new bike, new trails, great trip

I got a large Tomac Snyper put together late last week - just in time for a trip to Crested Butte. The plan was to meet up with some other folks from the front range and get in a few solid rides. Mission accomplished.

The bike, a 5.5" travel 2009 Tomac Snyper 140:

Day 1 was to start on top of Reno Divide then connect Flag Creek, Bear Creek, Deadman Gulch and Doctor Park. Oh damn. What a great ride that was. I've ridden the traditional Reno/Flag/Bear/Deadman loop, but was looking forward to a different twist. The first sections, as always, were smoove and swoopy and excellent. I love the fact that those are all moto legal trails, too. I like the whoopdies and every corner has a lip. All good ingredients for fun and fast. We travelled as a pretty big group and made the whole thing in about 4 hours.

Deadman dropped onto Spring Creek Road and we started climbing again. Fortunately, the gravel washboard gem of Spring Creek wasn't very long. The last and final climb was 2 miles and 1,000' up to the top of Doctor Park. It was steep and Johnny Park-ish and we made it up in good time. 2,500' below me and 5 miles out was the Doctor Park trailhead. All downhill. I'm pretty sure I had a religious experience on that trail. Good enough that I'll be dreaming of it for years to come. One of the best in state for me. I got some pretty good photos, too. Unfortunately, they are gone forever due to a memory card meltdown. The curse of the voodoo cow apparently is lingering on.

Beers and food followed later at the Brick Oven in Crested Butte. It was pretty good, but as far as mountain town beerhouses go, they didn't have nothin on Oskar Blues. That and what's up with them not having OB on tap? The arrogant bartender hadn't even heard of Dale's Pale. Huh? Anyways...

Back at camp was pretty fun. Too bad I know longer have the photos of the fire exploding glow sticks. Oh well. Some people win the lottery. Others get a boulder on their car as Doug says.

Day 2: The main group was disintegrating. Most folk had ridden both Friday and Saturday and were eager to roll off to alternate destinations on their own. Tree, Doug and I were also eager to check out a big loop circumnavigating Mt Crested Butte. It was Tree's birthday present after all. Happy Bday Tree! This day's plan was to park at the Gothic Trailhead on Gothic Rd where Snodgrass trail starts. From there, back thru Mt CB, Upper loop, Upper Upper Loop, up Brush Creek, then connect and loop back to Gothic Rd via Deer Creek. We estimated it'd be a big ride with around 3k' of climbing and 25miles.

Rolling thru Mt Crested Butte allows you too see a lot of hardcore development on the mountain. Made my head swim lookin at all the condos. Upper and Upper Upper were fun. We were also stoked to see some good technical bits sprucing up the Uppers. The aspens were fantastic as was the trail.


The tread was grippy dirt and tons of rocks. Upper Upper had a pretty stiff little climb in it, too.


But the descent was sweet. Upper and Upper Upper had some qualities similar to the riding we do off the Peak to Peak and I was impressed. Completely diverse from the day's prior ride.

The road up to Brush Creek was well maintained, hard pack, and otherwise pretty darn ok. The views didn't suck either.

After a short climb on Brush Creek road, it was time for a quick break. In locales like this, it's always good to stop a bit to soak it all in.

Just a bit more jeep road climbing and we were on Deer Creek Trail. It had a bit of everything from buff and beautiful red dirt singletrack

to steep rooty black dirt climbs. So steep it had us all walking eventually.

The rest of the climb happened without incident until we came across a momma cow and calf on the trail. As Tree approached them to shoo them off the trail the momma gave Tree and unmistakable steel glare that could only have been her evil eye. 20 feet down the trail past the cow, Tree encountered a rock that repositioned him on the ground and off the bike. Watch out for evil cows on Deer Creek. Especially this one.

more good scenery

then snacktime.

bad voodoo cows

the final descent was short but sweet. Fast, bermy, black dirt and even more aspens. Good stuff.

We were pretty tired, but feeling fresh enough to buzz back quickly on Gothic Rd to the car.

We should've taken it easier as it turns out. Curse of cow stuck again and we showed up to the Mexican joint 40 minutes too early. Not open until dinner at 5pm. Guess we'll have a beer to celebrate!

Thanks for the great riding this weekend all. The bike turned out to be an absolute gem and the riding was all top notch. CB will beckon again.