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Crest Trail Adventure
Crest Trail Adventure
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\r\nBy Sharbel and Rebecca Dussault
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\r\nIf you are looking for an epic mountain bike ride then this is one that
\r\nshould be on your list. Most of the avid mountain bikers here in Colorado have either ridden or heard about this high mountain single track ride. Rebecca and I finally got the chance to take it on ourselves last weekend. This time Tabor had to stay home with his Nana, even though I would have loved to have him on my back helping me up the climbs with his little encouragements.
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Rebecca and Sharbel.
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\r\nWe left Gunnison and drove the 40 minutes to the top of Monarch pass on
\r\nHwy 50. We did this ride with a group of young riders from a local
\r\nChristian camp called Camp Redcloud. My best man from our wedding is
\r\nthe youth director and he invited us to tag along. We stopped at the top and unloaded the group with their bikes and two other adults. Those 8 riders got started on the trail while Rick, Rebecca, and I shuttled the cars down to the other side of the pass. After driving back up the pass we got started about an hour behind the kids.
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\r\nThe first nine miles are very exposed, above timber line. It wasn’t
\r\nLong before there were large dark thunderclouds looming on the horizon.
\r\nThis made us lift the pace which made us ride at interval levels. The
\r\nClouds were moving towards us and we were very exposed on the ridge at about 11,000 ft. Lightning’s energetic presence soon forced us to abandon the trail and free ride down the mountain side into the dark timber. We huddled in the trees crouched on rocks with only our biking shoes touching the ground for about 25 minutes as the storm blew in and rained and snowed on us. Gradually, as the storm passed we were able to hike our bikes out of the bowl and regain the narrow single track that follows the Continental Divide Trail.
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\r\nThe whole time we were continually following the group’s tire tracks
\r\nhoping we would catch them in time to eat lunch together. The three of
\r\nus rode hard only stopping for a snack, picture, or glance at the trail
\r\nsigns. At one point, where the trail takes a critical turn we noticed
\r\nthat the group had somehow missed it and had kept going. This was
\r\ntrouble.
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\r\nOur only choice was to go after them. We followed their tracks down,
\r\ndown, down in the wrong direction. We were in the middle of nowhere.
\r\nFor five miles we followed their tracks until we came upon them. They had stopped for someone to fix a heel blister. They didn’t have any idea they were lost. The strangest thing is that one of adult leaders had done this ride before. He thought they were going the right way and hadn’t even looked at the map for miles. It was very discouraging news for the young riders when we informed them that they had to turn around. What we had just come down was impossible to ride back up so we all started pushing our bikes. It took us an hour and a half to get back to the correct trail. At this point everyone was very exhausted. We had been out for 6 hours and some of the kids had run out of water and food.
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\r\nIt was decided that Rick, Rebecca and I would ride on ahead and get the
\r\nvan. We would then drive back towards them on the road that they would
\r\neventually come out on.
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\r\nIt took the three of us another two hours to descend the awesome technical single track trail. When we reached the car we had been out for eight hours and had ridden 46 miles. We were the best and fittest riders in the group and we were utterly exhausted. Rick went ahead and picked up the kids while Rebecca and I drove home to retrieve Tabor.
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\r\nThe day ended up being a true epic adventure in which we were blessed with God’s guiding hand. If we had not followed the groups tracks then they would have been lost in a place were nature can be very brutal to you. In the end, everyone finished with a good attitude and hopefully learned something about the need for flawless riding and navigating in the mountains of Colorado. The beauty of this trail is the vastness of the mountains, the fun single track and a lot of downhill riding if you stay on the correct trail. Be sure to check out the pictures and always Keep the Rubber Side Down!
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\r\nTeam Today is a non-profit organization run by, and for, the athletes of the US Cross-country team. The USST is run on a shoestring budget, and our increasing success at the international level is making for increasing demand on our ever-limited resources. To find out how you can join Team Today, visit www.teamtoday.org, or contact Andrew Johnson bode1978@yahoo.com, or Pete Vordenberg pvordenberg@ussa.org. With your assistance, we will be THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
Written By: RDussaultDate Posted: 7/2/2004Number of Views: 328
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