Crested Butte August Trails Report and The USA Pro Cycling Challenge

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge is just around the corner. If you haven’t made plans yet now is the time. Visit USAPCCinfo.com to get all the details on Mt. Crested Butte’s mountaintop finish at the end of Stage 2, or Gunnison’s stage 3 (the Queen stage) as riders pedal over the 12,126-foot summit of Cottonwood Pass. What can we say? Two stages and one great location!

Gunnison-Crested Butte is adding a new event to this year’s September Splendor lineup: the West Elk Bicycle Classic, a gran fondo. What is a gran fondo? With origins in Italy, it literally means a “big ride.” This timed tour starts at Western State Colorado University in Gunnison and will take riders west to Blue Mesa, along the Black Canyon, through Paonia, over Kebler Pass and into Crested Butte. Visit www.western.edu/westelkbicycleclassic for all the details.

Road riding not your thing? Visit Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s Evolution Bike Park. New trails and features have been added in 2012, bumping up the count to more than 25 miles and 16 trails from beginner to expert levels. The bike park is perfect for families wanting to ride together, intermediate riders wanting to improve skills in a lesson or expert downhill mountain bikers looking for fast speeds and big air.

Summer isn’t over in the high-country and Gunnison-Crested Butte still has fantastic events lined up from the 10th annual 24-Hours in the Sage at Gunnison’s Hartman Rocks Recreation Area to the 36th annual Pearl Pass Mountain Bike Tour from Crested Butte to Aspen. Also, check out all the non-biking events for September Splendor in the Rockies.

Biking is a way of life here, whether it’s on skinny tires, fat tires or a bike with one gear. Since the 1970s, when locals started retrofitting old Schwinn paperboy bikes with multiple gears, Crested Butte has helped write the history of mountain biking and is now home to the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. View a complete calendar of biking events here.