401

Although the title may sound like a knock off household degreaser, its actually the name of one of the classic Crested Butte trails. It rained us out yesterday so we took a drive into town and checked out one of the local bike shops. We picked up a Gunnison sticker for the RV and asked about the Crested Butte trails, how quickly they dry and he said pretty quickly. It rained a bit over night but not much and the weather forecast looked more promising so the plan was to head to CB in the morning. It was quite a pleasant morning here but still quite cloudy towards CB but we packed up and headed out. It was still quite cloudy over the ridges as we headed into CB but no rain in site so we continued on through town, through the ski resort area and up the gravel road to Gothic. Im not sure what all goes on in Gothic but like howie said, it is straight outta little house on the prairie. Anyways, about a half mile past there the loop starts/ends so thats where we parked. Like most good CB rides it starts with a long gravel road climb but this one isnt too bad, about 5 miles and 1100 feet. The truck thermometer had the outside temp at 54 degrees and it was quite breezy. Heck of a thing, just a few days ago we were riding in the high 90's. It rode alot easier than 6 years ago when we did this, thats for sure, but any climb at 10,000 feet is tough and we warmed up quickly. And its about one of the prettiest gravel road rides you'll ever make as well, up this beautiful valley along some small alpine lakes. At Schofield pass you pick up the single track trail and really start climbing. About a mile or so later and 500 feet higher you break out into the alpine meadows.

The gravel road had some puddles on it but was basically dry but I still wasn't sure what the trail would be like. Amazingly it was in great shape, a few puddles here and there, but otherwise perfect. We climbed a bit more through the meadows then headed back down along the valley we climbed up, just a bit higher.

I think this is what makes this ride so special, a few miles of slightly downhill benchcut trail with some of the most beautiful views you will see from a mountain bike. Its smooth enough and not too steep so you can actually enjoy the view rather than have to concentrate so hard on not killing yourself you don't see anything. Eventually you have to loose some altitude on some switchbacks through a nice aspen grove. A little more trail and you take a bit of gravel road down towards the road you climbed up but then start heading up on the side of the valley over a creek and through a meadow. The trail goes through some private ground which is used for grazing cattle and unfortunately there was a bunch around, so they were a pain to get around but even worse they really beat the heck outta the trail with the recent rain so it was quite muddy. We got through all that and back to the truck about 3.5 hours and 15 miles later. We both remarked on how warm it was, truck said on the way out it was 64 degrees, but since we both figured we would be in jackets at the top, it was a pleasant surprise.
We stopped in town to pick up a sticker and something to eat, CB is one cool little town. All the locals cruise around on "townie bikes." I was actually surprised it was so busy for a weekday after labor day, but there must still be people out vacationing. Back to Gunnison with a quick stop at Wally World for a hose nozzle since the water pressure through the camper's outside hand shower was not good here and the bikes were quite muddy. I think next year we'll get a splitter and an extra piece of hose for cleaning bikes.