The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Mountain Bike and Wilderness TrailQuest
By John Norton
Jason Janelle again tops the TQ weekly leaderboard with 40 miles. Jason’s taking the weekly totals is not unusual this season. The game started this year for Jason, with riding beginning May 24 at Hartman Rocks. He now sits at #46 of those not to finish and we have to wonder if he’s trying to pull a Widmer—Kemble Widmer having finished 750+ unique miles in one season in 2018.
Jason’s rides last week included Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman, a big day on the mountain, and a ride he titled “Doctor the Hard Way,” leaving me to wonder if he rode up Doctor and down Spring Creek? In any event, if there’s an easy way to ride Doctor, I wish Jason would let the rest of us in on that secret.
Gordon Seriously (Seriously?) laid down 28 new miles, as did Patrick M. Newell, Patrick’s middle initial adding refreshing formality to the game and following in Heather J. Crossen’s footsteps. Julia Uhlendorf found 24 new miles that included riding north of the now-full Blue Mesa on the West Beaver Trail. Julia now sits at #4.
Kevin Krill recorded 22 new. “Sandbag Sarah” Keene, the young lady who “would be lucky to reach 400 miles this season,” now sits at 424 miles with 21 new this week, including some obscure mileage up Italian Mountain way.
The aforementioned Kemble Widmer sits atop the Wilderness TrailQuest leaderboard, but recorded no new miles this week. He credits “falling off his Wilderness diet and binging on Hot Marescas at the Gas Café” for his lackluster performance. “But the Marescas were worth it,” he added.
Active in Wilderness TQ were Kyle Thomas with five miles, and Tom Shepard and Lee Cannon with four. Who knew Lee deigned to travel on foot?
TrailQuest is the game for all the trail lovers who find themselves in the valley. It’s free to join and there are prizes galore for a variety of trail benchmarks. Go to cbgtrails.com, join the game, download Strava, and you’re in business. And go explore.
