The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“Did you come a busta off your pushy”
by Than Acuff
It’s National Trails Day this Saturday, June 2 and the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association (CBMBA) is turning it into a two-day affair with their annual kick-off party on Friday, June 1 and a trail work day on Saturday, June 2.
They open things up with the annual CBMBA meeting on Friday at 4 p.m. and then break the door down at 5:30 at Rainbow Park pavilion with their annual kick-off party celebrating 35 years in existence.
“It’s the oldest mountain bike club in the universe,” says CBMBA director Dave Ochs. “The party is really about the community and we’re psyched to celebrate 35 years.”
Pizza will be provided by Mikey’s Pizza and beer from Upslope brewing and there will be plenty of information about what CBMBA is up to these days, including the efforts of the Crested Butte Conservation Corps and the formation of the Women’s Work Force, and CBMBA’s long-term five-year plan, the Riders Off the Road project.
“That’s our long-term plan focusing on better trail connectivity and less overlap with roads,” explains Ochs. “More singletrack and less roads. Safety is a big part of it. The Women’s Work Force is to help get more women involved in trail work days.”
The party is also an opportunity to renew your CBMBA membership or sign up for the first time.
Once the fog has worn off from the party Friday night, everyone is invited to join CBMBA to celebrate National Trails Day on Saturday with some work on the west end of the Deer Creek trail near Gothic. The National Trails Day effort is a long-standing tradition with CBMBA and one of the reasons Ochs decided to stay here in Crested Butte.
“I’d been living here for three days and went out to help build Tony’s Trail in 2001 and thought, ‘This is awesome, I’m never leaving,’” says Ochs.
Previous National Trails Day projects have included partnerships with the Crested Butte Land Trust to build the Budd Trail, Gunsight Connector as well as a revamp of Strand and last year’s monumental effort by CBMBA and volunteers to reroute the “wall” on the east end of Deer Creek.
“People come together for what they love, building shreddy singletrack,” says Ochs. “It brings out the four and five year olds with their moms and dads, longtime locals and teenagers out there slinging it.”
The project Saturday is presented by Bluebird Real Estate and kicks off at 10 a.m. where the trail meets the Jeep road just before the town of Gothic. In an effort to keep traffic to a minimum, people are encouraged to ride their bikes out there or carpool. Carpools will be available from the Four-way Stop in town at 9:15 a.m.
The trail work involves rerouting .35 miles of the Deer Creek Trail to improve the experience as well as alleviate the impingement on private property.
“We’re working to get the trail off of private property and fully onto public lands,” says Ochs. “That whole west end needs some lovin’. It’s a good way to kick-off the year.”
Ochs is hoping to get as many as 100 volunteers out there Saturday, get the work done, camp out Saturday night and then have everyone get some riding in on Sunday.
“Feel free to camp with us Saturday night,” says Ochs. “If there’s more work to get done on Sunday we’ll do it but, more than likely, we hope people will get out and ride Sunday.”
CBMBA will then set its sights on the big overnighter Saturday and Sunday, July 28-29, when they plan to work on the start of the 403 trail.
“We’re getting it off private property and onto public lands and make sure it has a sustainable future,” says Ochs.
For more information on everything check out cbmba.org.
