schnauzers.ws

We got a nice three bedroom condo for $100 a night that five of us shared. We did our own meals in the kitchen and made it a very affordable weekend.

We arrived Friday afternoon, but I had an appointment with a mountain biking legend to take care of first. So I met Kent Ericksen at his shop. Kent is the man who started Moots and now has a new brand as his own. I wanted to talk custom frames and by the time I left, I had ordered a new custom bike and sported one major piece of it.

We had an epic ride planned for Saturday, that would take us to Rabbit Ears pass and on down back to our condo. I had no idea just how beautiful this ride was going to be and it now rates in my top five Colorado rides. Beautiful trail, lakes, scenery, and a hootin’ downhill at the end.

We actually added an additional four miles by parking just a little further down. It was a great piece of four mile trail.

Though the day was a little overcast, it never rained on us. In fact, it was probably a great temperature to be riding in.

Fall was in the air and colors had begun to pop. The lakes we passed on the way only added another level of beautiful distractions.

There were a couple of water crossing along the way. I picked and chose which one to ride based upon frozen toe syndrome. Of course I picked the wrong one.

Things were still incredibly green and the climbs were grunts.

But even after that, the lightly traveled trail spoke wonders about how special the area is.

We road on quite a few trails, some with lake names, others with fish names, buy everyone seemed to connect in a map of wooded perfection.

With every turn, the ubiquitous beautiful lake was there to entice us forward.

This trail marker freaks me out.

And more lakes.

We just continue to move through the forest. Each trail piece better than the next.

Only to come upon more views. These things should be outlawed!

Making it to the top of the ski area gave us a whole new perspective of trails. That perspective was down. An incredible mix of easy, medium, and hard drives. Lot’s of little features to drop off of and berms to fly around the corners.

We catch a minute from the fun for a group shot.

Is there anything more incredible than riding through a palate of nature’s colors?

We then finish up by testing our skill on the downhill trails.

We made it back to condo, cleaned up, drank beer, watched football and ate steaks. What else could anyone need.

On Sunday we were joined by a local who would show use the town trails. We knew we were in for something since it didn’t involve a shuttle.

We made our way to Howelsen Hill. Ski jumps! That’s it, we’ll ride our bikes down ski jumps.

Ok, maybe not going down it, but we would certainly be riding up the backside of it. This was steeper than most front range climbs.

However, there were surprisingly beautiful pieces of singletrack trail meandering through meadows and forests. Some if it was very skinny.

While not overly technical, there were some things to play on.

Proof that I can still ride a log-over.

There was a great variety of trails and they were very popular with the locals. While we hardly saw anyone the day before, these trails were a little too crowded.

One thing that surprised me were the abundance of large ferns. Definitely not what I was expecting to find in a high desert climate. I am guessing the hot springs (which you can smell very strongly in the rising steam from cracks in the rocks) gave just the right heat and humidity to help them grow.

It turned out to be a beautiful day with a good amount of riding and more vertical than the longer day before.

Special thanks to Lindsey for showing us around.