Bridges of the Butte

Jake, Trent, and John put in some long nights making Bridges of the Butte trophies out of 100% bike parts. They came out great. The Bridges ride is a benefit for Crested Butte's Adaptive Sports Center. 24 hours on a townie, solo or team. It's nuts.

A Good Ride

A few years back I came to CB to ride for the first time. I pulled in the Visitor Center parking and a couple guys came over to talk and ask where I was riding. They spread a map out on the hood of my car and showed me great places to ride and gave some good advice. This is a very different experience than most mountain towns where locals are fiercely protective of their natural resources, not wanting their trails populated by wankers from the front range. Not so in CB. Information flows freely....except that I think there is some funny business going on with a certain trail. In ride descriptions it's tagged as "too much uphill for the amount of downhill", "filled with black flies", "a muddy slog", "off camber, braided game trails", "littered with cow patties", etc. Locals have told me that it sucks and is not worth doing. Why would I go do it anyway? Skepticism. It was one of the coolest rides and longest downhills I've ever done. Total single track joy. A classic. How do you find it? Look for the swarms of black flies, rotting cow carcasses, neck deep stream crossings, hour long hike-a-bikes, and impassable cliff bands. Don't bother. Go ride Breckenridge.

Gunnison River Gorge

Howdy. I was feeling a little cooped up and soggy last week in the rain so I hopped on the opportunity to go over the hills to the North Fork Valley for some +70 temps and sunshine. We ended up in the Gunnison River Gorge. It's down-river from P-towne and up-river from where previous rafting photos were taken. This is the tail end of the Black Canyon before it meets the North Fork. It did my heart good to see some adobe hills and sage brush. Jake was trying to hit the stonefly hatch. They hatch and hang out for a couple of days and then start getting busy (if you know what I mean) and then they land on the water to lay eggs a few days later. If you get the hatch or the egg laying, the trout are like sharks in a feeding frenzy. I've heard that trout will eat stoneflies until their gills are packed with them. We got there right between the hatch and the egg laying and missed the bulk of the drama but it was still a nice day to get outside, stretch the legs, take a nap under a pinon tree, and watch the desert unfold itself.

Fun With the Smileys

Found some pics of my little buddy Rigal taken from this past Spring. We had good times eating Cheerios, painting the deck, driving the lawnmower, and sitting under the apple tree.

Daisy Pass

Had a nice Sunday afternoon stroll up Daisy Pass. The wildflowers are starting to show.

Trail Building

I had a nice day helping put in new trail at Crested Butte. CBMR staff, USFS staff, CBMBA, and over 80 volunteers showed up to build about 3 miles of new trail to re-route some badly rutted existing trails. The recent rain and snow made the trail easy to work. Hopefully the new section will be ready to ride for Wildflower Rush and Fat Tire 40. The new trail works up from the West Wall through open meadows, a huge aspen stand, then climbs through a loamy forest with big pines. It's going to be a beautiful middle chain ring climb and a fun, twisty descent.

Snow in June

For Real. Snow on June 7. The real deal.

Monday Night Lights

Every moment here seems to drip with purpose, refraction, emotion, and color. Work is imminent so play comes with a sense of urgency.

Riding at night is a little creepy. Sound is amplified. Reflections in the forest send electricity into my limbs; cows become mountain lions; the creek rushing under the bridge sounds like a moose crashing out of the willows; off camber turns feel like falling off the edge of the world; picking lines is mentally taxing. How can something that scares the s*** out of me be so meaningful and enjoyable? Because night riding is cheating time. It feels like being 11 years old on a summer night playing with my brother, sister, and cousin out of the yard, a little farther from the house than my grandma was comfortable with; like sneaking out in high school to TP that bratty bully's house.

As my lights reflect off wet sage I realize that every day here is precious.

Spot?

I'm selling the Spot. It was a tough decision...trying to raise funds for a Cannondale Rize. You can search for the details on Boulder Craigslist. The AS-R will be up for grabs too if the Rize thing pans out. Spread the word.

Rainy Day Activities

It's been pouring in CB since I got here Saturday. The upside is that everything is green, lush, and misty; and the trails drain and dry quickly. I've been able to time some rides between downpours. After the torrents, Tony's and Upper Upper were in good enough condition to proceed cautiously and tread lightly. I had to break out the trainer during the storms so I could get my yah-yahs out. Riding stationary on the porch watching the rain fall is kind of fun...for about 30 minutes. I also went for round 4 of naan experimentation. Previous versions have ranged from the consistency of tough pancakes to fluffy focaccia. I let the dough rise for about an hour, punched it down and gave it another 30-45 minutes before frying it up. And I only kneeded for a couple of minutes instead of the 6-8 minutes that the recipe calls for. That made all the difference. This time it resembled naan and had a great consistency. I was super stoked. We mowed it down at John's b-day party.

Brad and Jess got married. It was a touching expression of relationship and community. The ceremony was simple and gorgeous (yay for simple). The rain stopped long enough to do the ceremony outside. It started pouring torrentially during the inside dinner which made things cozy by the fire. Everyone looked like a million bucks. It was really fun to see everyone in dresses and suits on Friday night and then speckled with mud on Saturday after riding Tipperary Creek.