CO: Crested Butte - El Jefe Loop

 The plan was to have arrived in Crested Butte the evening prior, but our Palisade Plunge outing took longer than expected and I spent the night at a buddy's place in Carbondale. So, I made the early morning trek to CB via Kebler Pass to avoid the US50 construction project.

It's a scenic drive on a well graded dirt road, however, it was my lucky day as they had just begun a 4 day road project here too. I was about to learn what mag chloride was. The road crew was putting down a fresh coat and grading the road. It wasn't an issue getting through the construction area. There were a few water trucks on the road as well. When I arrived at Beth & Sean's place I realized what a mess that stuff was:

Goop!! All over, the car was a mess too. Time to break out the hose.

I was meeting Jefe Branham, overseer of the Colorado Trail Race these days, for a ride around the CB area. Jefe is quite an accomplished bikepacking racer, having recently set the AZT300 singlespeed record, he's in a different league. He's a great dude and my hope was to not keep him waiting around too long during our ride!!

Sean would also be joining us and he's also a great rider. My legs & lungs were feeling pretty good now that I had been in Colorado for almost a week. We'll see how acclimated I truly was shortly.

Jefe & Sean tossed around a few route ideas. My only input was wanting new-to-me terrain, and there was plenty of that. The route materialized and we'd be going back up Kebler Pass, cutting over to Ohio Pass, then onto Carbon Creek and down Baxter Gulch to town. I didn't know what all that meant, but it sounded wonderful.

Sean & Jefe lead it out. See that trail at the end of the street? It's really steep and we started on it.

Sean apologized for the short steep gut punch, but it did cut off some road miles and led to this.

Fast climbing up Kebler Pass.

 Nice maps along the way.

Splains Gulch and the fellas were leaving me in the dust.

All smiles as we begin the Lily Lake trail.

The climbing relented as we rode through this meadow.

It's so nice riding in the big mountains.

What a great trail, only a couple goopy bits.

Sean darting into the thick forest.

The payoff viewpoint!! Notice the waterfall??

Our route would take us down to the bottom of this scree field.

Doesn't look like much, but this was a screaming fast descent with a few small grade reversals to launch off. My front brakes were beginning to get soft and not really working all that great so I tried to watch my speed a bit.

Short connector trail out to the dirt road.

We gained Ohio Pass quickly, it wasn't much of a climb from where we hopped on the road.

Big views and another screaming fast descent. I hope I can stop!!

Some history on the abandoned railroad grade we were on.

We were way up there barely an hour ago.

This should've been my first clue about Carbon Creek trail.

I was warned that it was a mixed bag of terrain.

Great section through the aspens here.

The fellas pulled away after the second scree crossing, but more sublime singletrack greeted me.

My legs were beginning to feel the toll of consecutive days of riding.

Another fast section here.

This trail really had a backcountry vibe.

More sweetness!!

Then the fun really began as we made the final push up to Baxter Gulch.

Oof. Cue the hike-a-bike. I was really dragging through here.

Finally at the trail junction, I think the guys took a siesta waiting for me.

After a little more climbing, the downhill fun began and all of a sudden, I felt better!!

You would too riding through this.

The routing and flow were masterful.

Cool sweeping turn through a cascading creek.

Of course, this IS Colorado, seems mandatory that all great downhills must include a climb near the end of the ride. Up we go.

The wildflowers were on point too.

Rock armored switchbacks.

All of a sudden: civilization.

What a view from the cockpit.

One final downhill rip to the finish.

The Colorado Blue Columbine is the state flower.

Rolling back to town as the skies darken.

Crested Butte delivers yet again.

Does that dragon breath fire at night?? That would look cool.

Beth couldn't join the ride as she's recovering from knee surgery, but she can ride to happy hour!!

Thanks for the tour, Jefe, I really enjoyed it in spite of the wheels falling off on Carbon Creek. That probably wasn't the best time to ask if I was coming back to the Loopy Loop!! I am thinking about it. At least I'll be prepared for that trail next time. Sean, really glad you could make the ride, it was fun trying to keep up and thanks for making Jefe stop every now and again!! Also, thank you and Beth for the hospitality, it is greatly appreciated.

I found out later that evening that a Phoenix buddy was going to be in town the next day and wanted to know if I'd be around for a ride. Of course!! That's the next post... 

Flyover via Ayvri.com

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