Every Downhill has its Uphill

Two days of riding in the Colorado Rockies have had their ups and downs for sure! Long ups and long downs, both of which were freaking fun. Winter Park's Trestle Bike Park and Keystone Resort Bike Park were the two stops on the map. Both of which are pretty well known, and both of which had opening day this weekend!

First stop was Trestle. Which I did not stay around for opening day. Instead, I took the Stumpjumper, full of new life, and had a nice 9 mile climb (including a slight detour that led to an unridable trail) to the summit of the mountain. All 1600 feet from base to summit was covered, and then a little more with that detour... The only letdown was when I reached the top, a random worker informed me that ALL of the downhill trails were closed. Which did not line up with what someone at the bottom told me, which was that as long as it didn't say closed at the trail head I could ride it. Well I just climbed 9 miles and didn't pass a single trail worker, so I went ahead and listened to the first person and rode the trails! What a blast. The Stumpjumper was great. It climbed like a mountain goat and descended like a bat outa hell. It even managed to clear every jump on Rainmaker, a black jump trail. And can whip so easily you can unclip mid air! I've never ridden such a versatile bike!

Next was Keystone, which I did manage to ride opening day! I was on one of the first chairs of the season! Also was one of the last chairs of opening day! Unfortunately, the upper half of the mountain was closed due to snow... I did however see more snow riding up the lift than I have in 21 years living in South Carolina... But despite the long dirt road ride to the open trails, the riding was great. Money, Jam Rock, Sanitarium, and Helter where all open. These are in my opinion some of the best trails here. And you can get a good taste of everything riding them. From the steep and gnarly rock gardens of Helter to the smooth and flowy jump line of Money. I am pretty sure I even ended up in a few pictures for the resort! I unfortunately did not get any pictures from the park, so sorry about that... However, I will leave you with great advice from the Chinese! Only it should be the other way around.

Road tripping music is playing, time to head west to Fruita for some awesome enduro style single track!