ride, but the final few miles of OHV track was as good as the mountain singletrackLater I found out that I have a “push” mode on my ebike, which would have saved some suffering on my part. Sections 22 and 23 are everything they say they are. I can’t wait to do them again – with “push” mode, of course. There’s just too much for my mind to comprehend about the ride, even now, more than two weeks later. The last day was an easier ride: Segment 21 to Miner’s Creek down to Creede. The initial climb/push was tough but not as bad as Carson Saddle. When got to the top and rode Snow Mesa, the trail stretched before our eyes for miles, it seemed. I made another tiny navigational snafu on this ride as well, which involved some route finding. Okay, actually two snafus, but all was well and neither required a climb to find the route again. I said it on Strava, and I’ll say it again: the last ten miles of the descent on Miner’s Creek was the best ever. I think Adam concurred. We were swimming in awe at the end. Even though Miner’s Creek is a moto trail, it rode like mountain bike singletrack. Incredible. I’ll admit I was a little cooked by the end. Adam and Karen had talked me into riding my “acoustic” bike, and I felt it. Csaba was clearly ready to roll, though. Nothing like seeing your wife and dog at the end of a long ride!
After the ride, we had to haul ass to get past the road construction closure on Route 50 to make to one of the nicest hotels we’ve ever stayed: Arrowhead Mountain Lodge, between Gunnison and Montrose. You heard it here first.
Four good days of real mountain biking. Thanks Karen and Adam and Allison. I’m a lucky man indeed.
Travels with Pops 