If someone told me there are more bicycles in Crested Butte, Colo. than sheep in New Zealand, I would believe them without question.
This fact (fiction, actually) may be a slight embellishment, but over these five days, it is closer to reality than ever. The Crested Butte Fat Tire Bike Week, a.k.a. the Fat Tire Festival, is the longest running of its breed in the nation. And while some may argue "Fat Tire Fest" in Crested Butte actually starts in the spring when the first south-facing trails dry and ends in the fall after the first, second or third snowfall, the real action happens every June when hundreds, possibly thousands of Lycra-wearin', shaved-legged hammerheads roll into town for a week of group rides, clinics, races, microbrew swilling and other associated debauchery.
Making it to the festivities means soaking up the sun, riding the Butte's phattest singletrack, witnessing black-armor-clad downhillers attempt suicide, checking out the NORBA cross-country and circuit races and basking in knobby-tired Nirvana.
About 800 cyclists make it to the festival for five days'-worth of group rides, technique and bike maintenance clinics, NORBA Racing and other festivities. The sky is blue, the flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping.
Rides
It seems like every year I ride, I have my best day yet. Porcupine Rim, Monarch Crest-you name it. There's always a new trail that convinces me I've rediscovered the soul of cycling.
These rides are easy to identify because they typically yank screams right out of your throat before throwing you over the bars and knocking the wind out of your lungs. If you get up smiling, you've found fat tire ecstasy. While in Crested Butte, I found my pick (so far).
The Deer Creek Trail challenges every facet of a rider's ability -endurance, technical climbing and descending, tight winding singletrack through shimmering aspen stands, crystal creek crossings, exposed trail above bottomless pits, roots, stumps and boulders.
Whether clinging to the side of a 35-degree meadow carpeted with deep purple lupine, dropping your front wheel into a slippery creek bed or drifting by an icy alpine tarn, Deer Creek offers an endless variety of the best off-road cycling the Butte has to offer.
And with a slight variation, it can easily be combined into burly, half-day singletrack extravaganza. Start from the base area of Crested Butte Resort, hit the rocks and rolls of Upper and Upper Upper, spin the big rings on Brush Creek Road and bring it on home into Gothic via Deer Creek. Good stuff.
Trail 411
For all the details on riding the Crested Butte area, pick up the Latitude 40 Aspen, Crested Butte, Gunnison trail map at any of the local Butte bike shops. The entire loop, which served as the Pro and Expert men's crosscountry course this year, is 37 miles ... bring lots of food and water.
Happy trails. |
