The 401 Trail

Crested Butte Colorado.

My trip to the USA in 2005 had it all, for someone who enjoys bike riding, especially cross country, small towns, great scenery and a good bunch of people to ride with it could not have been better. Starting in Austin where I was able to watch and offer some help as my Ellsworth Id was being built and then riding that bike on some of the best mountain bike trails in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado was as good as it gets.

When I look at the list of trails we rode I am amazed that all of this happened because of a love of bike riding and the chance meeting with Rich on the Maze ride in 2002. Rich and his bike mates invited me to join their annual rides on two occasions, first in 2003 and then this ride in 2005.

This is where we rode in 2005.

• Walnut Creek, Austin. The shakedown ride for the new bike was cut short by mud.
• Muleshoe, Austin. The first real ride, we were the only riders there that day.
• Rocky Creek Ranch. jet lag and 100 degree temperature that day after coming from an Australian winter made it a tough ride.
• St. Ed., Austin.
• The Sandia Foothills, Albuquerque. smooth and flowing and a lot of fun.
• Sandia Peak Ski Area, a day pass on the lifts and great descents.
• Jemez Mtns., New Mexico. Cut short when some of the group decided fording the creeks was too hard, pity.
• Telegraph Hill, Durango.
• Log Shute Trail, Durango.
• Hermosa Creek, Durango.
• Ophir Pass.
• The 401 Trail, Crested Butte.
• The Ski Lift, Crested Butte.
• Deadmans Gulch, Crested Butte. Over confidence led to the inevitable Endo and a cracked rib and broken finger. Not confirmed until I got back to Australia.
• Breckenridge, two rides that I did not enjoy much with the fallout from the breaks.
• Bear Creek, Salida. A hard slog to get up to it but a nice traverse once we got there.
• Monarch Crest, for the second time, even with the aches it was great.
• Finally The Barton Greenbelt in Austin the day before I packed the bike for the journey back to Australia.

Crested Butte is my kind of town, no Walmart or shopping malls, no big box stores, just a small, quiet, very laid back and friendly place devoted to skiing and bike riding. Lots of very fit people mainly under 30 and a very high percentage of great looking girls, it must be the air.

The plan for the 401 was to start early so we could do the climb before it got too hot,  5.30am from my room [sofa bed in the lounge room] the view looked like this.

 

The house we had rented was very good, plenty of space for four of us and the bikes.

We drove out to Gothic Campgrounds and parked the van there and then started the long climb up the dirt road to Schofield Pass at 10707 feet, a climb of around 2500 feet.

After leaving the pass there was a bit more climbing until we broke out of the trees into a meadow.

This trail is sometimes called the Sound of Music or Julie Andrews Trail, the following photos explain that.

The wildflowers are incredible and in some sections you ride through what looks like tobacco.

It's not all soft and pretty and I don't mind saying I didn't ride this section. 

The descent is good, this is not a difficult ride and only has a few sections that could be described as mildly technical but if you enjoy riding in spectacular scenery it is one to add to your to do list. The last part of the ride was not great, we opted to take the longer route rather than the cut out and it got very hot in the forest. Horse flies attacked us for the last hour so we were glad to get back to the van and then back to the house, some cold beers, an Aussie style BBQ and some Aussie red wines to finish off a perfect day.