Pinnacle series closes with the “Dirty Al”

Team Brick Oven, meet the Monkey Posse

In a continuing effort to provide as much variety as possible in the local bike race series, the Pinnacle Race series will debut the first ever uphill/downhill race, (aka the Dirty Al) on Thursday, August 20.
“It spawned from conversations on the Brick Oven deck,” says Drew Cesati, Mountain Sports director for Crested Butte Mountain Resort.
The Dirty Al, a reference to the Al Johnson Uphill/Downhill Telemark ski race held here every winter, consists of two uphills and two downhills on Crested Butte Mountain on mountain bikes.
Racers can register in one of two ways—either as a solo rider or in teams of four and ride the course relay style.
The course starts with a climb up Warming House Hill and Columbine, finishing at the top of Painter Boy. From there, the first rider then tags off to a teammate, preferably a downhiller, who will then bomb down the Woods Trail, a steep, tight and twisty trail with numerous gap jumps and a fearsome double wall ride.
At the bottom of the Woods Trail, teams switch riders once again to an uphiller and the next biker heads up the Prospector road before turning onto the Meander single track.
“They go up the road at first so there’s room for passing,” says Cesati.
The final switch occurs at the top of Meander where the uphill rider tags off for the final stretch on Avery, a high-speed downhill track with rock gardens, banked turns and a “money booter” at the bottom.
Registration is at the Butte 66 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. with the race starting at 5:45 p.m. The lift will be running from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. to help shuttle riders to the transition zones if needed.
“We’re hoping that the freeride community will step up with the same support we saw from them at the downhill event,” says Cesati.