Crested Butte/Pro Tour
Friday Aug, 19 2011
After picking up Jen’s Parents at the airport in Montrose we are on the road to Crested Butte! The plan is to spend 4 days there mountain biking and finish it off watching the Stage 2 finish of the Pro Tour Challenge at Mt Crested Butte.
Jen and Kalden heading up Snodgrass
Once we arrived in CB Jen, Kalden and I got out for a quick ride while Grandma and Grandpa watched Axel.
August 20, 2011
Today Jen and I did a nice 20 mile ride from Mt Crested Butte up the mountain then connected it over to the Upper Upper Trail. It was actually the first part of the Crested Butte 40 race that I had done back in June.The ride starts with a fairly gentle climb up a trail called Meander and slowly winds it’s way up the ski area slopes. As I told Jen, if you have to climb then this is the perfect trail to do it on! We eventually topped out at a ski lift where all the gravity guys were getting off and we had a brief brake in the climbing then switched to a service road and went up yet again. Finally after about 1K feet over 5 miles we had topped out. After a brief but rocky ride across the top on some singletrack it was now time to descend. In typical ski area fashion the descent was rocky, root filled and a bit technical in spots. A left turn just before hitting the base area put us on a connector trail that linked us over to the start of Upper Upper Trail. This is probably one of the more popular trails here in CB and for good reason. It is close to town and has great views overlooking the Town of CB on the way across it. However, this trail is far from a beginner ride. I’d rate it strong intermediate due to the numeerous rock gardens and short steep rooted climbs. Don’t get me wrong, this is a super fun trail but it’s not the flowy 401 style of ride.
August 21, 2011
The original plan was to do Reno, Flag ,Bear today but we made a last minute change and decided to do 401 instead. We began the ride under very cloudy skies and the higher we got the more ominous things were looking! We were really shocked to see a huge snow field still covering the road on the way to the summit of the pass!
I had decided in my head that if we could top out the climb without too much in the way of rain we would head on and that is exactly how it played out. A bit of rain on the way up tapering off once we hit the summit of the climb.
The flowers are still going off up there around 10K feet so the views were amazing the whole time on this ride.
Climbing on 401
Still going up!
Once on top the rain actually tapered off for us but it was still time to put jackets on and head down. This is probably one of the funnest descents you could ever do! 
With head high wild flowers and a narrow ribbon of singletrack running down and across the mountain it is about 20 minutes of ear to ear smiles
Bridge crossing on 401
After our ride we headed back to our place on Mt Crested Butte and Kalden was ready to get out and ride.
We had heard about a new trail that connects Mt Crested Butte to The Town called the “Lupine” trail so Kalden and I set off to check it out.
The trail turned out to be perfect for Kalden, a bit of climbing/pushing at the start but nothing soul crushing for him then a few miles of cruiser downhill heading towards town.
August 22, 2011
Today we rode Reno, Flag Bear and what a ride it was! Starting out with a pretty sustained climb right from the car you go from 9400ft to 11,200ft on a dirt road for about 5 miles.
Heading up
At that point you cross through a gate and the fun begins!
Heading down
For the next 3+ miles it is a ripping descent on a fine ribbon of singletrack. Jen and I were smiling from ear to ear and the climb up was all but forgotten!
Heading down, all smiles!
Once at the bottom of this is was time to climb a bit and regain some of our lost altitude. Over the last 11 or so miles you basically have 2 more AMAZING descents with of course a sustained climb between each of them
Heading up
Another screaming descent!
I have to say this is certainly one of my new favorite trails. It is open to moto traffic but we rode it on a weekday and saw none out there at all.
With the ride finished it was time to head back to town, pick up the Boys and Grandma/Grandpa and have a beer!
Mmmmm......
August 23, 2011
Today is race day! We started off today with a great MTB ride with Kalden. Jen Kalden and I left from our hotel here in Mt. Crested Butte and rolled down to jump on the Lupine Trail. We traversed across that and dropped it down to Slate River Rd. We hooked a right on the road and followed it down to the turn for Gunsight Pass. At this intersection you can jump on the Lower Loop Trail and follow that Trail into town. In all it was about a 12 mile ride, mostly singletrack and all 3 of us had a blast! Once we got into town we stopped for a bite to eat and things were being set up for the race fast. Even the crazy bikes were out getting ready for the cruiser race!
After loading our bikes on the town bus we made a quick trip back up to the ski mountain and then got to ride the last 500 meters to the finish line and check out the expo.
After a quick trip back to the room to get ready we all headed over to the expo area/finish line.
It was a lot of fun to walk among the team buses and watch the mechanics getting everything ready for when the riders arrive.
Thats a lot of Durace wheels!
After a beer in the garden and a little more wandering it was getting to be time to head over to the finish line. We found a great spot on the fence 100 Meters from the finish and waited as the commentators kept us up to date as to what was happening on the road.
We could hear the noise building up the mountain as the leaders approached and eventually Levi came blasting by to win the stage solo.
Here are some other pic’s from the days finish:
Andy Schlek
Jens Voigt
After the finish we all wandered around the team buses because my son Kalden wanted to get Autographs. We managed to get Tom Danielson and Danny Pate. As we wandered a bit more we came across Bob Roll hanging out by the BMC bus so Kalden and I got a nice picture with him to finish off the evening.
August 24, 2011
We were up and on the road early this morning to make it to Gunnison before the the roads closed! We wanted to catch the riders for an autograph session and then watch the start and let Kalden do the kids race before we headed home. We had a great time walking around amongst the cars and buses and as the riders came out Kalden was able to get a few signatures on his jersey.
Leopard Trek bikes lined up for stage 2
Jens Voight signing Autographs
It was really amazing how accessible the riders were and the bikes as well. They just hung around and the bikes were always out in plain view. I can’t think of any other sport where the athletes are so accessible.
Kalden getting jersey signed by Ivan Basso
BIG George Wins!
Finally the riders took off and were on the road and then it was time for Kalden to do his race. He lined up with a bunch of other kids under the start line for the pro’s and they were off!
And they are off!
Kalden had a great race as well and once he finished it was time to load up and head home. Back to work tomorrow!
A big THANK YOU to Grandma and Grandpa for watching the boy’s these last day’s while we did some amazing rides!
